Leicester Tigers have been defeated 31-12 to Northampton Saints at Cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.
Seven Tigers made their first appearance for the club in the Premiership Cup clash, Tigers now looking forward to taking on Coventry Rugby at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Saturday, November 9.
First-half
Both teams had their opportunities early, Saints having a try ruled out and Tigers having sustained pressure inside the home side’s 22-metre area.
It was Tigers who would open the scoring, Malelili Satala taking a pop pass off Solomone Kata’s hip to score under the posts.
Jamie Shilcock converted to give Tigers a 7-0 lead.
Saints responded however and wrestled the ascendancy.
The home side’s first would come from a collected cross-kick from flanker Henry Pollock, and after Tigers scrum-half Tom Whiteley was sent to the bin for a deliberate knock-down, winger James Ramm gave Saints the lead.
George Makepeace-Cubitt converted the pair to make it 14-7.
Northampton added a third before half-time through Tom Litchfield, though the missed conversion meant Tigers were still within two scores at the break.
Second-half
The sides continued to exchange blows after half-time, the home side getting the better of the exchanges.
Saints attack, impressive throughout the game, created holes in Tigers defence and the home team were good enough to exploit, first through fullback George Hendy and then through replacement Ewan Baker.
The home side remained on-top, but Tigers would see encouraging performances from their academy players on debut, 18-year-old Charlie Bemand coming on at scrum-half.
Tigers would get the final points of the evening, centre Will Wand racing away from long-range to make it 31-12 and that’s how it would end at Cinch Stadium.
