Northampton 24-30 Leicester: Tigers move closer to securing a top-four finish with a narrow victory against Saints - Ruck

Northampton 24-30 Leicester: Tigers move closer to securing a top-four finish with a narrow victory against Saints

  • Leicester moved closer to securing a top-four finish with a narrow victory over local rivals Northampton
  • Tries from Harry Thacker and Niki Goneva had Tigers 17-13 ahead at half-time
  • Freddie Burns’ score after the restart secured the victory
Leicester Tigers have one foot in the Aviva Premiership playoffs after they beat their East Midlands rivals Northampton 30-24 at Franklin’s Gardens.

Tries from Harry Thacker and Vereniki Goneva put the Tigers 17-10 up at the break, with Teimana Harrison replying.

Freddie Burns kicked penalties either side of George Pisi’s score but a penalty from Stephen Myler brought the hosts back to within two points.



Burns then converted his own try to put Leicester 30-21 up before JJ Hanrahan’s late penalty set up a tense finale.

“That was a long last 20 minutes.” revealed RUCK man of the match Harry Thacker.

“But credit to the lads, we knew we needed to come here and cement our place in the top four and we’ve managed to do that.

“To dog out a win like that against a good Saints team is credit to the boys.” added the hooker.

Full report to follow.

MAN OF THE MATCH
Leicester Tigers: Harry Thacker

Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Tom Kessell, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Tom Wood (c), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 4 James Craig, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Campese Ma’afu, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 JJ Hanrahan, 22 Harry Mallinder, 23 Tom Collins

Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait (c), 14 Telusa Veainu, 13 Peter Betham, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Lachlan McCaffrey, 7 Brendon O’Connor, 6 Mike Fitzgerald, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Dom Barrow, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements: 16 Greg Bateman, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Tom Croft, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Adam Thompstone


Date: Saturday, April 16
Venue: Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 17:30 local (16:30 GMT)
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant Referees: Paul Dix, Roy Maybank
TMO: Sean Davey