Leicester look to Wasps for Cup favour

Former Heineken Cup winners Leicester need a favour from Zurich Premiership rivals and cup holders Wasps if they are to stay in this year’s tournament.

The Tigers slipped to a 21-17 home defeat by Biarritz, who will go through to the last eight as pool one winners if they beat Wasps in the south-west of France next Saturday.

Leicester, who take on Italian side Calvisano in their final group match, scored two tries in the last eight minutes to earn themselves a bonus point which could prove invaluable in the final reckoning.

A narrow win in France by Wasps would leave all three teams on the same number of points, unless Warren Gatland’s men secure a four-try bonus point, and send the Tigers through on tries scored.

“We’ve got to hope the team we have beaten twice can do us a favour,” said Tigers coach Jon Wells. “It’s not beyond the realms of possibility.

“We’re desperately disappointed, even more so because we’ve got to wish Wasps well.”

Leicester, who crashed to a dismal 23-8 defeat in Biarritz in October, trailed 18-0 after a lacklustre first half at Welford Road.

Their prospects looked especially bleak when they were reduced to 14 men on 53 minutes when scrum-half Harry Ellis was sin-binned for elbowing his opposite number Dimitri Yachvili in the face.

But they produced a tremendous second-half surge and, after near-misses by Ollie Smith, Andy Goode and Alex Tuilagi, salvaged a point thanks to converted tries from Tuilagi and Ellis.

“The spirit was there and we did a lot of good things for 40 or 45 minutes but it wasn’t enough,” added Wells.

“We could have had three or four tries in addition to the ones we scored.

“A lot of things didn’t go for us but we were responsible for our own downfall. They strangled us and didn’t let us play.

“For the first 25 minutes they were as good a side as we have come up against in the last three or four years.”

Biarritz, who scored first-half tries through lock Jerome Thion and winger Jimmy Marlu, made a mockery of their dismal away record in Europe to register arguably their finest win.

“Leicester are a very strong team and to win here is a great performance, even if the second half was not as good as it should have been,” said coach Patrice Lagisquet.

“I was not confident at the end because Leicester put pressure on us and we tired.

“It may be more difficult for us against Wasps next week. That will be a very difficult game.”