Leicester Tigers 11-3 Northampton Saints
Leicester Tigers reached the Aviva Premiership final after coming through a bruising East Midlands derby against Northampton Saints, prevailing by eleven points to three.
Both sides were looking for better starts to the game than they had in their respective matches last weekend and a couple of crunching tackles early on signified how massive this semi-final was. The opening ten minutes were tight and cagey as both sides gave away penalties for not releasing the ball, their desperation for possession becoming evident early on.
A late tackle on Toby Flood from Dylan Hartley on 12 minutes gave the Leicester fly-half the opening chance to put points on the board with a penalty. However, Flood's attempt was dragged to the left of the posts as the scores remained level. The two teams then played out a scoreless but compelling 20 minutes as both Leicester and Northampton's defences were put under pressure but neither were giving an inch.
Manu Tuilagi and Chris Ashton both saw yellow cards on 31 minutes after Ashton pushed Tuilagi for a late tackle and Tuilagi responded with throwing punches, it was very hard to see how Tuilagi's punishment was not worse after he hit Ashton three times and left the England winger with cuts to his face.
Another high tackle from Northampton on 36 minutes handed Flood another penalty opportunity and this time Flood was on-target to dissect the posts and give Leicester the lead. Leicester 3-0 Northampton. The successful penalty was the last action of the first half as the hosts went into the break with the slenderest of leads.
Five minutes into the second half and Northampton were given their first attempt at the posts after Tom Croft took out Phil Dowson in the air in the lineout. Stephen Myler made no mistake with his kick, despite the swirling wind and the scores were level once more. Leicester 3-3 Northampton
Leicester were in control of possession and territory in the early stages of the second half as they looked to regain their advantage on the scoreboard. On 58 minutes they were awarded a penalty as Saints skipper Dylan Hartley was found guilty of not rolling away. Flood couldn't miss from directly in front of the posts and the home side had the lead again. Leicester 6-3 Northampton
Flood missed another chance for points on 65 minutes with an awful penalty shot. Northampton didn't release in time according to referee Wayne Barnes but Flood's attempt was screwed horribly wide of the target and the deficit remained at three points but Leicester were still sitting in a very dominant position territorially.
The home side landed the knockout blow with just ten minutes left on the clock. Northampton lost the ball in Leicester territory and as the home side launched a counter-attack, Alesana Tuilagi was on hand to breeze through the tackle of Bruce Reihana and go over in the corner. Flood's conversion was taken by the wind and missed to the left of the posts. Leicester 11-3 Northampton
Northampton were starved of possession for the final few minutes of the game and all that remained was for Leicester to see the game out and reach yet another Aviva Premiership final at Twickenham against either Saracens or Gloucester.
Thoughts: Leicester Tigers show again that when the big occasion comes around, they can step up to the plate and turn in a great performance. They may have been fortunate to have played the second half with the full complement of players after Manu Tuilagi's disgraceful first half actions but few can argue that when the important games take place, they always produce a strong game. In the end, the Tigers produced a disciplined and strong showing to starve the Saints' important players and land the knockout blow when they needed it. Northampton's hopes of a double have now been ended but they will head to Cardiff next weekend for the Heineken Cup final having learnt a lot from this recent defeat.
Leicester:
Tries: Tuilagi
Conversions:
Penalties: Flood (2)
Drop-goals:
Northampton:
Tries:
Conversions:
Penalties: Myler
Drop-goals:
