Leicester outplay PREM champs as Bristol see off Exeter

SATURDAY WRAP: Leicester Tigers’ dominant second-half performance earned them an impressive 28-7 victory over East Midlands rivals Northampton Saints.

The visitors, and Gallagher PREM champions, actually led at half-time at a soaking Mattioli Woods Welford Road, but they had no answer as the Tigers turned on the power to score four tries following the restart.

It meant Leicester could enjoy a third win in four league games, as well as getting one over Saints on their own turf for a fourth season running, as they jumped up to second in the table.

The wet and windy conditions quickly played a part as Northampton grabbed the game’s opening try after only seven minutes.

With advantage being played, Fin Smith chipped towards the Leicester tryline and, after Billy Searle’s fumble, James Pater pounced to score, with Smith adding the conversion.

A succession of penalties conceded by Saints gave Leicester a chance to hit back quickly, but their captain Ollie Chessum knocked on close to the line as the visitors’ defence held firm.

But the Tigers were on the board after 19 minutes when Freddie Steward blasted a superbly struck penalty between the uprights from just inside the Northampton half.

It brought the hosts back within four points, and it took some strong defence deep into their territory to keep it that way, as a spell of pressure was ended by Tommy Freeman knocking on under the posts.

It remained 7-3 to Saints at half-time, but a fracas down the touchline as the players made their way towards the tunnel indicated a fiery second half was on the way.

The home crowd was brought to its feet four minutes after the restart when a driving maul rumbled its way over with Jamie Blamire grounding the ball, although Searle’s missed conversion meant Leicester’s lead was just one point.

But their dominant start to the half brought a second try when the ball was worked out to the left to Gabriel Hamer-Webb whose pass led to Cameron Henderson scoring in the corner. Searle’s conversion again slid wide.

The Tigers were more than a score clear, though, when Finn Carnduff crashed over from close range in the 57th minute after a beleaguered Saints defence had illegally collapsed a maul.

Having not converted any of his side’s three tries to that point, Searle extended the hosts’ lead further with a penalty from in front of the posts.

Northampton’s afternoon continued to disintegrate when they had Tom Lockett sin-binned for making head-on-head contact with Solomone Kata with 10 minutes left.

And the Tigers rubbed their noses in it by claiming a bonus point not long after when Searle’s long pass found Steward and the England fullback glided in under the posts.

‘Bristol Bears moved into third place in the Prem table with a hard-fought 20-7 win over Exeter Chiefs in appalling conditions at Ashton Gate.

It was their fifth successive league victory over Rob Baxter’s men after an old-style-rugby war of attrition in heavy rain and strong winds.

See below for Saturday’s scores and scorers!

Leicester Tigers 28-7 Northampton

The scorers:

For Leicester:
Tries: Blamire, Henderson, Carnduff, Steward
Con: Searle
Pens: Steward, Searle

For Northampton:
Try: Pater
Con: Smith

Teams:

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Will Wand, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Finn Carnduff, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Ollie Chessum (captain), 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Archie van der Flier.
Replacements: 16 Richie Asiata, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Will Hurd, 19 James Thompson, 20 Joaquin Moro, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 George Pearson.

Northampton Saints: 15 James Pater, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Fraser Dingwall (captain), 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Henry Pollock, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 Ed Prowse, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Cleopas Kundiona, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 JJ van der Mescht, 20 Tom Lockett, 21 Callum Chick, 22 Archie McParland, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant referees: Joe James and John Meredith
TMO: David Rose

Bristol Bears 20-7 Exeter Chiefs

The scorers:

For Bristol:
Tries: Ibitoye, Ivanishvili
Cons: Williams 2
Pens: Williams 2

For Exeter:
Try: Fisilau
Con: Slade

Teams:

Bristol Bears: 15 Tom Jordan, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 James Williams, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Benjamin Grondona, 7 Fitz Harding (captain), 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Joe Batley, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 3 Lovejoy Chawatama, 2 Tomas Gwilliam, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Sol Moody, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Jimmy Halliwell, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Joe Owen, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Jack Bates, 23 Luka Ivanishvili.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Olly Woodburn, 14 Zack Wimbush, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Butt, 11 Ben Hammersley, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Sam Wolstenholme, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Ross Vintcent, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 4 Tom Hooper, 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Nika Abuladze.
Replacements: 16 Max Norey, 17 Ethan Burger, 18 Jimmy Roots, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Kane James, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Sam Harris.

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Sara Cox and Richard Gordon
TMO: Dan Jones