A try from Anthony Allen and 17 points from the boot of Owen
Williams secured Leicester the victory over Northampton in the 230th
meeting between the sides. The win made
Tigers undefeated in 10 games against their southerly neighbours, tying the
record set between 1983 and 1990.
Northampton has a mental block about playing Leicester. In the whole of 2013 they only failed to win
5 domestic games and 3 of them were Leicester.
They haven’t beaten us since September 2010 and even with a 2 man
advantage at the end let it slip through their grasp. Northampton’s kickers missed 10 points whilst
Owen Williams was a perfect 6/6.
The first half was when Tigers gouged their advantage. Dominating not so much possession as
territory it meant that when the Saints erred it was within Williams’ scope to
eek the lead out further. The second
half was scrappy with Saints unable to harness their passion and drive.
Tigers were fast out of the blocks. The first half hour was a pitched battle of
bloody intensity as Tigers’ forward carriers battered at the Northampton gates. Hooley opened the scoring after Goneva failed
to roll away.
Tigers were hammering away at the Northampton line. The temperature was rising. Tom Wood’s deliberate knock on was deemed
only accidental by referee Wayne Barnes and Tigers had a 5m scrum.
And what a scrum. The
packs were fired up, straining at the leash like murderous dogs waiting for the
call of “set”. The first one is
reset. The second one stands up. Then Northampton pile through. As the bodies come up Tom Youngs’ face is
covered in blood. He’s seething. He says his been bitten.
No evidence is forthcoming and they go again. Straining every muscle and every sinew it’s a
dead heat.
Tigers play. It goes
left three phases then back right through Tuilagi and Crane. Ed Slater runs a powerful line from Ben
Youngs’ shoulder, ripping through three tacklers to within an inch of the
line. Northampton sense the danger; Phil
Dowson attempts to kill the ball. He can’t. There’s an overlap. George North is tempted out of the line by
Ben Youngs’ magnificent 25 yard floated pass and Anthony Allen is over
unmolested in the corner.
Owen Williams starts his perfect day with his most
challenging kick, from the right hand touchline he starts it wide right and
draws it just inside the right-hand upright.
Burrell is caught holding on in his own half then Kahn
Fotuali’i fails to release the man in tackle, Williams slots the 40m penalty
each time to stretch the lead to 13-3.
Northampton lost captain Hartley and prop Ma’afu before
halftime, Hartley injuring his shoulder attempting to ruck Jamie Gibson.
At the same time as Hartley was leaving the field Hooley
spooned a penalty kick wide right.
Northampton denuded of their captain came back into the
match strongly. Ben Youngs failed to
deal with a chip through and Louis Deacon did magnificently to track back and
hold Calum Clark just short. When the
ball went wide Dowson looked like he had the easiest of run ins, only to
falter, that mental block again, and check his run inside.
The pressure was not relieved though; Northampton had a 5m
line out. 2 minutes left before halftime
and with the drive being repelled Kahn Fotuali’i took the ball and ran. Using referee Barnes as a shield he escaped
Owen Williams and ran through Anthony Allen for the score.
The second half was a cagier, scrappy affair. The first 20 minutes of the second quarter
especially. Tigers often gained good territory
but through mistakes and Northampton’s excellent defence always came up
empty. Kicks were to the fore as both teams
only wanted the ball in the opposition half.
Hooley had a kick at goal following a high tackle, but again
he pushed it wide. Williams in contrast
slotted his attempt from a similar spot following a scrum penalty.
With Hooley hooked James Wilson was tried at fly half. He had no troubles slotting a penalty, after
Marcos Ayerza made no effort to release a tackled man, to get within a try of
the lead with 20 minutes remaining.
And Northampton went for it.
Perhaps too much. With confidence
flowing through their veins and memories of a vivid counter attack to score in
last year’s final they played from their own 22. And for a while it looked like working. Stretching the Tigers defence.
But they counted not for Ed Slater. The Milton Keynes Mammoth had other
ideas. Tackling George Pisi he slammed
him to the floor, rising and releasing his man like a swimmer gasping for air he
dove again to go for the ball. Pisi hung
on. Barnes blew his whistle. Williams slotted his kick plum centre.
Panic suddenly set in.
From the kick off there was no one home to claim Ben Youngs’ box kick; Dowson
eventually capturing it on the rebound before the Saints were driven back into touch
in their own half. Nervous and itching
to get in a good hit their entire backline was caught offside at the lineout.
Williams again. Lead stretched
to 11 points. 2 tries were not longer enough;
the Saints would have to find their kicking boots too.
Tigers made their subs with 10 minutes left. Trying to save fuel for the decisive trip to
Clermont this weekend. Northampton’s own
sub Lee Dickson raised the pace to run the Tigers defence ragged.
But still they could not crack the defence. It took two yellow cards gifted from Wayne
Barnes before they could break down the epic defence.
The first was for Ben Youngs. Youngs kicks through, Tigers muff the catch
and North breaks. To my eye he gets back
to his feet and competes fairly for the ball, arguably winning a penalty for
holding on. But Barnes saw no release of
the man and also saw fit to put Youngs in the bin.
Buoyed by the man advantage the Saints played wide. Tigers thought they had the choke tackle and
piled men into the maul, but Dickson showed ferocity to dig the ball out. With 7 Tigers men in the tackle plus the man
in the bin Tigers were severely underhanded and the Saints scented blood.
Fotuali’i, now at fly half, throws the miss pass to Samoan
test winger Ken Pisi, 10 yards out and the line at his mercy. Surely he’s in at the corner? Surely?
But no! Adam Thompstone is flying
in like a man possessed to knock him off balance and Scott Hamilton sweeping
round a full 30 meters from behind the ruck is there to bundle him into touch a
matter of millimetres from the line.
Just 2 minutes after the first card and Barnes is reaching
for another. Goneva, the mild mannered
Fijian, is fingered this time for, of all things, a dangerous tackle.
Goneva attempts to dislodge the ball with a swinging arm,
and gets a good piece of the ball. A
lesser player than George North would have fumbled it. But he holds on. With that penalty given Dickson taps it
quickly and goes again. Goneva leaves
him go the ten meters then seeing the pass already gone dives over him.
As Fotuali’i's cross kick comes to nothing Goneva is
binned. Madness. And the Saints fans have the audacity to
claim Barnes favours Leicester.
With the two man advantage the try was inevitable. Tigers simply could not cover all the
bases. They manfully dealt with the
driving maul but as play went centrally then back towards the touchline Tigers
were a man short and Ethan Waller dove in for the score.
Crucially Wilson missed the conversion and Saints still
needed the full fat 7 points for victory.
Tigers will be disappointed they let Saints get as close as
they did. Locked into the Saints half
and with the ball Tigers should have seen it out. But with 30 seconds of the game remaining and
for the first time all match Barnes decided that Kitchener had gone off his
feet to win a ruck.
I do not for one minute contest that Kitchener was off his
feet. He clearly was. But so was every player for at least half the
rucks all match. Rugby is a hard game
for players at the best of times, there is no need for refereeing
inconsistencies to make it harder.
So less than 30 seconds left and the Saints had the ball on
the 22. They needed a try and a
conversion to secure victory. Off the
top they run a wrap around off the inside centre, Burrell fumbles the ball,
backwards according to Barnes, North sweeping behind gathers and chips in one
motion. Pisi is at full pelt whilst Manu
and Hamilton have to turn. The after
burners come on for Tuilagi. He storms
past Hamilton to take the ball in front of Pisi.
The ball slips out of his grasp into touch. 10 seconds left. The Saints are too slow to form the lineout
and to the relief of the Tigers full time is called.
