To transport the one-ton rover and position it near the mound, engineers devised a complicated system that includes a 52-foot (16-metre) diameter supersonic parachute, a rocket-powered aerial platform and a so-called "sky crane" designed to lower the rover on a tether to the ground.

MSN: NASA rover closing in on Mars to hunt for life clues

Toby Flood responded with a penalty and the first try came after intense Leicester pressure with Crane bundling over from close-range after a five-metre scrum set the platform for the Tigers' number eight.

BBC: Leicester 62-15 Benetton Treviso