Tigers blitz sinks Saints
Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:04
Leicester Tigers produced a 13-point blitz in the final 10 minutes, as they secured a 29-19 Guinness Premiership win against Northampton Saints at Welford Road on Wednesday.
And Dan Hipkiss timed his first try of the season to perfection, as he scored with just eight minutes of the game remaining to put Tigers ahead after they had trailed their East Midlands rivals 9-16 at half-time and still being 16-19 behind going into the final 10 minutes.
Johne Murphy scored a first-half try, while Toby Flood, who kicked 14 points, added an interception touchdown with a minute remaining to put daylight between the sides.
But it was not all plain-sailing for the home side.
Northampton had led 16-9 at half-time after Euan Murray scored the opening try of the game. And 14 points from the boot of Northampton fullback Stephen Myler had seen the visitors leading going into the final 10 minutes.
Hipkiss and fellow England international Harry Ellis had returned from injury to take their place in the backline for the game. Ellis replaced Julien Dupuy at scrumhalf while Hipkiss came in at centre for Matt Smith, who switched to the wing in place of Tom Varndell. Varndell and Dupuy were among the replacements.
Tigers were given the chance to take the lead after just 60 seconds. Saints flank Mark Hopley knocked on from the kick off and Northampton were penalised for collapsing the resulting scrum. Flood stepped up to slot a simple penalty.
It set the tone for Tigers in the opening minutes.
Fullback Geordan Murphy had already been on one 20-yard run when his quick feet carved open the Saints defence. His offload found Smith who beat three tackles before being bundled into touch five yards from the Northampton line.
Tigers' early momentum was stalled when Stankovich was given a ninth-minute yellow card. And Saints drew level moments later when Stephen Myler converted a 25-metre penalty.
But Myler undid his good work by giving away a penalty at the restart for holding on. Flood converted the kick for a 6-3 Tigers lead.
Tigers captain Martin Corry then almost capitalised on a poor Myler pass but as he kicked ahead he was caught 10 metres short of the Saints line.
Instead it was Northampton who went ahead with the first try of the game.
Ben Foden and Matt Lord combined in midfield and, as the ball was recycled, Murray was on hand to bundle over next to the posts. Myler completed the seven-point score to put Northampton 10-6 ahead.
Myler stretched the lead by another three points after Tigers were penalised for going off their feet and Flood missed the chance to bring Tigers within four points, pushing a 50-metre penalty to the right.
Hipkiss made a brilliant break from the restart, skipping through three tackles. As he went to ground five minutes short of the line, Northampton were penalised at the resulting ruck. Flood made no mistake this time, kicking the penalty to make the score 9-13.
But there was still time for Myler to add another penalty before half-time as Johne Murphy was penalised for being ahead of the kicker. It gave Northampton a 16-9 half-time lead.
Tigers were the first to show in the second period. Keeping the ball in hand, they put together a series of phases before a backs move almost put Johne Murphy in on the left.
Tigers were really piling on the pressure with a series of scrums in the Northampton 22, but despite half-breaks from Johne Murphy and Smith, they were unable to prise a way through.
Eventually the pressure told and a well-timed pass off the back of a scrum by Ellis picked out Johne Murphy’s clever run for him to score at the left-hand corner. Flood kicked the conversion to bring Tigers level at 16-16 with 57 minutes gone.
Tigers thought they had grabbed a second try moments later, but referee Chris White adjudged Jordan Cane had been held up over the line.
They had the chance to take the lead with 17 minutes remaining but Flood put his penalty wide to the right. Instead it was Myler, with his fifth kick out of five, who put Northampton ahead five minutes later after Tigers were playing the ball at a ruck.
Tigers regained the lead with just eight minutes remaining. The forwards overturned a Northampton scrum on their 22.
The ball was then sent through the backs and Hipkiss accelerated over in the corner for his first try of the season. Flood missed the conversion. But the England international was on target with his fourth penalty with three minutes left to stretch Tigers’ lead to 24-19.
And Flood made a brilliant interception in midfield seconds later and streaked 40-metres to add the game's final points.
The scorers:
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Murphy, Hipkiss, Flood
Con: Flood
Pens: Flood 4
For Northampton Saints:
Try: Murray
Con: Myler
Pens: Myler 4
Yellow card: Boris Stankovich (Leicester Tigers, 9)
The teams:
Leicester Tigers: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Matt Smith, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Ben Herring, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Marco Wentzel, 4 Martin Corry (captain), 3 Julian White, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Boris Stankovich.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Ben Woods, 20 Julien Dupuy, 21 Tom Youngs, 22 Tom Varndell.
Northampton Saints: 15 Stephen Myler, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Chris Mayor, 11 Bruce Reihana (captain), 10 Carlos Spencer, 9 Ben Foden, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Scott Gray, 6 Mark Hopley, 5 Christian Day, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Euan
Murray, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tom Smith.
Replacements: 16 Paul Shields, 17 Soane Tonga'uiha, 18 Alex Rae, 19 Ben Lewitt, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Nils Mordt, 22 Sean Lamont.
Referee: Chris White
Touch judges: Alan Hughes, Don Helme
TMO: Trevor Parlett
