Leicester loss and Farrell reports floor Saracens

SATURDAY WRAP: Saracens’ torrid weekend that began with revelations over Owen Farrell’s possible move to Racing 92 continued with a 19-10 Premiership defeat at Leicester.

Farrell’s champions struggled in a hard-fought match in the East Midlands with the England captain powerless to prevent a third league defeat in four matches.

The news that he has been in talks with Racing 92 over joining the Top 14 leaders next season emerged on Friday, sending shockwaves through Saracens and the Premiership even if an agreement has yet to be reached.

Farrell is England’s biggest star who has spent 15 years at Barnet Copthall, but a move to Paris would make him ineligible for the national side and land another blow on the credibility of a competition experiencing an exodus of players across the Channel.

If he does head to the French capital, on recent evidence he will be departing a troubled Saracens with their latest loss registering a fifth Premiership defeat of the season – their total for the whole of the 2022-23 campaign.

Errors by the 32-year-old contributed to two of Leicester’s three tries, but Tigers also made life difficult for the visitors, their determination stamped all over an impressive display.

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That winning feeling…#LEIvSAR 🏉 #COYT 🐯 pic.twitter.com/w3q9q8RIUo

— Leicester Tigers (@LeicesterTigers) January 6, 2024

* In the other Saturday match Ollie Sleightholme scored three tries as Northampton moved back on top of the Premiership after staging a stunning fightback to beat Exeter 42-36 at Sandy Park.

Saints recovered from 26 points adrift midway through the first half to make it seven games unbeaten and end Exeter’s run of 23 home matches without defeat.

Wing Sleightholme’s treble was the highlight for Northampton, who clinched a spectacular victory through Rory Hutchinson’s touchdown in the game’s final play.

There were also tries for skipper George Furbank and scrumhalf Callum Braley, with Fin Smith kicking six conversions in a bonus-point triumph.

All the Saturday scores and scorers are below …

Exeter Chiefs 36-42 Northampton Saints

The scorers

For Exeter Chiefs
Tries: Vermeulen 2, Feyi-Waboso, Townsend, Tuima
Cons: Slade 4
Pen: Slade

For Northampton Saints
Tries: Braley, Sleightholme 3, Furbank, Hutchinson
Cons: Smith 6

Yellow cards: Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs, 32), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 45)

Teams

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Tommy Wyatt, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Ben Hammersley, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stu Townsend, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 4 Lewis Pearson, 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Nika Abuladze.
Replacements: 16 Max Norey, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Ehren Painter, 19 Rusi Tuima, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Ollie Devoto, 23 Zack Wimbush.

Northampton: 15 George Furbank (captain), 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Litchfield, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Sam Graham, 7 Angus Scott-Young, 6 Alex Coles, 5 Chunya Munga, 4 Alex Moon, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Sam Matavesi, 1 Tarek Haffar.
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Temo Mayanavanua, 20 Tom Pearson, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Fraser Dingwall, 23 Tommy Freeman.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Assistant referees: George Selwood, Neil Chivers
TMO: David Rose

Leicester Tigers 19-10 Saracens

The scorers

For Leicester Tigers
Tries: Kelly, Rogerson, Simmons
Cons: Pollard 2

For Saracens
Try: Parton
Con: Farrell
Pen: Farrell

Yellow card: Maro Itoje (Saracens, 56)

Teams

Leicester: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Harry Simmons, 13 Dan Kelly, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Tom Whiteley, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Matt Rogerson, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 George Martin, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Julián Montoya (captain), 1 James Cronin.
Replacements: 16 Finn Theobold-Thomas, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Kyle Hatherell, 21 Olly Cracknell, 22 Ben Youngs, 23 Jamie Shillcock.

Saracens: 15 Tom Parton, 14 Rotimi Segun, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Lucio Cinti, 10 Owen Farrell (captain), 9 Gareth Simpson, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Christian Judge, 2 Kapeli Pifeleti, 1 Sam Crean.
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Andy Christie, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Manu Vunipola, 23 Alex Lewington.

Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Harry Walbaum, Jonathan Healy
TMO: Dean Richards