Leicester Tigers secured a 27-5 away win over Newcastle Falcons on Saturday in Round 25 of the Gallagher Premiership season.

In the last away trip of the regular season, and a first on Tyneside in the league since April 2019, Tigers passed 1,000 points scored for the campaign when Nemani Nadolo scored in the opening quarter of an hour.

But the conversion and a penalty from George Ford were the only additions to the score as Tigers led 10-0 at the break and Falcons were first out of the blocks after the restart with a try from hooker George McGuigan.

After dominating possession for most of the game, Tigers finally pulled clear after a penalty from Ford as he converted further scores from Guy Porter and Freddie Steward.

Steve Borthwick brought Nadolo, George Martin and Nic Dolly into his starting line-up, with Cameron Henderson returning to the squad, though hooker Dolly left on a stretcher in the first half.

Tigers went into the game already guaranteed a home fixture in the semi-finals though still not assured of top spot with Saracens just four points behind while a group of clubs remained in the chase for top-four places with just two games remaining.

With Dean Richards in charge of the Falcons for a final home game, it was Ford who got the game started with Tigers in white and the Falcons in all black, and just 60 seconds elapsed before Chris Ashton found some space on the left but Adam Radwan made the tackle just as the wing reached for the corner.

The first scrum of the game brought a Tigers penalty and the chance for the first score as Nadolo wriggled and barged his way to the tryline to the right of the posts after strong work on the ball by Jasper Wiese, Harry Wells and skipper Ellis Genge.

Ford added the kick for a seven-point lead on 14 minutes.

Dolly stole Falcons ball on the floor at the restart and the hooker was back on the ball when Mateo Carreras misjudged a clearing kick before Wiese won a penalty on the floor near halfway.

Another whistle quickly followed and Ford kicked the visitors into a 10-point lead midway through the half.

Falcons’ first threat came on 28 minutes when Young latched on to loose ball and kicked ahead, but Ashton dotted down ahead of McGuigan as the ball bounced past the tryline.

Ford’s drop-out reached halfway but Falcons played back through a couple of phases before play was stopped for injury to Dolly as he contested breakdown ball and it was several minutes before the hooker left on a stretcher.

After viewing replays with the TMO, referee Anthony Woodthorpe yellow-carded Falcons prop Adam Brocklebank for his contact at the ruck.

Carries from Porter and then Wiese pushed play upfield again, but Tigers were denied a score when Ellis Genge pushed for the tryline but referee and TMO said they could not be certain of grounding.

When Ford played a penalty to the left, Tigers lost ball in the set-piece and Falcons broke out through Radwan on the touchline before the defensive cover smothered the threat.

It was a first real threat for the hosts but they closed the half with two pushes for the tryline after a break by flanker Josh Basham, only for the referee to rule they had been held up twice after checking TMO footage and the half came to a close with Tigers still 10 in front.

Basham earned a penalty in the opening moments of the second half, getting over Freddie Steward on the floor, but then missed out on a try when he followed a break by Young but was tackled within reach of the line by Ford and spilled ball.

Tigers were penalised at the five-metre scrum, though, and Falcons pushed for the line three times before hooker McGuigan made a decisive contribution to snatch his 15th try of the season.  

Joel Hodgson was off target with the conversion as Matt Scott and Tommy Reffell emerged from the Tigers bench.

Richard Wigglesworth had to react quickly to a Carreras chip towards the tryline and his colleagues arrived in numbers to recycle and clear.

A big drive from another defensive lineout brought a penalty and Borthwick sent on Joe Heyes and Jack van Poortvliet as the whistle blew again on halfway.

The lineout was a messy one but Wiese’s carry got Tigers going forward, then Ford chipped to the right where the ball came back off the corner flag and Carreras had to deflect it into touch.

Penalties started to mount up against the Falcons as Tigers kept ball tight in the right-hand corner  but, when the whistle went again, Ford called for the tee and his kick made it 13-5.

The fly-half then put a penalty from halfway into the right-hand corner and this time Tigers made it count, pushing for the line through the forwards and then Nadolo before playing out to the left and Porter showed some good footwork to go through a gap and score. The conversion by Ford made it 20-5 with 10 minutes remaining on the clock.

Cameron Henderson made his first appearance since Round 5 as he ran on to replace Harry Wells while Nephi Leatigaga reached his 50th appearance for the club as Genge made way.

Porter looked to be on his way to a second score as he took Scott’s offload but lost control in contact 10 metres out.

The centre, though, played a big part in a third try as, playing with advantage from a lineout drive, his crosskick found Steward on the right and the full-back dotted down.

Ford added a quick conversion to make it 27-5 with just a minute left to play.