UIster’s journey to the East Midlands was disrupted by wings of an airplane, and their flight cancellation on Friday proved an unfortunate precursor to events on the pitch on Saturday as Leicester’s wingers ran in five of the Tigers’ six tries in a bonus-point victory which sealed last-16 qualification.
There will not have been many occasions on a sub-zero evening under the lights at Welford Road where all of Leicester’s tries were scored by their backs but it was a Josh Bassett hat-trick, a brace from Ollie Hassell-Collins and a late run-in from Izaia Perese which secured what became a comfortable victory, with the Tigers scoring 26 unanswered points in the second half after a touch of the hairdryer treatment from head coach Michael Cheika at half-time.
Josh Bassett bagged a hatty for @LeicesterTigers tonight 👏👏👏. Instant #InvestecChampionsCup highlights ➡️ https://t.co/KA14hEKdop pic.twitter.com/gMwcnnUezD. “It was honest talk,” explained Cheika. “If I don’t say how I honestly feel, with a target in mind, then what’s the point in having half-time? I don’t want to just go through the motions. I don’t like doing it but I like that they responded and reacted.
“In the first half, when opportunities came our way – which we created – we just did not look like we wanted to go and take them. In the second half, we did. We probably created the same amount of opportunities in the first as we did in the second, but we took a lot more in the second.
