Last-gasp Dupuy sends Leicester through to semis
Richard Cockerill doing a fine job as caretaker coach at Leicester
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Saturday, 11, Apr 2009 09:47
Julien Dupuy scored a last minute try to give Leicester Tigers a thrilling 20-15 win over Bath in the Heineken Cup this evening.
The game looked to be heading for extra time as there was nothing to choose between two evenly matched teams. Sam Vesty kicked five penalties for the Tigers while Shaun Berne and Joe Maddock touched down for Bath.
Dupuy broke Bath hearts as he sneaked through late on to score the match-winning try and setup a last four clash with the Cardiff Blues.
Leicester suffered an early blow as Toby Flood was forced out due to a dead leg. But it worked as a blessing in disguise as it meant Vesty moved to fly-half.
The 28-year-old gave Leicester the lead with his first penalty after 18 minutes after Nick Abendanon was penalised for holding on to the ball after being tackled. Vest y doubled the lead for his team with another penalty from 40 metres out.
Bath fly-half Butch James had a poor kicking game and missed a penalty after 31 minutes. But luckily his side came back into the game with a try.
Justin Harrison took the ball from the line-out and found Shontayne Hape who burst through the Tigers defence and off-loaded to Berne for the try. James converted and then added a penalty to give his side a 10-6 lead.
Vesty continued to be deadly with his kicking and added two more penalties to give his side a two point lead.
Bath though regained the lead with only 15 minutes left. Lee Mears charged down an attempted Geordan Murphy clearance and that allowed Michael Claassens to find winger Matt Banahan with a reverse pass and he sprinted clear and passed to Maddock for the try.
James hit the posts with his conversion attempt and then Vesty kicked his fifth penalty to make the scores 15-15.
Dupuy, a second-half substitute for Harry Ellis, was about to pass the ball from a ruck, but noticed the Bath players had all moved beyond him and burst through and then side-stepped past Maddock to win the game for Leicester.