Leamy try a bright spot as Munster fall to Tigers

Munster 13 Leicester Tigers 17, Musgrave Park

Denis Leamy marked his first appearance in a Munster shirt in eight months with a try in tonight's pre-season opener against Leicester Tigers at Musgrave Park.

Leamy has been sidelined since injuring cruciate knee ligaments in Munster's Heineken Cup victory in Perpignan back in December, but he returned to action in this 17-13 defeat to the Aviva Premiership champions on Leeside.

Ian Dowling, Felix Jones and Darragh Hurley also made welcome returns from injury. There was also a Munster debut for 28-year-old former All Black centre Sam Tuitupou, who arrived from Worcester Warriors during the summer.

It was quite a scrappy first half in Cork, as both sets of players struggled to shake off the pre-season cobwebs.

Lining out in their new black and green away strip, Munster drew first blood in the 17th minute when Paul Warwick made no mistake with a penalty from 50 yards out.

Captained by Irish international full-back Geordan Murphy, Leicester brought an experienced squad to Musgrave Park and they took the lead in the 22nd minute when Samoan international Alesana Tuilagi got in for the opening try of the game. Toby Flood added the extras to give the visitors a 7-3 lead.

Warwick added a second penalty for Munster with 37 minutes on the clock, but Flood responded with a penalty on the stroke of half-time to restore Leicester's four-point cushion heading in at the break.

Leamy marked his return with a try in the 47th minute after some good work by Denis Fogarty. Warwick added the conversion to put Munster 13-10 ahead.

The home side's lead lasted just 10 minutes, however, as Tuilagi scored his second try of the game to put the visitors back in front. Again, Flood converted from a difficult angle.

Munster coach Tony McGahan introduced several of his younger guns from the bench in the closing stages, a number of whom impressed, none more so than Simon Zebo. The 20-year-old winger made a couple of impressive breaks to trouble the Tigers' defence, but Richard Cockerill's side managed to hold on for the victory.

Scorers: Munster: Try: Denis Leamy; Con: Paul Warwick; Pens: Paul Warwick 2

Leicester Tigers: Tries: Alesana Tuilagi 2; Cons: Toby Flood 2; Pen: Toby Flood