Tigers do the double on Northampton in Gallagher Premiership

A Freddie Burns masterclass lead Leicester to a physically dominating 35-20 victory over derby rivals Northampton.

A derby day under the lights, expected to be dominated by league leaders Leicester took a start very few expected. Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell acted brilliantly as the Tigers defence all froze to what they believed was a knock-on to take a fifth-minute lead.

The lead only lasted until the 13th minute before Richard Wigglesworth popped the ball to Nemani Nadolo to take the ball under the posts and to regain the Tigers’ confidence to take charge of the 7-5 game.

Saints played a dangerous game early on conceding three penalties inside the opening 15 minutes which would end up being a warning of what was to come.

Fly-half Burns capitalised to kick one through the posts, making the score 10-5. Penalties have been a problem for Northampton this season, with an average of over 14 per game, more than any other Gallagher Premiership side.

A quick-thinking Wigglesworth caught Northampton offside which lead to Burns kicking exquisitely inside five metres. A strong, dominating set of phases later saw Nadolo come off his wing to get his second try of the game and with Burns adding the extra two to make it 17-5 inside 23 minutes.

Unfortunately for the former Gloucester man, he had to leave the field due to a HIA in the 26th minute, bringing a highly anticipated re-debut for Chris Ashton.

After yet another penalty, the Tigers’ strength proved pivotal as they got try number three in the 33rd minute through hooker Julian Montoya after a driving maul bringing the score to 22-5.

Saints, at last, got their ideas together when Rory Hutchinson, on his 100th appearance, brought the completion back to life instantly after breaking past Nadolo before passing to Courtnall Skosan to cut the deficit to 12.

Leicester did not help themselves whilst in front as Harry Wells put himself in the sin bin in the 39th minute, lifting Teimana Harrison above horizontal before dropping him on his back leaving the Saints to end the half strongly.

The penalty problem plagued the Saints once more though as Burns put more points up on the board only two minutes into the second half, starting strongly despite being temporarily down to 14.

As Wells’ time in the bin ended, Saints only added three points to their tally as George Furbank brought the deficit back to 12 as the teams were 15-a-piece again.

The game may have slowed in the second half but the Tigers dominance never wavered. A chip and chase from Wigglesworth to Burns set up Bryce Hegarty who stepped perfectly to get his first premiership try and take Leicester’s lead to 32-13 – with a bonus point sealed.

The try would mean that out of the 43 Saints have conceded so far this season, nearly a quarter of them, 11 to be exact, have been scored by Leicester.

Burns continued to build the score during an explosive performance kicking to make it 35-13 with 15 to go.

Saints would put all of their efforts into the next score to give Kyle Wilkins his first Premiership try. This came at the same time as Ashton was shown a yellow for being offside three times in a row making the last 10 minutes a lot more interesting than they were previously perceived.

Or so we thought. Saints shot themselves in the foot after a high tackle five metres out set themselves for a gruesome phase of defence which saw out the game as the Tigers took the pride with a bonus point in a wonderful win under the lights at home.

Gerren Scapens

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