Match Report: Northampton Saints 31 – 12 Leicester Tigers

Northampton Saints stretched their unbeaten run of competitive game victories at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens to 17 with a 31-12 Premiership Rugby Cup victory over Leicester Tigers.

After Malelli Satala struck early for Tigers, it was the men in Black, Green and Gold who switched into their home groove to run in three tries before the break through Henry Pollock, James Ramm and Tom Litchfield.

George Hendy and Ewan Baker added further tries after the break, with Will Wand responding for Leicester, as Saints secured maximum points while handing out debuts to six players in the process on a buoyant Friday night crowd of more than 14,500 people. 

FIRST HALF

Early cheers of delight were turned to groans of frustration when a fourth-minute attack saw Saints backs division link beautifully for Archie McParland to dot down under the posts. However, the TMO intervened and Charlie Savala was penalised for a high tackle that prompted the turnover, and was punished with a penalty. 

Buoyed by the reprieve, Tigers set up camp in the 22 and had their own near miss when George Pearson was held up superbly by the combination of debutant Mitieli Vulikijapani and Hendy. 

At the second attempt due to a penalty advantage being played, the visitors made it stick with Solomone Kata freeing up a hand to assist Satala to dive over fro the game’s first points. Jamie Shillcock added the conversion.

Fortune didn’t favour Phil Dowson’s side to open the scoring, but a slice of luck did play its part in levelling the scores. After a series of ferocious carries and with the defence on the backfoot, George Makepeace-Cubitt aimed a crossfield kick towards Pollock, who stayed alert to a devilish bounce to slam dunk his way to a try that the man who assisted it, duly converted.

Tom Seabrook’s evening came to a premature end due to injury, with Ramm taking his place and it was the Australian who crossed the line next.

With Tigers temporarily down to 14 men after Tom Whiteley’s deliberate knock on, Pollock bulldozed his way through the heart of Tigers’ back line allowing Makepeace-Cubitt to delay his pass perfectly for Ramm to finish to the left of the posts. A successful conversion followed and Saints were 14-7 ahead.

Two minutes before the break, Saints had their third try of the encounter as the backs smelt blood on turnover ball and from two-on-two situation, Savala toyed with the defenders with dazzling footwork and hands to put Litchfield over in the left corner. 

SECOND HALF 

The bonus point was secured 13 minutes after the break after an irresistible period of pressure in the 22, controlled brilliantly by scrum-half McParland, resulted in Hendy arriving and bamboozling a defender on the goalline with a trademark sidestep to finish. 

Hendy would turn provider for the fifth approaching the hour mark as he held his width to put replacement Baker over for his first senior Saints try.

Dowson emptied his bench as Nathan Langdon, Sonny Tonga’uiha, Will Spencer and Jonny Weimann took the number of Saints debutants to six – in addition to starters Fyn Brown and guest Vulikijapani.

The fireworks in the final quarter were reserved for those intermittently exploding into the sky as the flow of scoring subsided despite Litchfield’s best efforts with a surge to the line that was somehow held up.

Tigers did grab some consolation through Wand’s late score but it counted for little as Saints started their Cup campaign with a victory heading into Nottingham’s visit here on Saturday 9 November (kick-off: 5.15pm) – tickets are available by clicking HERE.

LINE UPS: 

SAINTS: 15 Hendy, 14 Vulikijapani*, 13 Litchfield, 12 Savala, 11 Seabrook, 10 Makepeace-Cubitt, 9 McParland; 1 Haffar, 2 Wright, 3 Green, 4 Munga (c), 5 Thornbury, 6 Brown, 7 Scott-Young, 8 Pollock
Replacements: 16 N. Langdon, 17 Iyogun, 18 Tonga’uiha, 19 Spencer, 20 Kemeny, 21 Weimann, 22 Ramm, 23 Baker 

TIGERS: 15 Pearson, 14 Satala, 13 Wand, 12 Kata, 11 Kinder, 10 Shillcock, 9 Whiteley; 1 Whitcombe, 2 Theobald-Thomas, 3 Hoyt, 4 Joussain, 5 Manz, 6 Rogerson, 7 Ilione, 8 Hatherell.
Replacements: 16 Vanes, 17 van der Flier, 18 Mountford, 19 Chessum, 20 Williams, 21 Bemand, 22 Myall, 23 Threlfall.