Leicester’s all-English back line smash sorry Saracens
On a frozen Leicester night, bringing down the curtain on a chilly festive period that left referee Matthew Carley requiring gloves to stay warm, one might have been forgiven for thinking that the Tigers would stick to tradition and grind out a performance of grit and gumption in front of a sold-out Welford Road. Think again.
This handsome Leicester victory, with a bonus point sewn up before half-time, owed as much to the artists behind the pack as the artisans within it. Billy Searle and Will Wand were wonderful for Leicester in that punchy first-half showing but Freddie Steward, Adam Radwan – scorers of three Tigers tries between them – and Ollie Hassell-Collins all played their part, too. Jack van Poortvliet, on his first start since October, was sharp at scrum-half and Orlando Bailey, one of English rugby’s forgotten prospects, had his best game in a Leicester shirt at inside centre. Wand, certainly, was the best player on the park in the opening 40 minutes but the return of Emeka Ilione, the back row on England’s radar, gave the centre stiff competition after half-time.
All this with the Tigers missing front-line midfielders James O’Connor, Solomone Kata, Joseph Woodward and Izaia Perese, who dropped out on the day of the match. Maybe someone had told the all-English back line pre-match that Lee Blackett, England’s attack coach, was among the East Midlands crowd.
That back line’s opposing numbers, littered with internationals, certainly did not seem as though they were aware. Elliot Daly and Max Malins looked shaky in the Saracensback three while Nick Tompkins and Lucio Cinti were at sixes and sevens in the midfield for most of the match. Ivan van Zyl threw an intercept to Radwan at a crucial juncture in the game and Fergus Burke was overshadowed by Searle. Other than that, Rotimi Segun showed moments of danger and dynamism but all of Saracens’ stand-outs were among their forward pack.
“It was a great win and a great result but there are still things to improve,” said Geoff Parling, the Leicester head coach. “But we moved the ball well. Billy Searle looked like a true Tigers 10 at the end, coming off with what looked like a broken nose. He has grown and grown. We do not make a big thing out of our injuries but we just get the next man to step up and rip in, which they have done.
“I’m just really proud of the heart and the effort we showed. That was a very good Sarries team. I looked beforehand and they were the bookies favourites. I’m very pleased with the five points.”
Leicester now find themselves just two points off the top four and Saracens’ four-try bonus point, sealed late on by Malins after earlier tries from three forwards – Theo McFarland, the mighty Rhys Carre and the irrepressible Juan-Martin González off the bench – means that they are a further four points behind the Tigers. The visitors’ heart was not in question as they fought admirably for a consolation point – Tom Willis, as ever, at the forefront – but their attacking accuracy and intent, at times, left a lot to be desired. Saracens have not won consecutive away matches in the Prem since May 2024 and the inconsistency is killing them.
“The bonus point was not really a consolation,” said Mark McCall, Saracens’ director of rugby. “There were some aspects of the second half which I liked but you cannot turn up to this place against Leicester and have the attitude that we had in the first 15, 20 minutes. It wasn’t everyone but it doesn’t take very many to be off it attitude-wise for others to suffer. We were second best when it came to the big physical things in the first half and I wish I knew why.”
Leicester raced into a 14-point lead with tries from Steward, off a dainty Searle chip, and Olly Cracknell before Theo McFarland pulled one back for Saracens – down to 14 after a Daly yellow – from close range. Radwan finished off a sweeping Leicester attack for his first before Joe Heyes trundled over from close range just before half-time to secure Leicester’s bonus point.
The visitors improved in the second half, crossing three times, but Radwan’s interception took the game away from Saracens. Searle’s penalty, before his late sin-binning, put the result beyond doubt before a final Saracens flourish.
Match details
Scoring sequence: 5-0 Steward try, 7-0 Searle con, 12-0 Cracknell try, 14-0 Searle con, 14-5 McFarland try, 14-7 Burke con, 19-7 Radwan try, 24-7 Heyes try, 26-7 Searle con, 26-12 Carre try, 26-14 Burke con, 29-14 Searle pen, 34-14 Radwan try, 36-14 Searle con, 36-19 Gonzalez try, 36-21 Burke con, 36-26 Bracken try, 36-28 Burke con.
Leicester Tigers: Steward (Pearson 68); Radwan, Wand (Hamer-Webb 60), Bailey, Hassell-Collins; Searle, Van Poortvliet (Allan 75); Smith (Haffar 62), Blamire (Clare 62), Heyes (Hurd 66), Henderson, Chessum, Thompson (Moro 66), Williams, Cracknell (Ilione 41).
Sin-bin: Searle.
Saracens: Daly; Segun, Cinti Luna (Lozowski 66), Tompkins, Malins; Burke, Van Zyl (C Bracken 64); Carre (Mawi 52), George (Dan 30), Riccioni (Street 52), Isiekwe (Itoje 30), Tizard (Gonzalez 52), McFarland, Earl (Christie 60), Willis.
Sin-bin: Daly.
Referee: Matthew Carley.
[Source: Daily Telegraph]
