Steve Borthwick’s Leicester kept up that winning feeling as they made it a baker’s dozen of victories to head into the Christmas campaign and put a stamp on Europe to add to the mark they have made in the Premiership. Win number 13 in all competitions did not come easy as the Tigers trailed 17-12 at the break and were forced to dig deep to get their second win in the Champions Cup. But in the end it was done the old Leicester way with grunt up front and no frills. Dan Cole made the difference as the entire front row was changed on 51 minutes and they helped dig the hosts out of a massive hole. Cole might be 35 in May, have played more than 250 times for Leicester, and have 95 England caps under his belt but in just over half an hour here he showed what an asset he could be, come the next World Cup in France. The tighthead last pulled on England colours in the ill-fated 2019 World Cup final in Yokohama where South Africa’s front row, and their reinforcements off the bench, pulled Eddie Jones’s side to pieces. Here it was the turn of Old King Cole, with help from hooker Julián Montoya and loosehead James Whitcombe to pull the pin on Connacht who snatched a losing bonus point thanks to a late drop goal from fly-half Jack Carty. It was not easy but Leicester did a Leicester and got over the line. “They really challenged us today,” Borthwick said. “They are a really smart team but what is pleasing is our team were able to grab hold of it and change it in the second half.” The key moment came when Connacht were down to 14 men with prop Finlay Bealham in the bin. Bundee Aki was summoned from midfield to bolster the visiting scrum but he could not stop them going backwards and his absence in the defensive line was exploited by Tigers as centre Dan Kelly put Freddie Steward, playing on the wing instead of full-back, through to score. That got Leicester to within a point and they made hay with the extra man when wing Hosea Saumaki ran rings around the Irish defence to score Tigers’ fourth try. Ben Youngs, at scrum-half, put in another invigorated display. The 32-year-old is good enough and old enough for Jones, so maybe Cole is too. “At half-time it clearly wasn’t working and we had to go to a set-piece game,” Youngs said. “We had to work unbelievably hard. At half-time we were able to galvanise ourselves, and go back to the fundamentals of our game. The cohesion and connections weren’t quite working. The finishers came on and did a great job to grind it out.” Leicester were missing club captain Ellis Genge and fly-half George Ford, and they had better get used to that as they are off to Bristol and Sale respectively next season. The official line was player rotation but the Tigers players on the pitch might have been looking into the stands when they turned it around from five points down. Hooker Nic Dolly had opened the scoring for the hosts after an early Carty penalty and when full-back Bryce Hegarty went over it looked like business as usual for Borthwick’s men at 12-3. But they were caught cold when Aki put winger John Porch through and Carty made the most of a midfield mess-up by the hosts. Freddie Burns, making his first start since Bonfire Night, had a day to forget as he and Kelly made a hash of things and Carty took full toll. But with a renewed front row, and a reversion to the old Leicester type, the hosts grabbed a stranglehold on the game, took advantage of their numerical superiority for 10 vital minutes, and squeezed the pips out of the Irish. “The yellow card hurt us, but that’s Leicester Tigers, they flexed their muscles and we paid the penalty,’ said Connacht coach Andy Friend.