Slick Saints leave Leicester with much to work on

Northampton Saints vs. Leicester Tigers
Franklin’s Gardens
10th January 2009
Guinness Premiership
HT – 10-6
FT – 17-13

Northampton outplayed their East Midlands rivals despite what the scoreboard may suggest. The Saint’s maintained their unbeaten run at Franklin’s Gardens with a 17-13 victory as Leicester’s poor form on their travels continued. Northampton’s midfield of Lee Dickson, Stephen Myler and James Downey cut through and dominated their more illustrious counterparts. They were supported by the pace of Ben Foden (Man of the Match) and running of Paul Diggin, who scored twice to seal the win for Northampton.

The score-line flattered Leicester, as Myler – who was second in the Premiership kicking charts before this game – missed 16-points from his boot. Leicester were unable to capitalize, and without their hands on the ball they could not take advantage of Outside-Centre Seru Rabeni, who made such an impact last week against Bath.

England potential Ben Foden, who moved to Northampton from Sale as a 9, had a superb game at Full-Back. His impact into the Saints’ attacking line created the first of Diggin’s two tries, and he was to claim one of his own in the second half. His kicking game is perhaps something which needs to be worked on, but under pressure he was calm and worked Saints out of danger. After moving to Scrum-Half for the last 20 minutes, he ordered his forwards around effectively proving that he is adapt behind the scrum and at Full-Back. After today’s performance along with others this season, he will certainly be on Martin Johnson’s radar for England’s Elite Squad for their Six Nations campaign.

It was Foden, and the distribution of Dickson, which kept Northampton going forward, with Leicester being unable to slow down the potent Northampton attack. This is indeed how they scored their first try in the 12th minute, as Downey drew the Leicester midfield creating space for Foden to exploit the space before putting away Diggin. It was just ten minutes later that after more sniping from Dickson, Downey was able to put the Saints winger – Diggin – away for his second try of the evening.

Leicester stayed in the game with two penalties from Toby Flood seeing his side going into the break only four points behind at 10-6 – as the Tigers looked like they were going to capitalize on Myler’s misfortunes with the kicking tee. Although the Premiership finalists of last year were unable to find a cutting edge throughout the match, as Saints slowed the play while in defence, and runners of the likes of Ben Kay and Aaron Mauger failing to take the ball at any pace consistently.

Leicester’s selection did seem to have one eye on next weekend’s Heineken Cup clash against Treviso, with Lewis Moody rested with a slight niggle, and the likes of Martin Castrogiovanni and ex-England captain Marin Corry only making the bench. When these two did come off the bench Leicester seemed to have a bit more bit in the forwards, and the half-time substitution of Scott Hamilton added the spark Leicester’s attack was missing in the first 40-minutes.

This isn’t to take anything away from Northampton, who in front of their largest gate of the season – 13,582 – produced an inspirational display which was topped off with Foden’s try after 50-minutes, and Myler finally converted. Toby Flood scored a try after quick thinking from Julien Dupuy to set up a grandstand finish, which the Guinness Premiership has come to expect, though the England Fly-Half had a poor game, despite scoring all 13 of the visitor’s points.

Northampton (10) 17
Tries: Diggin 2, Foden Con: Myler

Leicester (6) 13
Try: Flood Con: Flood Pens: Flood 2

Northampton: Foden, Diggin, Clarke, Downey (Mayor – 72), Lamont, Myler, Dickson (Reihana – 72); Smith (Tonga'uiha – 53), Hartley, Murray, Fernandez Lobbe (capt), Kruger, Easter, Gray, Hopley.
Leicester: G Murphy, J Murphy (Hamilton – 40), Rabeni, Mauger (capt), Smith, Flood, Dupuy (Youngs – 62); Stankovich (Castrogiovanni – 55), Chuter, White, Wentzel, Kay, Croft, Herring (Newby – 11), Deacon

Will Gilgrass - 10th January 2008