Ayerza benefitted from Mefin Davies’s excellent pass off the floor to run in under the posts and add to his try against Worcester Warriors last weekend.
Aaron Mauger had made the initial break in midfield and found Alesana Tuilagi with his offload. Tigers enjoyed a slice of luck when Tuilagi’s grubber kick rebounded to Davies, but there was nothing fortunate about his pass off the floor that freed Ayerza to run in unopposed from 22 yards.
Wing Matt Smith added a second try for Tigers four minutes before half-time. Sam Vesty opened up the Exiles’ defence with an astute cross-field kick to pick out Scott Hamilton, who took play deep into the Irish 22. The ball was then recycled through Louis Deacon to Smith, who was tackled by Adam Thompstone as he crossed the line. Referee Dave Pearson consulted the television match official before awarding the try.
Tigers scrum-half Julien Dupuy was off target with the conversion but had already kicked three penalties and a conversion in an excellent first-half display by the visiting side.
The Irish score came through Shane Geraghty’s second-minute penalty and a try by Steffon Armitage on 29 minutes. The flanker picked up the ball on the Tigers 22 and barrelled his way past Alesana Tuilagi and Hamilton to score.
Hamilton had switched to full-back for the game with top try-scorer Johne Murphy coming in on the wing. Davies was making his first Guinness Premiership start of the season at hooker, and was joined in the front row by Dan Cole and Marcos Ayerza. However, Cole picked up an injury after three minutes and was replaced by Santiago Bonorino.
George Chuter took his place on the bench after having travelled with the England squad to Dublin as cover for his front-row colleagues ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Ireland. South African duo Marco Wentzel and Derick Hougaard were also among the replacements on their return from injury.
