Plenty of drama when qualification goes down to the wire

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Saturday, January 19, 2013
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Leicester Mercury

Final pool games don't come any bigger than tomorrow's winner-takes-all showdown at Welford Road.

Here, however, are three previous final pool games which served up drama for Leicester Tigers fans.

Game: Ospreys 15 Tigers 9

Date: Jan 24, 2009

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Venue: Liberty Stadium

The finale of the 2008-09 pool stages culminated in Tigers making the trip to South Wales needing just a losing bonus point to top the group and guarantee qualification for the quarter-finals.

They duly got it thanks to a hat-trick of penalties from the boot of fly-half Derick Hougaard.

In a game that ended with no tries for either side, it was left to Hougaard and Ospreys' fly-half James Hook to exchange penalties.

Game: Munster 6 Tigers 13

Date: Jan 20, 2007

Venue: Thomond Park

The odds were not stacked in Tigers' favour when it came down to the final pool game in the 2006-07 season.

To secure qualification, Tigers had to achieve what no other team had done before – beat the Irish side at Thomond Park in the Heineken Cup.

Against all the odds, they managed to breach the fortress thanks to tries from Geordan Murphy and Ollie Smith, together with a penalty from Ian Humphreys.

Game: Calvisano 10 Tigers 62

Date: Jan 15, 2005

Venue: Campo Comunale

By the time Tigers' final pool match came round in 2005, their place in the quarter-final was out of their hands.

All they could do was ensure they secured a bonus-point victory and score as many tries as they could.

That they did, scoring 10 tries on their way to thumping the Italian side 62-10 – including a hat-trick for Geordan Murphy.

And with Edinburgh beating Perpignan, Tigers managed to qualify via the back door.

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