Leicester 18-13 Harlequins

Leicester (9) 18
Pens: Twelvetrees 6
Harlequins (6) 13
Tries: Williams Cons: Evans Pens: Evans 2

Twelvetrees kicked all of the Tigers' points in a man-of-the-match performance

A near-faultless kicking display by stand-in Leicester fly-half Billy Twelvetrees ensured a 18-13 win over Harlequins in the Premiership.

Nick Evans booted Quins into a 6-0 lead but the visitors were unable to make more of their dominance and Twelvetrees gave the hosts a 9-6 half-time lead.

Leicester's grit allied to Twelvetrees' precision put them 12 points clear.

But Harlequins kept plugging away and a late try from Tom Williams earned the London side a losing bonus point.

Quins took the lead inside two minutes when Evans slotted home after the Londoners destroyed the Leicester front row and the New Zealander doubled his side's lead on 10 minutes after the Tigers were caught offside.

Quins were soon on the attack again, but a Williams try on 15 minutes was disallowed for a forward pass by Tom Guest after Evans' delightful inside pass split the Tigers line.

Two superb counter attacks on each wing - most notably a bruising run by Manu Tuilagi - lifted the mood at Welford Road, if not the perpetual thick fog.

Twelvetrees got the hosts off the mark after 25 minutes before Evans needlessly knocked a Leicester kick into touch and then butchered a certain try when he dropped Guest's pass after the number eight had broken out from Quins' 22.

That wastefulness seemed to inspire the hosts and Thomas Waldrom's run saw Chris Robshaw gift Twelvetrees an equalising penalty for not rolling away in the tackle.

Five minutes before half-time the Leicester stand-off put his side in front with an enormous penalty kick from inside his own half.

After the break Leicester were utterly dominant as Robshaw twice gave away penalties at the breakdown and Twelvetrees extended the lead by a further nine points - including another huge kick from inside his own half.

Leicester grew in confidence as the game wore on and Waldrom and Jordan Crane weighed in with some brilliant carries.

Quins started to chase the game and despite some promising breaks they were always undone by simple errors.

Two minutes before time the visitors worked Williams into the right corner and Evans's conversion ensured a frantic finish but to no avail as their winless Premiership record at Welford Road continues.

The only concern for Leicester was England second row Geoff Parling - on his first game back after months out with a neck injury - had to be helped from the field just one minute after coming off the bench.

Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill:
"I was delighted with the players. We played on the back foot in the scrum a little bit, which we are not used to, but I thought the spirit and willingness to roll our sleeves up to get the victory was key.

"And it was a key win within the context of the season as they would have fancied their chances after winning in the LV= Cup here.

"The boys tackled themselves to a standstill on a heavy ground and we were smart tonight. When we got a foothold in the game and got our penalties, Billy was pretty smart, kicking them from his own half as well."

Harlequins director of rugby Conor O'Shea:
"It was a case of what could have been but our players are sick of saying what could or should have been.

"It was a game we believed we could win and a game in which we created enough chances in the first half.

"In the second half we gave away a lot of penalties and they played territory well.

"We played to the bitter end and created chances but, at times, it looked like it was harder not to score than to score."

Leicester: Murphy (capt); Hamilton, Smith, Allen, M Tuilagi; Twelvetrees, Grindal; Bucknall, Chuter, White; Slater, Skivington; Waldrom, Newby, Crane.

Replacements: Replacements: Parling for Slater (50), Mafi for Parling (51).

Harlequins: Brown; Lowe, Smith, Turner-Hall, Williams; Evans, Dickson; Jones, Gray, Johnston; Vallejos, Robson; Robshaw (capt), Skinner, Guest.

Replacements: Chisholm for O. Smith (65), Brooker for Gray (50), Kohn for Vallejos Cinalli (60).

Att: 17,441

Ref: Wayne Barnes (RFU).