Leicester Tigers vs Exeter Chiefs match report: Official blunders steal thunder away from dangerously rampaging Manu Tuilagi

Leicester Tigers 31 Exeter Chiefs 27

The ever-threatening Manu Tuilagi charges through Exeter’s defence during Leicester’s victory at Welford Road (Getty Images)

Quite a cabaret, one way or another. When Manu Tuilagi spends his Sabbath smashing opponents to all points of the union compass and scores a decent try into the bargain, he generally goes on to dominate the after-match discussions.The fact that he was not the talk of the East Midlands last night was down to the officiating, or otherwise, at the heart of this remarkable contest. Take a bow Matthew Carley, together with your many and varied assistants.

If Rob Baxter, the Exeter head coach, has ever been more exasperated after a game of rugby, the details passed from the memory bank many moons ago. Utterly bemused by some of things he saw as his players set about cutting a 31-6 deficit midway through the third quarter, and even more befuddled by the things he thought he should have seen but didn’t – a penalty try and a yellow card for the Leicester outside-half Freddie Burns, for instance – he engaged Carley in deep and meaningful discussions the moment the final whistle was blown.

Baxter continued the debate with everyone else after pointing out to his players, perfectly correctly, that for all the failings of officialdom, they had not been conned or diddled out of a victory.

“We wasted 40 minutes of rugby in the first half by not dealing with the pressure Leicester put us under and failing to play like ourselves,” he said. “Not until we conceded those two tries early in the second half did we attack in an Exeter way. We can’t blame the referee for that.”

At which point, he then confessed that at times, he simply “didn’t know what was going on out there”.

There were plenty of incidents that might have yielded the West Countrymen a penalty or more, had they been spotted by Carley, or either of his two on-field assistants, or by the video ref, also known as the “eye in the sky” or the “Television Match Official” (always spelled with capital initials in recognition of his ever-growing importance in modern-day union). The most transparent of them occurred on 53 minutes, when Burns perpetrated the most laughably obvious deliberate knock-on of a scoring pass a few metres from his line, yet escaped serious censure.

Baxter’s face was an absolute picture, and his expression did not change much from there on in, even though comeback tries from the scrum-half Dave Lewis, the centre Ian Whitten and the substitute back-rower Kai Horstmann secured a losing bonus point that may prove invaluable come the end of the regular season. “No one wants the referee to make calls on things he doesn’t see,” the coach commented, “but there are three other guys involved.” It was hard to argue.

Just as it would have been difficult to mount a case on behalf of Tuilagi had he been penalised for two sickeningly heavy tackles: the first on the visiting full-back Phil Dollman, the second on the lock Geoff Parling – an old colleague of his at both club and international levels. Neither hit was high, strictly speaking, and neither appeared to be late. But it was a moot point whether the spherical midfielder used his arms in the way the law demands; if he continues in this vein he will cause some poor soul a serious mischief.

If they are wise, the sport’s administrators will look very carefully indeed at this style of tackling. Only last week, dozens of health professionals fired another shot across the union bows by raising concerns about the dangers inherent in an afternoon’s thud and blunder. If rugby is serious about protecting itself from the health-and-safety movement by heading it off at the pass, it needs to address the issue as a matter of urgency.

The potential for carnage in contact may have forced Gareth Steenson, the Exeter outside-half, into a rushed pass in midfield on the half-hour – an error punished by Burns, who unleashed a pearl of a kick to present Leicester with an attacking line-out five metres out. A couple of drives later, the more meaningful of them involving the busy hooker Harry Thacker, the home side earned themselves a penalty try and a 10-3 lead.

Tuilagi, ox-strong on the carry but less than precise with his passing, claimed the second try a couple of minutes later, rampaging in unchallenged after some hard running from the Fijian wing Vereniki Goneva and a miraculous one-handed catch in open field by the Argentine prop Marcos Ayerza.

Then, immediately after the break, came two hammer blows in as many minutes: the first from the centre Peter Betham, who ran in a spilled ball from 60 metres; the second from the wing Adam Thompstone, who put himself on the shoulder of the highly effective Lachlan McCaffrey following Thacker’s long throw over the back of a line-out.

It was only then that Exeter sought the best of themselves… and found it. Bolstered by a strong scrummaging performance from the replacement props Alec Hepburn and Harry Williams, they gave the Tigers a proper hurry-up in the last quarter.

“It’s not often you come to Welford Road, win the scrum battle and lose the game,” Baxter sighed.

Very true. By the same yardstick, it is not often an entire platoon of match officials get their knickers in such a twist simultaneously.

Scorers

Leicester: Tries penalty try, Tuilagi, Betham, Thompstone; Conversions Burns 4; Penalty Burns. Exeter: Tries Lewis, Whitten, Horstmann; Conversions Steenson 3; Penalties Steenson 2.

Teams

Leicester: T Bell; A Thompstone, P Betham, M Tuilagi, V Goneva; F Burns (O Williams, 64), J Kitto; M Ayerza (R Brugnara 59), H Thacker (M Van Vuuren, 78), L Mulipola (F Balmain, h-t and 71), M Fitzgerald (G Kitchener, 75), D Barrow (M Williams, 64), T Croft, L McCaffrey, E Slater (capt).

Exeter: P Dollman; M Jess (M Bodilly, 74), I Whitten, S Hill, J Short (W Hooley, 75); G Steenson, D Lewis (W Chudley, 57); M Low (A Hepburn, 57), J Yeandle (capt, E Taione, 69), T Francis (H Williams, 57), O Atkins (L Stevenson, 24-26 and 64), G Parling, D Ewers (K Horstmann, 59), J Salvi, D Armand.

Referee: M Carley (Kent).