Leicester clinch top spot and deny Wasps Champions Cup place

Some regular seasons end with a crescendo, offering an explosion of colour and sound that underlines a campaign well fought and serves as a platform for greater prizes in the playoffs. Others sparkle with the intensity of a toddler’s birthday candle, proving as enticing as spit-covered cake. The 24th and final league match each for Leicester Tigers and Wasps fell in the latter category.

It was error strewn and bereft of show-stopping moments. Even a boring rugby match – and this one might well be described in such terms – is filled with big hits and enthusiastic runs, so those don’t deserve mention here. What’s worth noting is that Leicester’s full-strength team failed to get out of second gear while Wasps missed a chance to sneak into next year’s Champions Cup. Both sets of coaches will be annoyed by something when they wake up on Sunday.

And it looked so promising at first. Just two minutes in, Leicester had the feed to a line-out inside Wasps’ 22. It went to the back and was quickly fizzed to George Ford in midfield. A short pass found Guy Porter on the angle who brushed off two inept tackles and rounded a flat-footed Paolo Odogwu to score under the posts. Ford’s conversion was good and another mauling at the hands of the Tigers was on the cards.

What followed was below par for a team with title aspirations. They conceded a penalty while in possession of a driving maul and another after having the feed to a scrum. Later, a line-out throw from Charlie Clare sailed clear over his jumpers. When Ollie Chessum gave away a penalty in the maul, coach Steve Borthwick berated him from the gantry. The Tigers’ coach prowled with the menace of a caged Bengal, grinding his teeth and daring anyone to make eye contact with him.