A 13th semi-final in a row for Leicester, still evidently at or near the top of the English game, but they march resolutely into the play-offs these days, rather than romp with the confidence of yore. This was another win when they needed it, which they chiselled out in prosaic style, albeit that winning here is becoming an increasingly difficult assignment.
It will not go unnoticed that Worcester outscored them three tries to one. If they are still near the top of the English game, that peak is an ever more distant view. Had Freddie Burns not had his kicking boots on Leicester would have lost. Burns is now finding some real form, just as he prepares to leave for Bath. Twenty-three points from his boot saw the Tigers home, while Ryan Mills, who hardly kicked poorly, missed seven points’ worth.
After they try to digest the sad news about Ben Youngs pulling out of the Lions squad due to family illness, Leicester travel to Coventry in a fortnight to take on Wasps. Their home record is starting to look as formidable as the ones that used to be compiled at Welford Road. And that try-scoring rate should be of concern to the Tigers.
Yet the play-offs are a funny business. “There’s a belief that we can put on a performance that will put us really close to winning at Wasps,” said Matt O’Connor, Leicester’s head coach. “If you do that you’re a game away from the title. There are certain parts of our game that are as good as anything in the league. And there are certain that haven’t been.”
One of the former is, as ever, the set piece. Graft Worcester’s backs on to Leicester’s forwards and this would have been ugly. The disparity between the two front fives was wide and so Worcester could not cause as many problems as they clearly will with a better set piece.
Which is a shame, because, nothing to play for or not, they certainly played. On three occasions in the first half they had Leicester on the ropes, only to spill the ball as the heat turned up or fail to move it quickly enough. But on one other they did score – and a beauty it was, Ben Te’o putting Wynand Olivier through for the first cut, before Bryce Heem fed Chris Pennell, who went inside to the line.
It was a timely try, on the half-hour, because Leicester had just stretched their lead to 10 points. Their front row were much the more experienced, despite young Ellis Genge’s presence, and the scrum was a penalty machine for them. But they opened the try-scoring with a driven lineout that looked far too easy, finished by Tom Youngs in the corner. It helped Leicester to a three-point lead at the break, Burns immaculate from the tee, his third penalty, by which they held the lead, courtesy of another overpowered Worcester scrum.
The Warriors, though, did briefly take the lead three minutes into the second half, again profiting from the superiority of their three-quarters. Of some superb signings for their back division, Heem must rank as one of the smartest. The Kiwi wing was quickly on to a spilt high ball and after a vigorous duel with Adam Thompstone on the wide outside, handing off his opposite man twice, he made it to the corner.
So Leicester tightened the screw, dominating territory for much of the next 25 minutes, during which Burns added four more successful kicks, the first a sweet drop goal six minutes later to retake the lead.
Worcester nevertheless fashioned further chances. Heem’s inside ball was spilled by Alafoti Fa’osiliva with the line at his mercy, but the Warriors back division pulled Leicester out of shape again, Heem once more involved, so that Ryan Lamb could send Olivier away to the line. Mills could not convert from the touchline and Burns’s sixth penalty kept Leicester five ahead as we entered the endgame.
It was enough for them, but then so would defeat have been as it turns out. Within reach it may still be, but that pinnacle of the English game feels a way off yet.
