Aviva Premiership Big Match Review - Leicester Tigers 27 - 32 Saracens

The way a tragedy generally works is to build you up to a state of hope, almost elation and then, with crushing inevitability, swoop towards unavoidable disaster; and for the Leicester fans trudging away from Welford Road on Saturday night, they must have felt as if they'd just seen a sporting interpretation of Romeo and Juliet unfold before them.  OK, this wasn't so much a Shakespearean emotion as it was a shaken-up on, but the melancholy feeling at the end would have been just the same.

For the Fez-heads however, this was ominously good.  Eleven points down at the break and completely out of the running, an outstanding role-reversal saw them smash four tries past the sorry Tigers, with England winger David Strettle giving more than a subtle nudge to Stuart Lancaster as he demonstrated his finishing abilities with aplomb.  In a pulsating game in which both sides showed decent degrees of attacking intent, there was only ever one side who seemed destined to walk away with the win – and bizarrely, that certainty switched teams at half time.

In snowy conditions, expectation may have been at drifting towards another attritional kick-fest, which characterised the teams' previous meeting this season – a 9-9 draw at Wembley Stadium – and that certainly seemed to be the case as the visitors ground out a penalty for Charlie Hodgson to convert after 4 minutes.  But that start proved to be a tad misleading.  George Ford, who gave the very definition of a hit and miss performance, was creating gaps with his footwork and exploiting them with his hands – twice old stager Geordan Murphy galloped clear to send the Crumbie terrace wild – but unfortunately the teenager had forgotten his kicking boots, missing two straightforward kicks at goal.  It must be a concern for both Leicester and his future employers, Bath, that his kicking has degenerated so obviously this season. 

When Ford did get the Tigers on the board with a simple kick, it was swiftly followed by a close-range score from flanker Julian Salvi, following a fine lineout drive and a big charge by the not-inconspicuous prop Longovi'i Mulipola.  This was followed swiftly by one of the tries of the season – remarkable considering the conditions – that started from a scrum on the Leicester 22.  Ford, under pressure, danced past the onrushing Will Fraser and put Murphy into the gap.  The Tigers legend found Thompstone on the left who, in a great show of strength, held off James Short with a hand-off for a full 15 metres before being hauled to ground.  When the ball was recycled, Ford dinked the ball beautifully over the top for centre Dan Bowden to follow and touch down.  Crowd ecstatic; Leicester out of sight, surely?  Another penalty on the stroke of halftime by Hodgson didn't do anything to change that expectation.
 

The second half itself began a fairly quiet affair.  The calm before the storm.  Both sides kicked for territory, but it was the old master Hodgson who had the better success in gaining field position and it was from a promising station  in the Leicester 22 earned by his boot that the Saracens revival began.  David Strettle attacked the blindside of a ruck and, with a fizzing injection of pace, left Matt Smith and Sam Harrison for dead before looping round to score under the posts.  That Saracens were actually even in the game had left the Welford Road faithful stunned, but before they had time to absorb the fact that they were in for a scrap, Short exploded down the right wing before bamboozling Geordan Murphy with some footwork and going over in the corner, taking the score to 18-17 in favour of Sarries.  Game on.

It was almost game over 2 minutes later, however.  A great thrust by replacement scrum half Neil De Kock  gave Saracens front foot ball and Joel Tomkins showed off his passing game as he rocketed a miss-pass to Strettle, who scored Sarries' 3rd try in 6 minutes.  The game had been turned well and truly on it's head by this point, and a penalty from Ford did little to stem the tidal wave of pressure from the men in white.  Chris Wyles was the next beneficiary of an unusually generous Leicester defence, swatting off Bowden on his way over into what was quickly becoming a very welcoming left hand corner for the visitors.  It took the score out to a thumping 32 – 20 scoreline and, although the Tigers were awarded a penalty try after a deliberate knock on by Strettle, there was no denying that Saracens were the scene stealers on the night.

The win sees Saracens open up a five point gap in second place, meaning a home semi-final is now theirs to lose.
 

 

 

Let's see what happened around the rest of the grounds in the Premiership:

Sale Sharks 21 – 30 Harlequins: Despite going down early to a Cameron Shepherd try, Quins rallied through Tom Williams, Nick Easter and Charlie Matthews, before Richie Vernon and Sam Tuitupou added scores that made the outcome seem closer than it really was.  The win keeps Quins top and Sale bottom of the Premiership.

Gloucester 29 – 23 Worcester Warriors:  An incredible last minute penalty try gave the Cherry and Whites a win over the Warriors after Errie Claassens was adjudged to have tripped Jonny May on his way to the line, despite it appearing though cover was coming across.  Gloucester had been behind due to visiting scores from Josh Matavesi and Alex Grove, with a score from Henry Trinder the home side's response.

Northampton Saints 25 – 23 Bath: Two tries from Elliot Daly saw Saints edge a tight encounter at Franklin's Gardens.  The visitors grabbed a penalty try and a score from Semesa Rokoduguni before Elliot grabbed his second with just 7 minutes remaining to snatch a victory.

Exeter Chiefs 47 – 16 London Welsh:  London Welsh were hammered in their 6th successive Premiership defeat, which sees them remain vulnerable towards the bottom of the table.  The Chiefs registered scores through Jack Yeandle, Tom Hayes, Damian Welsh, Sireli Naqelevuki and Jack Nowell, with Welsh only crossing the whitewash through a solitary Phil Mackenzie try.

London Irish 30 – 19 London Wasps  A strong second half performance saw Irish move away from the relegation battle and towards safety on Sunday.  Shane Geraghty put the Exiles ahead before that man Christian Wade got Wasps back into it, taking a 16-14 lead into half time.  Homer's boot and the pace of Marlon Yarde did the rest of the damage,  with the young speedster finishing off a great team try to clinch the win.