Leicester Tigers 15 - 26 Australia: Wallabies take time to tame Tigers

Australia, fielding none of their Test side, were slightly fortuitous 26-15 winners against Leicester in a penalty-ridden game at Welford Road.

The visitors were always the more creative side but for large parts of the match were on the back foot and only two scores in the last seven minutes saw them home with a flattering scoreline.

The Wallabies were first into their stride, with Peter Hynes fielding a Billy Twelvetrees up and under to set up an attack.

Leicester were penalised and Berrick Barnes made no mistake to give the visitors a lead in the second minute. Five minutes later Anthony Allen lost possession in midfield and again the Tigers were penalised, but this time Barnes was off target with his kick. Leicester continued to infringe and from one penalty for a high tackle the Wallabies gained a position in the Leicester 22. Scrum-half Luke Burgess then broke from a ruck and evaded two tackles to send Lachie Turner over for a try which Barnes converted for a 10-0 lead.

Another good run from full-back Hynes put Leicester under pressure and once again they incurred the wrath of referee Jonathan Kaplan. This time Barnes made no mistake with a 45-metre kick. Leicester opened their account on 26 minutes when Pat McCabe was penalised for a deliberate knock-on and Twelvetrees kicked the resulting penalty. Four minutes later the fly-half kicked another from halfway but from the restart he missed another chance to reduce the deficit further. The game had no rhythm to it due to constant interruptions for penalties, with Twelvetrees being the major beneficiary with two more successful kicks to leave the Tigers just 13-12 down at the interval despite never remotely threatening their opponents' line. With 15 minutes remaining Leicester took the lead for the first time when Twelvetrees kicked his fifth penalty, but that lead was shortlived as Barnes put over his best kick of the night to restore his side's advantage and then dropped a neat goal. With the last movement of the match number eight Richard Brown broke away from a ruck 30 metres out for a try which Barnes converted.

In what was a good, old fashioned tour match, Leicester gave a nod to history by wearing letters instead of numbers on their shirts, which was a proud tradition at the club until the advent of professionalism.

Scorers: Leicester: Pens: Twelvetrees 5. Australia: Tries: Turner, Higginbotham; Pens: Barnes 3; Cons: Barnes; Drop goal: Barnes.

Leicester: G Murphy; S Hamilton, M Smith (D Hipkiss 76), A Allen, M Tuilagi; B Twelvetrees, J Grindal; P Bucknall, G Chuter (R Hawkins 65), J White, E Slater, G Skivington, T Waldrom (S Mafi 62), C Newby, J Crane.Australia: P Hynes; R Davies, P McCabe, A Faingaa, L Turner (L Morahan 65); B Barnes (captain), L Burgess; J Slipper, H Edmonds (S Faingaa 65), S Ma'afu, V Humphries, R Simmons (D Mumm 65), S Heginbotham, M Hodgson (P McCutcheon 65), R Brown.

Referee: J Kaplan (Rsa).

Attendance: 20,229.