Entertainer Tuilagi has dazzling debut

The pony-tailed one, who had been too pre-occupied winning the Grand Final for St Helens to be overly bothered by the nuances of Anglo-Welsh tribalism, made a little go such a long way that one wonders what havoc he will wreak if someone like Leon Lloyd ever gets round to giving him the ball in a bit of space.

Even when the better passes tended to be accompanied by at least two Pontypridd players, Freddie took some stopping and in doing so he relied on considerably more than raw power, proving that he has the touch of a Fred Astaire. If the smiling Polynesian can lead Ponty a merry dance, then he ought to have a ball when the comparatively mundane Premiership stuff returns in three weeks time.

'He is so light on his feet. He was able to go dancing through us,' said Ponty coach Richie Collins. 'What the boys noticed was his ability to dance out of tackles. He's going to make a big impact but they didn't seem to use him a great deal in the second half which was nice for us.'

Tuilagi is conscious of being in the entertainment business, hence his cheery wave to all and sundry when he ran out for his first Union match since Samoa's quarter-final against South Africa during the 1995 World Cup. By the end of the match, the crowd were chanting his name and his family jumping for joy.

'I'd achieved my goal in League and luckily Leicester gave me the chance of joining a massive club where there's a big emphasis on family entertainment. My two boys, my wife and my cousin never missed a game of League and now they're excited about following the Tigers.'

Leicester will be relieved to succeed where they failed last season and make the last eight.

In making appropriately heavy weather of preventing Pontypridd from putting another torpedo into their European voyage, Leicester again fell some way short of last season's high standard. Despite Ben Kay's vaulting progress as the outstanding uncapped lock in England, their pack is a few cards short of the supreme force behind successive Premiership titles.

The indomitable spirit which distinguishes Pontypridd from every other major club in South Wales caused so many problems for Leicester that in the end they required a piece of high-octane opportunism from Austin Healey to see them through. Having charged down Lee Jarvis' laboured drop kick six minutes into the second half with Leicester sitting uneasily on a five-point lead, their stand- off made his opposite number pay in full.

An Evertonian from boyhood on Merseyside, Healey used his soccer skills to sublime effect in treacherous going, the second of his two hacks downfield being judged to such perfection that the ball stopped in-goal awaiting his arrival. When Ponty turned the heat back on, Healey marked his reappearance after nursing a dodgy hamstring for the previous month with a late drop goal.

Typically, he scoffed at the notion that Wales could have three times as many clubs through to the last eight as England. 'Maybe Wales are favourites for the Grand Slam then, if what you say is true,' he said. 'Their star players didn't spend last summer on tour. Ours did and that's the difference.'

If Ponty went into the competition with threats hanging over them in respect of a couple of after-match shindigs in France, they will now probably bow out of the competition but with their reputation enhanced, never mind restored. And at Welford Road they had the player who deserved the man-ofthe-match accolade more than the one who got it, Healey.

Michael Owen, a 19- year- old No. 8 from Church Village, may one day be almost as famous as his namesake.