Saints earn home LV= Cup semi
Saints 23 Leicester 11 Saints' defence secured a fourth win out of four to give them a home LV= Cup semi-final on Sunday March 14.
Two superbly taken first half tries from Paul Diggin and Alan Dickens gave Saints the advantage, but Leicester dominated proceedings for large parts of the game. The home defence, apart from a breakaway try, was solid to secure a 100 per cent pool four record.
Saints started perfectly with Alan Dickens charging down a box-kick to keep Leicester hemmed in their 22. It gave Saints a lineout on the Tigers 22 and from a throw to the back of it Paul Diggin flew on to an inside ball from Stephen Myler. The winger zipped past full-back Lucas Amorosino to dot down next to the posts. Myler converted to make it 7-0 after three minutes.
For the next 10 minutes Saints were under pressure as their lineout faltered and they kept giving away possession. The home defence held though, but another poor kick from Dickens saw Leicester keep the pressure on and win a penalty for offside after 16 minutes. From nearly 40m Billy Twelvetrees made it 7-3.
In his first home start since joining Saints 18 months ago Dickens then scored his first try for the club after some great offloading from Chris Ashton, Chris Mayor and finally Roger Wilson as the scrum-half nipped down the right touchline to touch down. From the touchline Myler made it 14-3 after 22 minutes.
Saints were seemingly in control, but on 27 minutes they gave away the softest of tries. A decent up-an-under from Myler was taken by Amorosino just outside his 22, and he then charged through the middle of Joe Ansbro and Mayor, scampered 40m and sent Twelvetrees over. Sam Vesty missed the touchline conversion to leave Saints 14-8 in front.
Bruce Reihana was then charged down from a quick lineout 10m from his own line. Saints survived but Dickens was left prostrate on the floor after saving the day.
Saints were beset by errors with Brett Sharman having trouble with his lineout throwing and after one overshot Tigers winger Alesana Tuilagi kicked through and just had to pick up 5m out to score but knocked on.
Stephen Myler opened the second half with a 30m penalty after good work from sLee Dickson, who came on for Dickens at the break with the scrum-half probably still feeling the effects of a bang to the head, and a charging Reihana.
Leicester had a chance to respond, but Twevletrees was just short from a 45m-plus penalty.
On 50 minutes Ansbro came close to scoring, After a little break by Soane Tonga'uiha, Ansbro came back on the angle at pace to get within two metres of the line. The forwards battered away but couldn't get over and Saints were eventually turned over.
Two minutes later Myler made it 20-8 with a penalty 8m in from the touchline and just outside the 22.
Twelevtrees knocked over an easy penalty with 19 minutes to go, but Saints were still 20-11 in front.
The second half followed the pattern of the first with Leicester largely bossing proceedings, but Saints' defence would not crack.
And Barry Everitt wrapped up the win with a penalty in front of the posts to keep Saints fighting on three fronts still.
Att: 13.092
Northampton Saints - Reihana; Ashton, Ansbro, Mayor, Diggin; Myler, Dickens; Tonga'uiha, Sharman, Mujati; F Lobbe (capt), Kruger; Easter, Best, Wilson
Reps - Long, Parkins, Waller, Cannon, Giles, Dickson, Everitt, Downey
Leicester Tigers - Amorosino; Tuilagi, Twelvetrees, Mauger (capt), Smith; Vesty, Ellis; Stankovich, Youngs, White; Hemingway, Kay; Pienaar, Woods, Deacon
Reps - Duffey, Harris, Bower, Conquest, Everard, Grindal, Staunton, Murphy
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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