A TENSE match brought Leicester, the Zurich Premiership leaders, a narrow victory at Welford Road last night when Luke Abraham, a replacement for Neil Back, scored his first senior try as stoppage time approached.

Austin Healey and Alesana Tuilagi were Leicester’s luminaries for a patched-up team that retained an unbeaten home Premiership record spanning 14 months. London Irish suffered their seventh defeat in eight matches and are deep in the relegation mire.

The first quarter produced the easiest of penalty goals for Sam Vesty but precious little else. Leicester, sorely depleted by international calls, launched a 20-metre driving maul with Back in the van, but imprecision ruled. Barry Everitt, the London Irish fly half, then squeezed an attempted dropped goal past the left post that summed up proceedings.

The no-try deadlock was broken with a touch of Healey wizardry. Playing in one of his assorted roles at fly half, he produced a shimmy, dummy and long pass that led to a try in the corner for Tuilagi.

Healey, 31, even received a Christmas card from Sir Clive Woodward, the British Isles head coach for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand, and the message of his acknowledgement to Healey’s skills was clear. The former England utility player is eager to resuscitate his international career.

Back, whose international days are over, is likely to sign a new contract next season, extending his 15-year career with Leicester, who are eager to benefit from his experience, especially when the side is weakened by international demands.

A television replay ruled out a possible try for Rodd Penney for the Irish in the first minute of the second half before Healey, putting on a virtuoso performance, threw a floated pass that almost yielded another try. The Irish, responding positively to their Powergen Cup semi-final defeat away to Leeds last Sunday, owed much to Michael Horak, playing against his former club.

Everitt hit an upright with a 45-metre penalty before landing an easier one and Leicester led 8-6 with half an hour remaining. A familiar raft of replacements disturbed any belated pattern that the encounter could have developed. It remained a contest of maybes, but Paul Hodgson was decisive with a catch over his shoulder to thwart a challenging kick ahead from Ross Broadfoot.

Everitt kicked directly into touch when seeking a position from which to land a potential match-winning penalty. Territory became everything, but Leicester ventured away from a punting game with invigorating attacking moves. The Irish cover invariably scuttled back and across, but with the result hanging on a thread, Tuilagi charged down Horak’s kick for Abraham to score the clinching try.

SCORERS: Leicester: Tries: A Tuilagi (39min), Abraham (76). Conversion: Broadfoot. Penalty goal: Vesty (16). London Irish: Penalty goals: Everitt 2 (35, 50).

SCORING SEQUENCE (Leicester first): 3-0, 8-0, 8-3 (half-time), 8-6, 15-6.

LEICESTER: S Vesty; D Hipkiss (rep: R Broadfoot, 62min), L Lloyd, D Gibson, A Tuilagi; A Healey, S Bemand; M Holford, J Buckland (rep: G Shuter, 58), D Morris, M Johnson, L Deacon, H Tuilagi (rep: B Deacon, 61), N Back (rep: L Abraham, 35), W Johnson.

LONDON IRISH: M Horak; D Shabbo, R Penney (rep: N Mordt, 72), M Catt, J Bishop; B Everitt, P Hodgson; N Hatley, A Flavin (rep: D Paice, 80+1), R Hardwick (rep: D Wheatley, 48), R Strudwick, N Kennedy, P Gustard (rep: D Danaher, 61), K Dawson, R Reid (rep: K Roche, 53-60 and 80+3).

Referee: C White.