IT WAS great to see the crowds return to Sixways. Whether this was due to Warriors’ win away to Cardiff Blues or a marketing ploy due to the firework promotion, but the near 10,000 crowd – our biggest of the season – certainly provided more atmosphere around the ground.
The first 20 minutes showed some real promise, with recent arrival Andy Symons ripping the Leicester defence apart, scoring on his home debut and providing the pass for Jake Abbott to go over.
However, the lack of accuracy from the boots of Symons, Paul Warwick and substitute Ignacio Mieres over the night proved costly as they missed 15 points between them, while Owen Williams scored all of Leicester’s first half points.
The margin between victory and defeat was narrow and the referee was to influence the result. Max Stelling’s ‘try’ was cancelled out due to a forward pass and seconds later Leicester went straight up the field to score an unconverted try.
He then harshly awarded a penalty try to the visitors, which Williams converted.
But Warriors refused to give up in the final ten minutes and some real determination resulted in Christian Scotland-Williamson scoring in the corner with just seconds left on the clock. Mieres rushed to take the drop kick conversion to keep the game alive, but he pulled it wide.
The perfect ending wasn’t to be and the fans returned home with a familiar feeling. Even though Warriors outscored Leicester on try count, kicks do win games.
By Spencer Morris