Cockerill points to cheating at the breakdown as Leicester vent frustration

HEINEKEN CUP POOL FIVE: Leicester Tigers 22 Perpignan 22:AT LEAST Leicester now know exactly where they stand. An inability to beat Perpignan yesterday effectively left this Tigers side needing two wins in January if they are to avoid making unwanted club history by failing to reach the Heineken Cup knockout stages for a second year in a row.

For an organisation which prides itself on being first among equals, it is a gloomy seasonal prospect.

It remains conceivable, as the director of rugby Richard Cockerill was quick to stress, that his team could progress among the best runners-up but an away quarter-final in the south of France is not much of a consolation prize. The reality is that the balance of power now lies with the Catalans and the resurgent Scarlets, thanks to an 80th-minute penalty by Nicholas Laharrague which sent an ominous shiver through an already frozen home crowd.

The Tigers, despite a shaky start, will feel that they should have won what was a typically hard-bitten match. Billy Twelvetrees, a late replacement at fly-half for Toby Flood, missed four kicks at goal, one of them relatively simple. Cockerill, though, focused on the murky interpretations of referee, Peter Fitzgibbon, suggesting the Irish official failed to punish Perpignan’s efforts to frustrate Leicester at the breakdown.

What really irritated Cockerill was that he knew precisely what was coming in advance and had even asked the tournament organisers to be vigilant in that very area. “Every time we got into their 22 they killed the ball,” he said.

“They came with a plan not to let us play. We spoke to [the referee performance manager] Donal Courtney at ERC and he assured us there would be zero tolerance. How are you supposed to play the game? We told our guys not to infringe and to roll away but it’s very difficult when teams come in from the side. If you try and play, you can’t play. It’s not the referee’s fault we lost [sic] but clearly the authorities have some issues to deal with. The sides who want to cheat at the breakdown are getting away with it more and more.”

Achieving refereeing consistency across Europe, sadly, is far from easy and this key game was always likely to be an awkward assignment for Mr Fitzgibbon.

Ultimately, though, it is up to teams to play to the referee and when it mattered Leicester’s composure let them down. An ill-advised piece of back-chat gave Perpignan the crucial 10 metres which allowed Laharrague to land the sweetest of penalty goals to level the scores at 19-19 and there was no disputing the fateful final penalty. It was conceded by the lock George Skivington for knocking the ball out of the hands of the scrum-half Florian Cazenave. Laharrague supplied the passion-killing blow.

Maybe things would have been different had Flood not been ruled out 90 minutes before kick-off, with a strained adductor muscle. Leicester’s scrum was far more competitive than the week before and the Tigers did well to quell early pressure on a surface which was distinctly frosty on the Crumbie Stand side. With the temperature below freezing, Perpignan were ushered into Ice Station Zebra. At 13-6, after Alex Tuilagi had blasted over from a quick tap, it seemed further pain could be in store.

Instead Leicester cracked. A blindside thrust from Henry Tuilagi after half-time gave David Mele enough space to squeeze into the right corner and Laharrague landed the touchline conversion.

From that moment this “thriller in the chiller” boiled down to inches, particularly when Twelvetrees hit the left upright from barely 15 metres out in the 71st minute. Even when the lock Rimas Alvarez Kairelis was sent to the sin-bin for taking out Steve Mafi in the air at a lineout, Leicester could not take advantage.

“We’re very happy,” said Perpignan’s Perry Freshwater, a former Tigers and England prop. “Our form away from home is not very good, particularly when the temperature is minus 20, so it was fantastic to hold on.”

As Cockerill acknowledged, it will be an uphill scramble for the Tigers from here. For home teams in Europe there is no such thing as a uplifting draw.

LEICESTER: Murphy (capt); Hamilton, Smith, Allen, A Tuilagi; Twelvetrees, Youngs; Ayerza, Chuter, Castrogiovanni, Deacon, Skivington, Mafi, Newby, Waldrom.

PERPIGNAN:Michel; Sid (Edmonds, 71), Marty, M Mermoz, Plante; Laharrague, Mele (Cazenave, 67); Freshwater (Pulu, 68), Tincu (Geli, 47), Mas (capt), Alvarez Kairelis, Olibeau (Tchale Watchou, 50), Le Corvec, Perez (Tonita, 71), H Tuilagi (Chouly, 60). Sin-bin: Alvarez Kairelis 73.

Referee: P Fitzgibbon (Ireland).

Guardian Service