Aironi 12-28 Leicester | Heineken Cup Pool Four match report
Leicester kicked off their Heineken Cup campaign with a well-earned victory over Aironi but failed to secure a bonus point.
With Clermont Auvergne and Ulster making up the remainder of Pool Four, the two-time European champions would have targeted a maximum-points haul in northern Italy, but despite dominating the first half they were unable to run in the necessary four tries.
Tom Croft and Alesana Tuilagi crossed for tries in a rampant first-half display but Leicester took their foot off the gas after the interval and it was not until the 80th minute that Niall Morris crossed for their third try.
It is 10 seasons since Leicester won back-to-back Heineken Cup titles and they enter their latest assault on Europe following a dismal start to their domestic campaign. Hit by an excess of injuries and international call-ups during the World Cup Leicester won two of their opening eight Premiership games.
After throwing away a 17-point lead against London Irish last week their England fly-half Toby Flood admitted the Tigers let the down head coach, Richard Cockerill, and called on his team-mates to make amends here.
Cockerill made three changes to his side with Horacio Agulla the latest to join an extensive injury list that also includes Ben Youngs, Jordan Crane, Anthony Allen, Manu Tuilagi and Billy Twelvetrees.
Leicester were more than aware of the threat Aironi pose after they caused the biggest upset of last year's competition with a 28-27 victory over Biarritz, but they got off to a flying start at Stadio Brianteo in Monza . The visitors surged into a 13-0 lead within 15 minutes thanks to a pair of quick-fire penalties from Flood and a try from Croft.
With Sinoti Sinoti in the sin-bin Leicester stretched the hosts either way and after working the overlap Alesana Tuilagi released Croft to squeeze in for a converted try.
Cockerill's side continued to threaten in attack and they scored a second try after 25 minutes when Tuilagi took a short ball off Flood and crashed over.
The England fly-half converted to take the score to 20-0 but Aironi quickly hit back with a penalty. They continued their resurgence with a second Orquera penalty on 33 minutes to bring the scores to 20-6 at the break.
Flood struck the uprights within two minutes of the restart but he made no mistake three minutes later to stretch Leicester's lead to 23-6. Orquera quickly struck back with his third penalty and following sustained pressure he slotted another on 68 minutes to make it 23-12.
That appeared to rouse the Tigers and they should have grabbed their third try on 72 minutes but the unmarked Tuilagi failed to hold on to Matt Smith's wild pass.
Leicester continued to hammer away at the hosts but could not break the unforgiving defence until it was too late. Following some strong carrying by Thomas Waldrom, the visitors worked the overlap and their captain, Geordan Murphy, threw a pinpoint miss pass to fellow Irishman Morris for a touchdown in the corner.