Tigers late show condemns Saints to derby day defeat

It’s the hope that kills you and that is what will be most deflating for Saints supporters, who for long periods thought they would be seeing their team go some way towards avenging the three derby defeats of last season.

Not least when Alex Coles put them 21-10 ahead early in the second half, but from that point the hosts barely saw the ball as Leicester, for whom Freddie Steward scored a hat-trick, dominated from that point.

Northampton held out for as long as they could, but the dam burst to devastating effect in the last 15 minutes, with the torrent including four Tigers tries and three Saints yellow cards.

A frenetic afternoon began with Leicester opened the scoring after six minutes through a penalty by Freddie Burns from 40 metres after Courtney Lawes, one of Saints’ returnees, was penalised for not rolling away at a tackle.

Northampton had a quick chance to hit back following a line-out, but Juarno Augustus fumbled metres from the line after Lewis Ludlam’s ball inside to the South African.

More frustration soon followed as Dan Bigger went in under the posts after some great handling by Augustus and Lukhan Sakalaia-Loto, only for the ‘try’ to be ruled out by the TMO for Tommy Freeman’s long pass left for Rory Hutchinson in the build-up drifting forward.

However, the hosts put that disappointment firmly in the rear-view mirror with two spectacular tries in as many minutes to seemingly take a grip of the game.

By the 15-minute mark, they had been playing most of the rugby and this was rewarded when Rory Hutchinson was sent sprinting into space by George Furbank and he time his pass to put Alex Mitchell under the sticks.

Biggar’s conversion was simple and the cheers had barely died down by the time Mitchell sent Furbank into space down the left with another cutting break and it led to Freeman marking his comeback by scoring in the corner.

Another conversion by Biggar took the lead out to 14-3, and the Welsh fly-half then preserved that advantage with a last-ditch tackle to force Jimmy Gopperth to knock on just short of the line.

Guy Porter then knocked on five metres out as Leicester piled on the pressure in the closing stages of the half, and that finally told when Burns’ pass gave Steward a walk-in, with the former’s conversion making it a four-point game at the break.

Northampton found a perfect response four minutes after the restart when Ludlam carried well down the right before passing inside for Fraser Dingwall, who sent Coles in the clear to score, with Biggar converting from out wide.

But Leicester were swiftly back in the picture again, with Nemani Nadolo, far from the first time, wreaking havoc on the left wing before off-loading for Porter, who did well to finish.

Burns adding the extras hauled the score back to 21-17 and the Tigers were soon forcing Saints into retreat again, with some desperate tackling holding Jack van Poortvliet up in-goal.

With the hosts under siege, they lost Ethan Waller following a blow to the head, three minutes after he had been brought on, meaning Emmanuel Iyogun would have to tough it out for the remainder of the game.

However, penalties were beginning to pile up against Saints, who had Augustus sent to the sin bin in the 64th minute.

His team-mates continued to repel wave after wave of Leicester attacks, with a combination of Matt Proctor and Furbank doing brilliantly to stop Saints old boy Chris Ashton in his tracks.

Iyogun was soon off the field again as another yellow card reduced Northampton to 13 men and not surprisingly they could not hold out as Phil Cokanasiga’s pass sent Ashton diving over in the corner.

From this point, Saints’ world collapsed as George Martin scored after pounced on a loose ball caused by Mitchell deliberately knocked on Ben Youngs’ pass, meaning he too was sin-binned.

The return of Augustus didn’t stem the flow of points against the hosts as Steward scored twice in the closing stages to complete his hat-trick, set to a backdrop of home fans heading for the exits.

Match facts

Saints: Furbank, Freeman (Collins 78), Dingwall, Hutchinson, Proctor (James 73), Biggar (J Grayson 65), Mitchell, Iyogun (E Waller 58-61), S Matavesi (Haywood 65), Petch (Hill 52), Sakalaia-Loto, Coles, Lawes (Moon 50), Ludlam (Scott-Young 73), Augustus

Leicester: Steward, Potter (Ashton 65), Porter (Cokanasiga 61), Gopperth, Nadolo (Taufete’e 74), Burns, Van Poortvliet (Youngs 59), Cronin (Van Wyk 65), Clare, Cole (Heyes 59), Chessum, Green (Wells 49), Martin, Reffell (Cracknell 54), Liebenberg