Premiership Review - Northampton Saints 21 - 20 Leicester Tigers

 

I don’t really believe in curses.  I sometimes feel that I’ve been cursed with an inability to turn away second helpings of cake, but in reality that’s just the ‘healthy’ appetite of a ‘sturdy’ young man.  That said, you could forgive Northampton fans for believing in all sorts of paranormal mumbo-jumbo as Leicester came to Franklins Gardens for the Premiership semi-final on Friday night.  10 matches, no wins.  Spectacular amounts of controversy.  For one of the best clubs in England, it is obscene that something seems to go wrong every time they face up to the Tigers, even when they are favourites, as they were on this occasion.  And you can almost hear the crowd murmur ‘here we go again’ as their side went in 11 points down at half time.  This occasion, though, felt different from the off.

For those who weren’t lucky enough, we were left with BT Sport’s (admittedly excellent) TV coverage – and we knew we were in for a cracker even before kick off, as Lawrence Dallaglio got himself so worked up he pulled a grimace and pose we were used to seeing before he decimated southern hemisphere teams on a regular basis.  With the atmosphere crackling more than an over-cooked pork shoulder, both sides wasted little time in hurling themselves into one another.  The first 10 minutes were as frantic as they were brutal, with Luther Burrell testing Dan Bowden's defence with some direct running, but he was found wanting in defence on more than one occasion as a fired up Manu Tuilagi looked to put his England rival to the test.  Gradually the visitors began to probe the Saints' 22, with Tom Youngs in particular barrelling forward to great effect to remind Stuart Lancaster what he'll be missing this summer.  It resulted in a penalty for Leicester, and recalled fly-half Toby Flood made no mistake in drawing the first blood for the reigning champions.

Saints responded immediately, with Stephen Myler kicking intelligently and gargantuan wing George North starting to make inroads.  A smart kick through forced Ben Youngs to concede a 5 metre lineout, before North took the ball 10 metres out on the opposite touchline, only to be superbly chopped down by Mathew Tait.  The former England man then compounded the good work with a magnificent scrag on Kahn Fotuali'i as the Samoan attempted to sneak down the short-side in the game's first genuine try-scoring opportunity.

Phil Dowson then thought he had scored for Saints, but JP Doyle somewhat harshly ruled it out on the basis that Courtney Lawes had jumped early in the lineout, but minutes later Myler had converted a penalty to bring his side level after a 10 minute period of territorial dominance. 

They were level for all of one minute.  From the restart, a probe by Ben Youngs and a dancing run from Tait brought the Tigers to within 5 metres of the Saints line, allowing Flood to slip an easy pass to Manu Tuilagi, allowing the big man to walk in for a score, with Flood's conversion giving the visitors a 10 point advantage.  Unfortunately for them, they then very quickly gave the hosts a 1 man advantage as Niki Goneva was shown a yellow card for kicking the ball out of the scrum-half's hands.  To me, it was another harsh call, given that the ball was not in the hands when Goneva went to kick it, but it evened out the no-try ruling for Dowson earlier on in the game.  Myler added the ensuing penalty to claw 3 points back for Northampton.

Leicester, though, were beginning to look ominously potent in attack, despite some thunderous defence from the Saints backrow, with a Sam Dickinson hit on giant prop Logovi'i Mulipola a particular highlight.  It wasn't enough to disrupt the Tigers' machine though, as they rumbled deep into enemy territory to allow Ben Youngs to spot half a gap and squirm home for a try on his 100th Premiership appearance.  It was a great sight for Leicester fans to see their scrum half, struggling for form for so much of the season, bossing the game in attack and sniping with confidence once again but, more importantly, it opened up an 11 point gap after Flood's conversion.  Rarely do the Tigers yield such a margin, and you could almost feel the old doubts – the hoodoo – creep back into the Franklin's Faithful's minds.

Halftime approached and, despite a dazzling run from young winger Tom Collins, the hosts were unable to claw their way back into proceedings, with Julian Salvi and Ed Slater exploiting the fact that Northampton seemed to be sending lone runners into contact, giving easy pickings to the Tigers' chief pill pinchers.  17 – 6 at half time, and Saints were stuck in that same old nightmare against their bitter rivals.  Surely there would be no return from this.

