Saracens hang on to beat Tigers
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: Alex Lozowski inspired Saracens survived a rousing Leicester Tigers comeback to return to the top of the Premiership table with a 27-22 win.
A three-try salvo late in the first half, all coming within six minutes, saw Lozowski engineer the undoing of the Tigers who had plenty of possession without penetration in the first half.
Brendon O’Connor was driven over twice in the second half and the home side cut the deficit to two points but Saracens withstood pressure to secure an eighth straight Premiership win.
From the opening kick-off Leicester strung together 16 phases and although they could not breach the visitors’ defence they were rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts, which flyhalf Joe Ford duly dispatched.
Twice Geordan Murphy’s men thought they had crossed for tries with referee Karl Dickson consulting the TMO on both occasions before ruling them out.
First Jonah Holmes’ rampaging run down the left wing ended with the combined efforts of Max Malins and Lozowski saving a try because of an inconclusive grounding.
From the resulting five-yard scrum Leicester switched the ball from one side to the other and back again before centre Gareth Owen crashing over only to see his effort ruled out because of hands in the ruck.
It was against the run of play when Saracens’ Ben Spencer scored the opening try of the game after 25 minutes, the scrumhalf speeding 80 metres to the right corner after charging down a kick.
Moments later the visitors had their second try as Malins sold a dummy in midfield before cutting inside and finding Alex Lewington with a looping pass that allowed him to go over unopposed.
And a third try in six minutes followed as Lozowski finished off a break down the right hand side with a superb step blistering turn of pace.
Spencer converted both tries to make it 21-3 to the visitors at the break.
The second half started with the home side once again in the ascendancy as Saracens conceded series of penalties.
Leicester took full advantage with their pack driving flank O’Connor over for a try at the second attempt.
Saracens extended the lead back to 14 points as Spencer kicked a penalty from in front of the posts after Ben Earl’s powerful run put Leicester on the back foot and drew an infringement at the breakdown.
Saracens were reduced to 13 men after Earls halted a promising Tigers attack with a deliberate knock on and from the resulting pressure Schalk Burger strayed offside once too many times.
The home side took advantage with O’Connor touching down his second of the afternoon and Ford converting.
The Tigers struck again immediately as Matt Smith collected a kick and touched down but Ford pushed the conversion wide.
Saracens then made light of their numerical disadvantage to drive forward and win a penalty between the posts that Spencer converted as the visitors closed out the win.
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Tries: O’Connor 2, Smith
Cons: Ford 2
Pen: Ford
For Saracens:
Tries: Spencer, Lewington, Lozowski
Cons: Spencer 3
Pens: Spencer 2
Yellow Cards: Ben Earl (Saracens, 63), Schalk Burger (Saracens, 65)
Teams:
Leicester: 15 George Worth, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Gareth Owen, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jonah Holmes, 10 Joe Ford, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Brendon O’Connor, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Will Spencer, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs (captain), 1 Greg Bateman.
Replacements: 16 Jake Kerr, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Gaston Cortes, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Mike Fitzgerald, 21 Ben White, 22 Tom Hardwick, 23 Matt Smith.
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Alex Lozowski, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Brad Barritt (captain), 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Max Malins, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Dom Day, 3 Christian Judge, 2 Christopher Tolofua, 1 Richard Barrington.
Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Hayden Thompson-Stringer, 18 Hisa Sasagi, 19 Joel Kpoku, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Tom Whiteley, 23 Matt Gallagher.
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Greg MacDonald, Simon Harding
TMO: David Rose
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