Tigers Development XV fought out a battling 21-19 win away to Newcastle Falcons on Monday night as they kept their hopes of Guinness A League glory very much alive. Andy Key's side scored tries through half-backs Ben Youngs and Ian Humphreys to maintain their position at the top of the Northern Conference with just one game remaining.

The match also saw valuable game time for a number of players pushing for first-team inclusion for this Sunday's Heineken Cup Quarter-final clash wth Stade Francais at Welford Road.

Tigers Development XV now face Sale Jets at home on April 9 in their final league game of the regular season, with a win set to guarantee them a place in the Guinness A League Final for the third season in a row.

"It wasn't a great performance, but it was a good, dogged victory," said Key. "We knew we would be in for a tough time in Newcastle as they're always very competitive on their home turf. Everyone stood up to be counted and that shows the spirit of the squad as a whole. It was an important win and it sets us up nicely for the match with Sale next month."

Tigers Development XV vs Newcastle

15 Johne Murphy
14 Vavae Tuilagi
13 Tom Youngs 
12 Matt Cornwell (captain)
11 Ollie Dodge
10 Ian Humphreys
9 Ben Youngs

1 Dan Cole
2 James Buckland
3 Dave Young
4 Gregor Gillanders
5 James Hamilton
6 Henry Tuilagi
7 Luke Abraham
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements

Matt Parr
Greg Sammons
Ben Pienaar
Ben Herring
Alex Shaw
Sam Vesty
Mitchell Culpin

*A full match report will appear on this site on Tuesday morning.