Leicester Tigers booked their place in the Aviva Premiership play-offs for an 11th successive season with a 22-14 victory over Northampton Saints at Welford Road on Saturday afternoon.
Tigers produced a stirring second-half performance, on the back of a fantastic scrummaging effort, to set up a semi-final with Bath Rugby at the Recreation Ground next Saturday.
Tigers scored two tries in the game. Jordan Crane finished off a lineout drive to score in the first half before Tigers capitalised on a two-man advantage, with Saints props Gareth Denman and Salesi Ma’afu in the sin bin for repeated scrum offences, for Niall Morris to score in the second period.
Freddie Burns kicked three penalties, and there was a penalty for Tommy Bell, as Tigers maintained their amazing record of semi-final appearances.
Ed Slater and Christian Loamanu made their first Aviva Premiership starts of the campaign. Club captain Slater replaced Geoff Parling in the back row and Loamanu came in for the suspended Seremaia Bai at centre.
Harry Thacker, Sebastian de Chaves and Jack Roberts were named among the replacements in the only other changes to the matchday 23.
Northampton were captained by Phil Dowson on his last regular season appearance for the Saints.
Tigers won a penalty at the first scrum and were then awarded a second penalty for Sam Dickinson’s no-arm tackle on Vereniki Goneva. Burns pumped the ball up to the Saints 22, there Kitchener’s catch set up the drive to take Tigers to within 8m of the line before it was pulled down by Mike Haywood. Burns landed a simple kick to give Tigers a 3-0 lead.
Burns was at the centre of the action in the opening moments, stripping Tom Stephenson of possession on the Leicester 22 but knocking-on in doing so to give Saints the scrum put-in. This time Saints were awarded the scrum penalty and James Wilson levelled the scores with his kick.
Mathew Tait claimed the restart to set Tigers on the attack. Tigers went their heavy carriers in waves onto the Saints defence, with Logovi’i Mulipola stopped just short. Wilson’s fingertips then knocked Ben Youngs’s pass Goneva into touch with Goneva scenting a try opportunity on his outside.
But Tigers had their try from the lineout. Slater set up the drive and Crane finished at the left corner for his second try of the campaign. Unconverted, it gave Tigers an 8-3 lead after 13 minutes.
Next it was Tigers’ turn to defend a series of phases around their 22. Dom Waldouck and Jamie Elliott almost found a way through before scrum-half Lee Dickson threw the ball into a retreating Brad Thorn to win a penalty in front of the posts. Wilson’s kick left Tigers 8-6 ahead.
Tigers were tenacious in defence, typified by their work against a 5m lineout drive which forced the Saints back 5m. But when the visitors moved play inside Tait was pinged for going off his feet to try to steal the ball from Wilson, who had a simple penalty to give Saints a 9-8 lead.
Ben Youngs stole the ball at the base of a Saints scrum and offloaded for Loamanu to find Goneva on the left. His run was stopped 5m out before a loose pass from scrum-half Youngs stalled the momentum. However, Youngs then made a break to restore the impetus and create a try for Loamanu but Burns was whistled for clearing out at an angle and the score was ruled out.
Saints held a 9-8 lead at the break.
Tigers had the chance to retake the lead 90 seconds into the second half when Stephenson was whistled for not rolling from a tackle on Slater. Burns landed his kick from the right to put Leicester 11-9 ahead.
A smart lineout move, sending Mulipola crashing down the narrow channel, took Tigers back into the Saints 22. Mulipola rejoined the move and was halted just short before Ben Youngs claimed a try at the base of the posts. Referee Matthew Carley consulted his TMO, who ruled no try.
It was Mulipola’s last contribution, the Samoa international replaced by Marcos Ayerza for the resulting 5m scrum. Tigers won two penalties at the scrum, prompting Northampton to replace tigthead prop Salesi Ma’afu with Gareth Denman.
With Welford Road in full voice, Tigers were awarded a two further scrum penalties resulting in Denman being shown a yellow card. Ma’afu returned to the pitch for the scrum to be completed.
A fifth penalty followed and Ma’afu was shown the yellow card too, leaving Saints with 13 men and without their two tightheads. It meant the game would have to go to uncontested scrums. Instead Burns kicked the penalty from in front of the posts to give Tigers a 14-9 lead with 26 minutes remaining.
Tigers made their two-man advantage count three minutes later. Thorn stole lineout ball inside the Saints 22 and Tigers swept forward and eventually Morris broke the line to score his second try in as many games. It gave Tigers a 19-9 lead.
It was Thorn’s last contribution in a Tigers shirt at Welford Road, the WorldCup-winning former All Black, who is retiring in the summer, left the field to a massive ovation to be replaced by Sebastian de Chaves.
Saints, led by their replacement scrum-half Kahn Fotuali’i, took their time playing the ball at the breakdown to run down the sin-bin clock and not concede further points before returning to a full complement of players.
But Tigers did extend their lead by a further three points when replacement fly-half Tommy Bell landed a penalty from the left. It gave Tigers a 22-9 lead with 12 minutes remaining.
But there was a late try for Saints to send nerves through a capacity Welford Road crowd. Christian Day’s break had Tigers on the back foot and allowed Stephenson to ghost in on the left for Northampton. Sam Olver was wide with the conversion to leave Tigers 22-14 ahead.
