Former England flyhalf and Leicester Tigers stalwart Andy Goode was sent off against his old side after he flew into Tom Croft with a high shoulder. It was his second card of the night, but was officially a straight red card, issued by referee Wayne Barnes.
Worcester suffered a 43-13 thrashing from the Tigers at Welford Road, who scored seven tries in the process. Scott Hamilton, George Chuter, Martin Castrogiovanni, Thomas Waldrom, Tom Youngs, George Ford, and Tom Croft all crossed the whitewash.
Croft was on the receiving end of a Goode shoulder charge late in the first half, which was a straight red card and nothing to do with his yellow card for a professional foul earlier in the half.
Warriors head coach Richard Hill said Goode was devastated to have let his side down, but all the blame for the heavy loss shouldnt rest solely on him.
“He has let the players down to an extent but you can’t blame anyone, it was one of those things. Andy wouldn’t have wished to do that at his previous ground. Andy is distraught, he is really disappointed about it and he has apologised to the players.”
“It was pretty tough after that. Once down to 14 men we had to reshuffle and at half-time we put a 10 on and we were down to seven forwards. It was hard all night. Leicester were exceptionally good in patches and I think we did as well as we could,” Hill said.
A citing and suspension could come into play, but Leicester Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill felt that there was no malicious intent and it should be left with the red.
“I know Andy very well, he played here for a long time. I’m sure it’s not the way he would have liked to come back and have that happen so it’s disappointing for him.
“Hopefully the red card will be sufficient and he can play the rest of the season,” he said.
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