Picture special: Diggin strikes twice as Saints sink Tigers
Northampton Saints 17 Leicester Tigers 13
Two tries from Paul Diggin sent Northampton Saints on their way to a superb East Midlands derby win.
But it was Ben Foden who was again the star, setting up one of Diggin's tries and scoring another to send the home crowd wild as Saints held off a second half fight back from arch rivals Tigers.
Myler got the first shot at the posts after two minutes in an electric atmosphere as Ben Kay failed to roll away from the tackle, but he missed.
In a frenzied start from Saints, Jon Clarke had a try disallowed and a fumble from Myler saw Tigers escape and win a penalty but Toby Flood missed from 40m as well.
Myler missed a drop goal from 35m after eight minutes as the crowd whipped up a great noise.
After 13 minutes Ben Foden's pace proved decisive, as from a Saints lineout they moved the ball to the opposite wing and the full-back burst through a gap to send Diggin over from 10m. Myler just missed the touchline conversion, but a 5-0 lead was well-deserved for the home side's rampant start.
Myler had another shot at the posts as Leicester failed to roll away again, but he missed from 45m.
But Myler redeemed himself. One dummy got Saints ground in Tigers' 22 and then another saw him skip past a defender and send Diggin over for his second try. Myler missed his fifth kick in a row, including the drop goal effort, to leave Saints 10-0 in front.
On 27 minutes Flood knocked over an easy penalty to reduce the arrears to seven. Saints won the restart and were awarded another penalty. From 25m Myler missed again. His sixth successive miss, 16 points down the drain.
Julien Dupuy tapped a kickable penalty, but Mark Easter dived in to give away an easy shot in front of the posts. Flood made it 10-6 totally against the run of the play.
Saints got the all-important first score of the first half and it was that man Foden. Saints ran back a kick and a lovely pop pass from James Downey saw the full-back sprint home from 25m.
Myler got the kick under the posts to make it 17-6 after 52 minutes.
Typical Tigers had not given up though, as Geordan Murphy grabbed his up-and-under and a quick tap penalty from Dupuy 15m out saw Flood pile over. The fly-half converted to make it 17-13 with 19 minutes to go.
There were some nervous moments as Tigers went for another come back, but the forwards held on to the ball for the last three minutes and when they won a scrum, Myler booted the ball out for a huge cheer.
Att: 13,582
Northampton Saints – Foden; Diggin, Clarke, Downey, Lamont; Myler, Dickson; Smith, Hartley, Murray, Fernandez Lobbe (capt), Kruger, Easter, Gray, Hopley. Replacements – Shields, Tonga'uiha, Day, Lawes, Reihana, Spencer, Mayor.
Leicester Tigers – G Murphy; J Murphy, Rabeni, Mauger (capt), Smith; Flood, Dupuy; Stankovich, Chuter, White, Wentzel, Kay, Croft, Herring, Deacon. Replacements – Kayser, Castrogiovanni, Corry, Newby, Youngs, Vesty, Hamilton.
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Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
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