Pollard on target for victorious Tigers

SATURDAY WRAP: Leicester Tigers battled to a much-needed yet unconvincing 28-15 win over struggling Exeter in a dour contest.

The Tigers were the better side in the first half, but the visitors dominated the second period until Will Rigg was sin-binned and can consider themselves unfortunate not to come away with at least a point.

Olly Cracknell, Cameron Henderson, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Ben Youngs scored Leicester’s tries, with Handre Pollard converting all four.

For Exeter, two pieces of magic from Henry Slade created a brace of tries for Tom Wyatt, with Josh Hodge converting one. Slade also added a penalty.

Exeter took an early lead with a fourth-minute penalty from Slade but from their first period of pressure, Leicester responded with a try from Cracknell when the No.8 proved unstoppable from a five-metre scrum.

Pollard converted to make it 7-3 at the end of a competitive but disjointed first quarter, with box-kicks and up-and-unders being the order of the day.

However, the Chiefs’ scrum was under considerable pressure and the concession of a second penalty in the same area saw their opponents batter the Exeter line, but solid defence from the visitors kept them at bay.

After 31 minutes, Leicester extended the lead when a half-break from Pollard gave Henderson the chance to crash over under the posts. Pollard converted, but missed with a long-range penalty as his side held a deserved 14-3 lead at the break.

Having been injured in the last play of the first half, Tigers’ flank Hanro Liebenberg failed to reappear and was replaced by Matt Rogerson.

Leicester suffered another setback when two minutes after the restart, Exeter scored an excellent try with Slade’s cross-field kick being collected by Wyatt for the wing to race over.

Chiefs continued to have the better of the third quarter and should have been rewarded, but Wyatt lost possession as he attempted to touchdown for his second try.

However, it mattered little as from the resulting scrum, Stu Townsend and Slade neatly combined to provide Wyatt with a walk-in score.

Hodge took over the kicking from Slade and nailed the conversion from near the touchline to put his side in front for the first time.

With 15 minutes remaining, Exeter lost replacement Rigg to the sin bin for taking Freddie Steward out in the air and Tigers immediately capitalised.

A clean break from Dan Kelly tore the visitors’ defence to shreds and when the ball was recycled, Hassell-Collins outflanked the cover defence to score.

Rigg’s yellow card proved costly as he was still absent when Youngs saw a gap to secure a scarcely deserved bonus point.

* (Article continues below …)

Unlocking the defence 🔓

Handre Pollard was the key man for this Cameron Henderson try for @LeicesterTigers 🔑

Watch live on @rugbyontnt 📺#GallagherPrem | #LEIvEXE pic.twitter.com/8JCNKMM934

— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) January 4, 2025

* Meanwhile, Wales international back Max Llewellyn scored two tries as Gloucester emphatically ended Sale Sharks’ recent Premiership resurgence with a 36-20 victory at Kingsholm.

Llewellyn struck in each half, with Gloucester securing a five-point maximum to keep themselves in play-off contention.

Sale’s hopes of securing a fourth successive Premiership win floundered on an outstanding first-half display by Gloucester that produced touchdowns for Llewellyn, fullback Santi Carreras and wing Josh Hathaway.

Sale trailed 3-22 after 26 minutes and it proved too much for them to claw back despite tries from skipper Ben Curry, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and wing Tom Roebuck, while centre Rob du Preez kicked a penalty and conversion.

Llewellyn’s 60th-minute score and a late Tomos Williams touchdown saw Gloucester home, with Carreras completing an accomplished performance by landing a penalty and four conversions for a 16-point haul.

* Tom Willis surged over for two tries to give England boss Steve Borthwick another compelling reminder that his Test debut is overdue as Saracens dispatched Bristol 35-26.

Saracens bounced back from their record Premiership defeat at Bath a week earlier by ending the Bears’ 10-match winning run on the road – with Willis at the forefront of their bonus-point victory.

Man of the match Willis demonstrated his power during both tries with the second, scored on the stroke of half-time, seeing him evade three tacklers in a devastating run down the right wing.

All of Saturday’s scores and scorers are below …

Gloucester 36-20 Sale Sharks

The scorers

For Gloucester
Tries: Carreras, Llewellyn 2, Hathaway, T Williams
Cons: Carreras 4
Pen: Carreras

For Sale Sharks
Tries: B Curry, Cowan-Dickie, Roebuck
Con: R du Preez
Pen: R du Preez

Yellow cards: Mayco Vivas (Gloucester, 40), Arthur Clark (Gloucester, 55)

Teams

Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Max Llewellyn, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Josh Hathaway, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 6 Jack Clement, 5 Arthur Clark, 4 Freddie Thomas, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Mayco Vivas.
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Val Rapava-Ruskin, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Freddie Clarke, 20 Albert Tuisue, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 George Barton, 23 Charlie Atkinson.

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Luke James, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 Tom Curtis, 9 Raffi Quirke, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Bevan Rodd.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 WillGriff John, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Dan du Preez, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Sam Bedlow, 23 Sam Dugdale.

Referee: Jack Makepeace
Assistant referees: George Selwood, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Peter Allan

Leicester Tigers 28-15 Exeter Chiefs

The scorers

For Leicester Tigers
Tries: Cracknell, Henderson, Hassell-Collins, B Youngs
Cons: Pollard 4

For Exeter Chiefs
Tries: Wyatt 2
Con: Hodge
Pen: Slade

Yellow card: Will Rigg (Exeter Chiefs, 65)

Teams

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Josh Bassett, 13 Dan Kelly, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Harry Wells, 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Julián Montoya (captain), 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Jed Holloway, 20 Matt Rogerson, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Joseph Woodward.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Ben Hammersley, 13 Zack Wimbush, 12 Tamati Tua, 11 Tommy Wyatt, 10 Henry Slade, 9 Stu Townsend, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Franco Molina, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 3 Marcus Street, 2 Dan Frost, 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 19 Rusi Tuima, 20 Richard Capstick, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Will Rigg.

Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys, John Meredith
TMO: Andrew Jackson

Saracens 35-26 Bristol Bears

The scorers

For Saracens
Tries: Willis 2, Burke 2, Cinti
Cons: Lozowski 2
Pens: Daly, Lozowski

For Bristol Bears
Tries: Randall, Ravouvou, Thacker, Heenan
Cons: Worsley, Byrne 2

Yellow card: Maro Itoje (Saracens, 25)

Teams

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Rotimi Segun, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Lucio Cinti, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Harry Wilson, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Jamie George, 1 Rhys Carre.
Replacements: 16 Kapeli Pifeleti, 17 Phil Brantingham, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Olamide Sodeke, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Olly Hartley, 23 Angus Hall.

Bristol: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Jack Bates, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Noah Heward, 10 Sam Worsley, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (captain), 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Jamie Hodgson, 4 James Dun, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Jimmy Halliwell, 19 Steele Barker, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Kalaveti Ravouvou.

Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Wayne Falla
TMO: David Rose