The second half, though, brought with it a change of tide, helped by the sight of Leicester going down to 14 men for the second time in the game.  Dan Bowden hit Collins hard in the tackle and lifted the legs, the momentum taking the young winger beyond the horizontal so he landed squarely on his back.  By the letter of law, JP Doyle got this spot on by showing the Kiwi a yellow card – it was potentially dangerous because of the lift, but not actually dangerous because of the landing – but it once again got me frustrated at the law as it currently stands.  This was not a dangerous hit in any way – indeed, Johnny Wilkinson was famous for making similar sorts of hits – but the law states that Bowden simply had to see yellow for effectively tackling someone too hard.  Myler, though, had no such worries, as he nudged Saints 3 points closer to their nemesis.

The game was beginning to simmer, with tempers starting to boil and each tackle carrying just that bit extra venom.  Mathew Tait went on a sensational run from within his own half to almost score the solo try of the season but other than that, it was now all Saints, for the very simple reason that each carrier now had a designated 'rucker' immediately behind them, meaning Salvi was unable to get his hands on the ball.

The pressure was building, the tension was simmering and tempers were boiling, and it all came to ahead when Salesi Ma’afu and Tom Youngs had a harmless scrap at the front of a Saints driving lineout, before the Australian prop took things a little too far and floored the England hooker – one of the toughest cookies in the game – with a cracking left hook.  Ma’afu was rightly shown a red, whilst Youngs was somewhat harshly shown a yellow for instigating, despite replays showing that Ma’afu made the first contact with the face.  Overall though, it was probably the right call to send both from the field as a warning to both sides to keep their cool.

It didn’t really work.  Dan Bowden just escaped further penalties when he took out Ben Foden in the air, with the referee deeming that he was already committed to trying to catch the ball, before Goneva was handed a huge slice of luck in avoiding a second yellow when he prevented Calum Clarke from taking a quick throw.  If that was fortuitous, there was nothing fluky about the Tigers rearguard defence, which had been sensational under huge pressure, with Jamie Gibson, Bowden and even Ben Youngs all making telling contributions.

But something had to give – and something generally does give when George North is involved.  The big winger ploughed over from close range after a trademark catch and drive from the Northampton pack, and a nerveless conversion from Myler brought Saints within a point.  Substitute Owen Williams then slotted a penalty against the run of play to extend that gap, but by now all the momentum was with the home side, with Lee Dickson adding fluency to their game, despite the fact that the Tigers were now up to 15 men.  The crowd were driving their team forward, and Leicester looked tired – perhaps owing to the fact that they themselves had spent 30 minutes defending with 14 men.

With 4 minutes to go, Saints pushed a penalty to the corner, searching for a killer score.  Leicester’s fringe defence, so porous for so much of the season, was heroic, with the likes of Dickinson and Samu Manoa halted again and again.  But this was relentless.  And eventually Luther Burrell flung the ball wide to Tom Wood, and the England flanker stepped inside the Irishman – who had been magnificent in defence all day – to plough crash over for an unbelievable score.  The crowd went beserk.  From the depths of that familiar despair, Saints had clawed their way out of that hole and crushed their demons. Myler missed his conversion, but nobody seemed to care.

Saints took the restart, and all they had to do was secure the ball.  Leicester fought tooth and nail for it; they do not know what it is like to lose at Franklins Gardens, or what it is like to not be on the biggest stage at the end of the season.  Did a Northampton player fly in at the side?  Perhaps, but nothing could – or should – have prevented them from a deserved victory.  The ball was hoofed out, and Saints had achieved something which – 40 minutes ago – seemed impossible.  Final score: 21 - 20.

Leicester will lick their wounds.  They will be back.  That they were even challenging was a feat in itself, but they don’t do losing particularly well.  Neither to Saints for that matter, on this evidence.  And I think that will stand them in good stead as they travel – demon free – to Twickenham for their second successive final.

And as for the other semi final??

Saracens 31 – 17 Harlequins:  Saracens marched on to Twickenham but they were made to work for it by a gallant Quins side who led at halftime thanks to scores from Ugo Monye and Mike Brown, which sandwiched an effort from Kelly Brown.  Sarries, though, were determined not to let their London neighbours ‘do a Saints’ on them and responded with 20 unanswered points, as Brad Barritt and Chris Ashton crashed over to seal their place in the final.