POOL THREE Leicester Tigers 12 Ospreys 6: NEW EUROPEAN campaign, new head coach, same old Leicester.

Only once in the past decade have they lost their opening Heineken Cup fixture here, and the Welsh regions are still to conquer at Welford Road.

The Ospreys departed with a losing bonus point, a potentially valuable commodity when the final pool sums are done, but the margin of their defeat could have been far worse. At least two Leicester tries went abegging in the first half and four penalties from Toby Flood represented a relatively modest return for a typically hard-working Tigers effort.

The absence of tries was scarcely the fault of Leicester's pack, who won a shedload of possession by picking apart the visitors' set-pieces and counter-rucking furiously. Tom Croft was superb and Martin Corry, on his 35th birthday, was his old self.

And yet the Ospreys could still have nicked it. With three minutes remaining they forced a five-metre scrum, which they wheeled through 90 degrees to rob Leicester of the put-in. With Julian White off the pitch, the Tigers' pack suddenly looked vulnerable and it seemed they might pay for their earlier profligacy. But Harry Ellis managed to obstruct Filo Tiatia and the replacement scrumhalf, Rhys Webb, and the ball squirted away, allowing Ben Woods to cut off the danger.

For Ospreys even a Shane Williams drop-goal, with his left foot, required video confirmation that it had gone over via a post and neither he nor Hook, who landed one penalty, could turn the tide.

LEICESTER: G Murphy, J Murphy, Hipkiss, Mauger, Smith, Flood, Ellis, Ayerza, Kayser, White, Corry, Kay, Croft, Woods, Crane. Replacements: Tuilagi for Smith (58), Hougaard for Flood (57), Chuter for Kayser (62), Cole for White (65), Blaze for Corry (74), Wentzel for Kay (69). Not Used: Dupuy.

OSPREYS: Pens: Hook. Drop Goals: Williams. Ospreys: Byrne, Walker, Bowe, A. Bishop, Williams, Hook, Wells, James, Hibbard, A. Jones, Wyn-Jones, Evans, Thomas, Holah, R. Jones. Replacements: Biggar for Walker (50), Webb for Wells (72), Bennett for Hibbard (44), Gough for Wyn-Jones (67), Tiatia for Thomas (50). Not Used: D. Jones, Smith. Attendance: 17,498.

Referee: A Rolland(Ireland).

• Guardian Service