Saints threatened one last time but brilliant work by Crane isolated opposite number Jon Fisher and drew the penalty that signalled full-time.
Tigers produced a stirring second-half performance, on the back of a fantastic scrummaging effort, to set up a semi-final with Bath Rugby at the Recreation Ground next Saturday.
Tigers scored two tries in the game. Jordan Crane finished off a lineout drive to score in the first half before Tigers capitalised on a two-man advantage, with Saints props Gareth Denman and Salesi Ma’afu in the sin bin for repeated scrum offences, for Niall Morris to score in the second period.
Freddie Burns kicked three penalties, and there was a penalty for Tommy Bell, as Tigers maintained their amazing record of semi-final appearances.
Ed Slater and Christian Loamanu made their first Aviva Premiership starts of the campaign. Club captain Slater replaced Geoff Parling in the back row and Loamanu came in for the suspended Seremaia Bai at centre.
Harry Thacker, Sebastian de Chaves and Jack Roberts were named among the replacements in the only other changes to the matchday 23.
Northampton were captained by Phil Dowson on his last regular season appearance for the Saints.
Tigers won a penalty at the first scrum and were then awarded a second penalty for Sam Dickinson’s no-arm tackle on Vereniki Goneva. Burns pumped the ball up to the Saints 22, there Kitchener’s catch set up the drive to take Tigers to within 8m of the line before it was pulled down by Mike Haywood. Burns landed a simple kick to give Tigers a 3-0 lead.
Burns was at the centre of the action in the opening moments, stripping Tom Stephenson of possession on the Leicester 22 but knocking-on in doing so to give Saints the scrum put-in. This time Saints were awarded the scrum penalty and James Wilson levelled the scores with his kick.
Mathew Tait claimed the restart to set Tigers on the attack. Tigers went their heavy carriers in waves onto the Saints defence, with Logovi’i Mulipola stopped just short. Wilson’s fingertips then knocked Ben Youngs’s pass Goneva into touch with Goneva scenting a try opportunity on his outside.
But Tigers had their try from the lineout. Slater set up the drive and Crane finished at the left corner for his second try of the campaign. Unconverted, it gave Tigers an 8-3 lead after 13 minutes.
Next it was Tigers’ turn to defend a series of phases around their 22. Dom Waldouck and Jamie Elliott almost found a way through before scrum-half Lee Dickson threw the ball into a retreating Brad Thorn to win a penalty in front of the posts. Wilson’s kick left Tigers 8-6 ahead.
Tigers were tenacious in defence, typified by their work against a 5m lineout drive which forced the Saints back 5m. But when the visitors moved play inside Tait was pinged for going off his feet to try to steal the ball from Wilson, who had a simple penalty to give Saints a 9-8 lead.
Ben Youngs stole the ball at the base of a Saints scrum and offloaded for Loamanu to find Goneva on the left. His run was stopped 5m out before a loose pass from scrum-half Youngs stalled the momentum. However, Youngs then made a break to restore the impetus and create a try for Loamanu but Burns was whistled for clearing out at an angle and the score was ruled out.
Saints held a 9-8 lead at the break.
Tigers had the chance to retake the lead 90 seconds into the second half when Stephenson was whistled for not rolling from a tackle on Slater. Burns landed his kick from the right to put Leicester 11-9 ahead.
A smart lineout move, sending Mulipola crashing down the narrow channel, took Tigers back into the Saints 22. Mulipola rejoined the move and was halted just short before Ben Youngs claimed a try at the base of the posts. Referee Matthew Carley consulted his TMO, who ruled no try.
It was Mulipola’s last contribution, the Samoa international replaced by Marcos Ayerza for the resulting 5m scrum. Tigers won two penalties at the scrum, prompting Northampton to replace tigthead prop Salesi Ma’afu with Gareth Denman.
With Welford Road in full voice, Tigers were awarded a two further scrum penalties resulting in Denman being shown a yellow card. Ma’afu returned to the pitch for the scrum to be completed.
A fifth penalty followed and Ma’afu was shown the yellow card too, leaving Saints with 13 men and without their two tightheads. It meant the game would have to go to uncontested scrums. Instead Burns kicked the penalty from in front of the posts to give Tigers a 14-9 lead with 26 minutes remaining.
Tigers made their two-man advantage count three minutes later. Thorn stole lineout ball inside the Saints 22 and Tigers swept forward and eventually Morris broke the line to score his second try in as many games. It gave Tigers a 19-9 lead.
It was Thorn’s last contribution in a Tigers shirt at Welford Road, the WorldCup-winning former All Black, who is retiring in the summer, left the field to a massive ovation to be replaced by Sebastian de Chaves.
Saints, led by their replacement scrum-half Kahn Fotuali’i, took their time playing the ball at the breakdown to run down the sin-bin clock and not concede further points before returning to a full complement of players.
But Tigers did extend their lead by a further three points when replacement fly-half Tommy Bell landed a penalty from the left. It gave Tigers a 22-9 lead with 12 minutes remaining.
But there was a late try for Saints to send nerves through a capacity Welford Road crowd. Christian Day’s break had Tigers on the back foot and allowed Stephenson to ghost in on the left for Northampton. Sam Olver was wide with the conversion to leave Tigers 22-14 ahead.
Saints threatened one last time but brilliant work by Crane isolated opposite number Jon Fisher and drew the penalty that signalled full-time.
