A disjointed second string Wallabies outfit snuck home to beat English Premiership champions Leicester 26-15 at the club's Welford Road ground.

In a match with plenty of heat on a near-freezing night in the east Midlands, the Australians scored the only two tries of the match through winger Lachie Turner and forward Scott Higginbotham.

Skipper Berrick Barnes booted three penalty goals, two conversions and a late drop goal.

The Australians led 10-0 after 11 minutes but the more settled Tigers gradually worked their way back into the game through the boot of five-eighth Billy Twelvetrees and the whistle of referee Jonathan Kaplan to trail 13-12 at the break.

The trend continued in the second half with the club side, boasting 10 internationals but missing their current Test stars, riding on their home crowd's support to earn plenty of possession and territory.

The Wallabies began brightly and Turner finished off a bust from halfback Luke Burgess to add to Barnes' early penalty goal and it was 10-0.

But two misses from Barnes and a caning from Kaplan saw Twelvetrees boot a succession of penalty goals in the 26th, 30th, 35th and 37th minutes for Australia to lead by just one at the break.

Turner got close to a double in the 54th minute when he just failed to hang onto is own grubber kick, which he beat the Tigers' chasers to.

Barnes missed another penalty shot in the 59th minute, but Twelvetrees made no mistake when the Wallabies were pinged in their 22, giving the home side the lead at 15-13 for the first time in the match.

Barnes' kicking had been far from convincing but he nailed the one that counted in the 72nd minute before adding a drop goal in the 79th.

Higginbotham finished the scoring in the 80th minute with a runaway try.

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