Tigers win 10th Title
The Leicester Tigers made sure history didn’t repeat itself for a consecutive third year insecuring their 10thPremiership title yesterday. Saints found themselves on the wrongside of a 37-17 scoreline with a red card for skipper Dylan Hartleyon the stroke of half time.
The Saints didn’t rollover for the Tigers pushing them all the way; arguably the try of the game came just after half time when a 14 man Saints put Ben Foden over the whitewash. But ultimately a weakened Saints couldn’t respond to a 4 try Leicester performance that sent the full house Twickenham crowd wild.
Leicester hit Northampton for six within the first 10 minutes putting 10 points past them.Flood punished Saints indiscipline securing 3 points, then his perfectly weighted pass parted the Saints’ defence sending Morris over for the try and securing the conversion after. Saints didn’t let Tigers assert dominance for too long though, with Myler scoring after Dickson took the quick penalty and Burrell acting as the catalyst.
In a game marred with controversy, the first incident occurred soon after when Flood met Lawes in a crunching exchange, naturally the Northampton lock came out much the better party. What ensued was Dorian West, the ex-team mate of Richard Cockerill, saying that Cockerill intimidated officials after Flood needed concussion tests off the field, and in the end the permanent substitution of the young George Ford. It could be argued that Courtney Lawes is a physical player; it’s the only way he plays and he’s committed to the tackle, his team rely on that. However it meant Leicester lost a keyman and from a fans perspective, you want to see the best 15 playing rather than key conductors of the team being substituted in the biggest game of the season due to mindless tackling.
Saints didn’t get away with silly errors and after a blistering run from Tait, Ford found his team 3 points gifted straight from Saints’ mistakes. Foden then believed he’d found a way back into the game by scoring in the corner, however the TMO ruled that the ball hadn’t been clearly grounded therefore denying the underdogs five points.
The match then returned to controversy when Myler put a 22 metre restart into touch out on thefull just on half time after being told he wasn’t allowed to do so,meaning Barnes took the teams infield for a scrum. Unfortunately for Northampton they were ruled to infringe, which to put lightly,skipper Dylan Hartley didn’t agree with, seeing an immediate redcard from Wayne Barnes for abusive language that the referee deemed to be aimed at him.
Being in the Twickenham stands it was tough to see – on the one hand we all wanted another tight, exciting and fast paced final which looked to be threatened with one team a man down for the next 40, however on the other hand we all know that there is no place for such behaviour in top flight rugby and that actually, it was refreshing to see that Wayne Barnes dealt with Hartley quickly and fairly, explaining why he had seen red and simply sending him on his way to allow Ford to secure another 3points for Leicester and for the teams to go in at half time.
The fears of a less exciting second half were short lived to the delight of the Saints fans, for Foden was not to be denied his try twice and went over 3minutes into the second half, unfortunately wetting the Tigers’appetitite and inspiring a well-worked try for Kitchener who found himself with space and just enough speed on the wing, which with the conversion put the Tigers 24-10 ahead after Ford then added a penalty a few minutes later.
Dickson then answered for Saints showing it was their own indiscipline preventing them taking the title outscoring Leicester on tries after handling from Burrell allowed Dickson to go over, but it wasn’t to be for a spirited Saints. To the Twickenham crowd’s delight man-of-the-moment and somoan bulldozer Manu Tuilagi crashed over from a brilliant run after out-stepping Tom Wood. Leicester benefitted from the boot of Fordsecuring another 2 penalties with a try from Goneva to seal the dealing between.
The Tigers shook off the demons of the last few years and finished lifting the trophy with avery flattering scoreline – no one could suggest that the game was one way traffic or that the sending off produced a boring secondhalf. The Saints hurt themselves by allowing the Tigers room out wide and letting points slide by missing conversions, but that’s not to say they didn’t produce moments of magic or allow the Tigers to have it all their own way. Ultimately however, great rugby from Leicester was rewarded to cap off another excellent season for the Tigers, and also send players who are leaving such as Leicester legend Martin Castrogianvanni, away with not only tears in their eyes but winners’ medals around their necks. The final will be remembered for its moments of controversy, but also for an excellent 80 minutes of exciting rugby that justifies why we’re counting down to next season already.
