Leicester Tigers held on for a three-point, 29-32, win over Saracens in Round 6 of the Gallagher Premiership.
Both sides were without a handful of England internationals for the meeting, away in Spain preparing for the upcoming Autumn Test matches, but there were still plenty of stars on show in North London.
However, the home team was forced into two late changes during the warm-up with prop Marco Riccioni and fly-half Alex Goode ruled out through injury. Alec Clarey and Tim Swiel were promoted from the bench for the pair, with Ollie Hoskins and Brandon Jackson added to the replacements.
For Tigers, the experienced duo of Anthony Watson and Mike Brown were included in the back-three after missing the Slater Cup win over Gloucester Rugby at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in Round 5, while Tom Manz made his debut Premiership start in the second row and Tom Whiteley started at scrum-half.
One of those stars on show, Handré Pollard, who will feature in the Autumn for South Africa, got the match underway in front of a sold-out StoneX Stadium.
Damp conditions wreaked havoc in the opening minutes, with seven errors before the first points were scored, in the 14th minute, when the Leicester fly-half opened the Tigers account for the day with a long-range penalty goal to make it 3-0.
Saracens hit back just two minutes later, when Nick Tompkins was gifted a perfectly-weighted pop pass from a falling Tom Willis - who snuck through the ruck defence for a line break - and the Welsh international ran it in under the posts untouched to score.
Swiel, the late call-up for Goode, converted to see the home team lead 7-3.
While the StoneX Stadium crowd was still celebrating their side's opener, Leicester returned serve to take back the lead and the silence the Saracens faithful.
Whiteley moved the ball from the base of ruck quickly and into the hands of Joseph Woodward down the blind side and the young Leicester centre dropped the ball on to the toe for a neatly-placed grubber that was toed ahead by Ollie Hassell-Collins, who outpaced his opposite number to retrieve the ball and dive over.
Pollard, from the left hand touchline, added the extras from the tee to make Leicester's lead three points, 7-10, after 20 minutes.
That lead was extended again just three minutes later when Watson plucked a Whitely box-kick out of the hands of Tom Parton and pushed his way through the first attempts at bringing him to the floor.
Saracens finally managed to bring Watson to a halt before Leicester, patiently, set up for another attack. Joe Heyes was the first to take on the defence before Brown, in at first receiver, shifted it wide on the second phase to Pollard and the fly-half bulleted it out to Izaia Perese.
The Australian, much to the enjoyment of the travelling army of Tigers fans dotted throughout StoneX Stadium, stepped off the left foot and fended Tobias Elliott in a bullying fashion to the floor before running it in for Leicester’s second.
Pollard was unable to convert from out wide, meaning his side’s lead remained at eight points after 24 minutes.
While the first 15 minutes was unable to get the scoreboard attendant up off his stool, the next 15 didn’t involved him sitting down, with Saracens crossing for their second just one minute shy of the half hour mark.
A break from Juan Martin Gonzalez from just inside the Leicester half set up the chance and the back-rower offloaded for Swiel in support who swan-dived over to cut the deficit to three points, before he cut it to one, 14-15, with another successful conversion.
Just shy of the half-time break and the home side moved back into the lead with Swiel adding three from the tee to make it 17-15, where it looked like it would remain, before a 50:22 from Hassell-Collins in the 39th minute set up Tigers for a chance to steal back the lead.
Ill-discipline from the home side at the set piece gave Leicester successive penalties - and chances at the line out - from deep inside the Saracens half. On the second attempt the lead was stolen by the visitors when, after TMO review, a penalty try was awarded and Saracens prop Alec Clarey shown yellow for his part in bringing down the Tigers maul.
With the seven points added, without a conversion required, Tigers headed into the break ahead of their hosts, 17-22, following an entertaining first-half.
After a half-time break at Saracens HQ which included beach balls, dance tracks and t-shirt cannons, the first to fire a shot in the second-half was Tigers.
When a grubber from Pollard was deflected on its way through the Saracens line, his teammates were placed onside and Julián Montoya swooped on the cover defence, winning a penalty at the breakdown and revving his fellow Tigers up deep in the hosts end.
Pollard found touch and, at the ensuing line out, the maul went to work before Montoya, the man who started it, finished off the move by touching it down for his side’s fourth. Pollard converted his skipper’s try to make it a 12-point, 17-29, difference in the 48th minute.
Online a minute later and Leicester were celebrating a fifth try but a second for Hassell-Collins was denied following a TMO review showing a knock-on and offside in the lead up from Tigers, which gifted Saracens a penalty back on halfway and chance to kick for the line in the Tigers end.
The home side were unable to capitalise though, being forced into an error in attack through the ruthless try-line defence of Tigers, which meant it remained a 12-point difference with half an hour left in North London.
A penalty to Saracens, against the feed, at scrum time, presented the home team with an opportunity from close range and they looked to have taken it from the line out to follow. However the TMO again came over the top and, on review, it showed a knock-on from the scoring attempt, letting Leicester off the hook.
Michael Cheika went to his bench with 25 minutes to go at StoneX Stadium, adding Ben Youngs, who for more than a decade hasn’t appeared in the final league fixture before the Autumn Test window, and Matt Rogerson for the back-rower’s first appearance of the 24/25 campaign.
Soon thereafter and Leicester extend their lead again, this time through the boot of Pollard with a 35m penalty-goal, to make it a 15-point game, 17-32.
Saracens threatened to cut the deficit on the hour mark when Theo McFarland latched on to a chip kick and offloaded for replacement scrum-half Gareth Simpson, who had a clear run to the line. However, Perese, in cover, tracked Simpson and forced him into knocking on in the tackle.
Fittingly, with Mr Worldwide blasting through the speakers, Will Hurd entered the game in place of Joe Heyes. Hurd, who is an avid Pitbull listener in the gym and during his down time, will link up with Scotland for the Autumn after debuting in the Test arena over the summer.
As the clock ticked over into the final 15 minutes at StoneX Stadium, Saracens closed the gap to set up an exciting finish for the sold out crowd.
A break from Willis down the right flank resulted in the No8 being cut down only inches from the line before his fellow back-rower Gonzalez picked up the ball at the back of the ruck and dived over to score and make it a ten-point, 22-32, game.
With just ten minutes remaining, Cheika cleared his bench with the injection of Charlie Clare, James Cronin and Côme Joussain in the pack, as well as Jamie Shillcock and Will Wand in the backline.
The new inclusions for Tigers were tested immediately, deep inside their half, and succumbed to the pressure from Saracens, who scored from close range - through replacement James Hadfield - after multiple phases one off the ruck and converted the try to cut the gap to three, 29-32, with only six minutes on the clock.
A frantic five minutes followed, with Saracens chasing down the lead and Tigers looking to hold on to theirs, with the latter prevailing to see Cheika’s side end the first league block of the season with five wins from six outings.
