Vicarage Road defeat for Saracens
Leicester handed Saracens their second defeat of the current Guinness Premiership season, and in as many weeks, with a hard fought 22-15 victory at Vicarage Road on Saturday afternoon.
England flyhalf Toby Flood contributed 17 points for his team on the night while international teammate, Dan Hipkiss, provided the games only try midway through the second half.
Having gone so long into the new season undefeated Saracens will be hurting following their second successive defeat while Leicester, after a sluggish start to the campaign, will be delighted to leave Watford with four points.
Always expected to be tight, there was little surprise that that only three points separated the two teams at the break.
The current league leaders hosting the defending champions, it was the home side who struck the first blow with Glen Jackson slotting a penalty after just six minutes.
Having missed an early opportunity to level the scores flyhalf Flood finally put Leicester on the board with 36 minutes of the match gone with his first penalty.
The Tigers though were not on an even keel for long as Jackson added his second penalty on the stroke of half time with the visitors down to 14 men. Leicester loosehead prop Boris Stankovich was the man set to the bin – picking up a yellow card just two minutes from the half time whistle.
Sarries boss Brendan Venter made a couple changes at the break, bringing on two Springboks, Derrick Hougaard and Schalk Brits for Glen Jackson and Fabio Ongaro respectively.
Hougaard quickly got his name on the scoresheet with a penalty attempt but it was the visitors who scored the first try of the match – through centre Hipkiss – with 51 minutes gone.
A successful conversion from Flood saw Leicester take the lead for the first time in the match, going up 10-9, but the match was still very much up for grabs.
Hougaard and Flood exchanged penalties either side of the hour mark so that, with time running out, the visitors still held the slightest of leads.
With 62 minutes gone it was the turn of Saracens to go down to 14 men as their captain, England skipper Steve Borthwick, was given a ten minute break on the side of the pitch. Despite being a man down it was the home side who scored next – penalty number three for Hougaard – and edged themselves back into the lead.
Leicester though are masters of the tight finish and forced three penalties in the final 13 minutes out of the home side. Flood made no mistake with any of his chances, pushing the defending champions out to a 22-15 lead with time all but up on the clock.
The win will not be enough to push Leicester above Saracens but, after their defeat to London Irish last weekend, the pressure is now very much on Venter’s men at the top of the table.
The Scorers
For Saracens
Pen: Jackson 2, Hougaard 3
For Leicester Tigers
Try: Hipkiss
Pen: Flood 5
Con: Flood
Yellow Cards: Stankovic (Leicester – 38 min), Borthwick (Saracens – 62 min)
The Teams
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Rodd Penney, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Glen Jackson, 9 Justin Marshall, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Wikus van Heerden, 5 Tom Ryder, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Matias Aguero
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Justin Melck, 21 Moses Rauluni, 22 Derick Hougaard, 23 Richard Haughton
Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Ben Woods, 6 Brett Deacon, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Louis Deacon (captain), 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Boris Stankovich
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies, 17 Robbie Harris, 18 Marcos Ayerza, 19 Ben Kay, 20 Craig Newby, 21 James Grindal, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Alesana Tuilagi
Referee: Andrew Small
