LONDON, 10 January 2005 — Twice champions and competition favorites Leicester were stunned by Biarritz for the second time this season when the French side won a momentous Heineken Cup clash 21-17 at Welford Road yesterday.
The fully deserved victory completed a notable double for Biarritz, who won the home fixture 23-8 in October. It left them top of the Pool One on 18 points and set up a huge final round of fixtures in Europe’s top club competition next Saturday.
Cup holders Wasps thumped Calvisano 45-14 to go second on 15 points, leaving Leicester third on 14 thanks to a vital bonus point gained at the death yesterday.
Biarritz host Wasps and Leicester visit winless Calvisano next week.
The pool winners — still any of the three — qualify for the quarter-finals, with the runners-up hoping their points and try count will be one of the two best from the six pools.
Biarritz shocked Leicester with a pushover try by Jerome Thion in the fifth minute before the boot of Dimitri Yachvili, a Damien Traille drop goal and a Jimmy Marlu try stretched the lead to 18-0 at halftime.
Leicester’s frustration boiled over early in the second half when scrumhalf Harry Ellis elbowed Yachvili and was sin-binned, the Frenchman picking himself up to slot the resulting penalty. Leicester recovered to spend almost the entire remaining 35 minutes battering the Biarritz line but had to wait until the 76th minute for Alex Tuilagi to cross it as the French defended superbly.
Ellis made amends for his indiscretion with an injury-time try that was converted by Andy Goode to earn a vital bonus point for losing by less than seven points.
“We showed a great spirit and a strong heart and tackled, tackled, tackled,” Biarritz captain Thomas Lievremont told Sky Sports.
Wasps, beaten twice by Leicester last month, wasted little time doing what they needed to stay in contention -- notching four tries to secure a bonus point.
Mark van Gisbergen, Josh Lewsey, and a Jonny O’Connor double put the game in the bag by the break and a second for Van Gisbergen and further scores for Craig Dowd, Tom Voyce, Lawrence Dallaglio and Ben Gottin made it nine tries in total.
With the need for a bonus point paramount and the group potentially to be decided on tries scored, Wasps did not even attempt to convert their tries and kicked none of their penalties.
In the day’s other game, Northampton came from behind to win 22-20 at Llanelli in Pool Three.
A brilliant individual try by England hooker and club captain Steve Thompson two minutes from time won it for Northampton, who had trailed all match.
Northampton softened up the home defense with a period of sustained pressure before Thompson collected the ball on the left, cut through two tackles and produced an unlikely sidestep to touch down under the posts.
Paul Grayson, who had earlier landed five penalties, converted to make it 22-20.
Last season’s runners-up Toulouse remained top of Pool Three on 19 points with a 30-10 victory over Glasgow on Friday.
Northampton are second on 16 and with a home game against winless Glasgow to come have a great chance of making the last eight.
Leinster became the first side to guarantee a quarter-final slot when they scored two tries in the last three minutes to win 27-23 at Bath on Saturday.
Newcastle, the only other unbeaten side after four rounds, went down 33-12 in Perpignan and lost England flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson with a knee injury that will keep him out of action for at least a month.
Munster maintained their remarkable unbeaten home record with a 20-10 victory over Neath-Swansea Ospreys and there were also wins for Treviso, Newport-Gwent, Castres, Ulster and Stade Francais.
