Scoring four tries against a team with a proud recent record at Welford Road, against the defending league champions, and conceding just a consolation score in the closing stages with the game won provides the stone-cold stats of a remarkable semi-final.
There are pundits and rival supporters who still insist on describing Tigers as a forwards-dominated team, but anyone watching Saturday’s showdown will have been impressed by the clinical nature of the scores from opportunist positions.
After just keeping Quins at arm’s length in the opening phases, Tigers had two superb last-ditch tackles to thank for being able to approach half-time without too much damage done. First there was the Tom Croft tackle on Danny Care as the scrum-half darted for the line on the short side. Alongside Adam Thompstone’s amazing stop on Mathieu Bastareaud in Toulon, it will go down as Tackle of the Season and just edge the prize because this time it was in the winning cause.
Rather than seeing opposition chipping away at the scoreboard, like Toulon in the European Cup, this time Tigers stood firm and maintained a tight grip just when we needed it most.
Croft halted Care, Mathew Tait clung on to George Lowe in another dangerous attack and half-time approached with Tigers facing a 6-9 deficit. Not the end of the world, but still enough to give supporters some jitters and the visitors a bit of a bounce.
But with the clock signalling 40 minutes gone, suddenly Tigers were ahead. Ball was overturned in contact and the Tgers had the vision and ambition to get it wide, with Flood and Crane setting up Vereniki Goneva for an impressive run to the line. Take that.
Another bright attack from Tait saw Care depart with a yellow card, reminiscent of Dan Cole’s in Toulon, and Tigers were in no mood to be charitable. Pressure continued to build and then, finally, Tait and Tuilagi set up Niall Morris to score.
The crowd sensed a slaying as Croft showed a clean pair of heels to score in the right-hand corner and just a few minutes later Morris broke clear and set up Tait for a popular score in the same part of the pitch.
By the time both sides caught their breath, Tigers were more than two scores in front and, with experience of closing out semi-finals, it seemed unlikely there would be a sting in the tail.
The pace and the precision showed there is a lot more to the Tigers than a big roar and a nasty bite. The claws are pretty sharp too.
