Northampton 32-26 Leicester: Returning Lions stars tame the Tigers in East Midlands Derby

The visitors seemed lacklustre with most of their time with ball in hand spent in Northampton’s 22 but only profiting twice through Freddie Steward and Harry Wells, nearly half of Tiger’s points coming from the tee of Billy Searle.

A quiet first quarter in the 258th East Midlands derby, an early Leicester penalty from Bill Searle hushed the crowd at Cinch stadium at Franklins’ Garden. Another ten minutes would pass before any further scores, returning British and Irish Lion Alex Mitchell created something from nothing, as we’ve seen him do so often for Northampton Saints.

Northampton’s scrum wheeled to the right as Mitchell saw the space to his left and went alone, Adam Radwan mistakenly letting a chip kick bounce, Mitchell to his Lions partner Fin Smith who went under the sticks. Tigers bounced back with a try of their own, Emeka Ilione broke free into open space, Freddie Steward spotted a large hole in Northampton’s scrambling defence, the visitors profiting.

Two quick tries for Northampton as they re-gained their lead before half time. Italian Edoardo Todaro extended his try tally for this season, three from the opening three games for the winger, substitute Tom Litchfield put his third on a plate. The Italian proved his worth again with a line-break on the close wing as he pushed through two half tackles and offloaded to flanker Tom Pearson, Fin Smith pushed the first conversion wide, and the other hit the post. Half time, 17-13.

Disaster opening five minutes in the second period for the Saints, Tommy Freeman left the pitch after attempting to ride an injury from the first half, as well as George Hendy who was limped off the pitch earlier on. Northampton’s coaching team worked overtime to figure out who plays where, with young Archie McParland, Anthony Belleau and Tom Litchfield the replacements for the backs. Meanwhile, Harry Wells doubled Leicester’s try-tally as they pinned the hosts inside their own five metres.

The lead, again, changing hands as Anthony Belleau crossed the whitewash in the far corner, classic Saints. Fraser Dingwall had his score crossed off by substitute referee Alex Thomas as Litchfield was deemed to have knocked the ball on in the ruck beforehand. Magic from Belleau as he scored his brace, a tight catch to the touchline, chip over Ollie Chessum and gathered his own kick on the paint, extended Northampton’s lead to six points.

Leicester caught offside in front of their own posts, the game becoming mathematical battle as Fin Smith and Billy Searle added three more to their team’s score. Northampton with a six-point lead as the game headed into the final five minutes. The final five minutes sucked up in Northampton’s 22 by a scrum, McParland eventually retrieved the ball to be put into touch.

TRIES: 5 (Smith 12’, Todaro 33’, Pearson 40’, Belleau 50’, 60’)

CONVERSIONS: 2 (Smith 12’, 61’)

PENALTIES: 1 (Smith 68’)

STARTING XV: 15 George Hendy 14 Tommy Freeman 13 Rory Hutchinson 12 Fraser Dingwall 11 Edoardo Todaro 10 Fin Smith 9 Alex Mitchell 1 Emmanuel Iyogun 2 Robbie Smith 3 Trevor Davison 4 Tom Lockett 5 JJ Van Der Mescht 6 Alex Coles 7 Tom Pearson 8 Callum Chick ©

Replacements: 16 Craig Wright 17 Danilo Fischetti 18 Luke Green 19 Josh Kemeny 20 Henry Pollock 21 Archie McParland 22 Anthony Belleau 23 Tom Litchfield

TRIES: 2 (Steward 19’, Wells 45’)

CONVERSIONS: 2 (Searle 19’, 46’)

PENALTIES: 4 (Searle 1’, 37’, 55’, 71’)

STARTING XV: 15 Freddie Steward 14 Adam Radwan 13 Will Wand 12 Solomone Kata 11Ollie Hassell-Collins 10 Billy Searle 9 Jack van Poortvliet 1 Nicky Smith 2 Jamie Blamire 3 Will Hurd 4 Harry Wells 5 Ollie Chessum © 6 Hanro Liebenberg 7 Tommy Reffell 8 Emeka Ilione

Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare 17 Tarek Haffar 18 Ale Loman 19 Joaquin Moro 20 Olly Cracknell 21 Tom Whiteley 22 James O’Connor 23 Orlando Bailey

Northampton Saints DoR Phil Dowson’s reaction – “Our endeavour and effort was there, a little bit rusty at time but I think on the whole our desire to get stuck in. Sometimes it’s (knock-ons) going to happen, but I think the game was flowing and credit to Leicester it was back and forth, we just about managed to hang on.”

Leicester Tigers head coach Geoff Parling’s reaction – “Incredibly frustrated, they live off inaccuracy, that’s their game isn’t it they’re very good at it, very dangerous with the ball in hand I thought the game was there for us, shows how tight that game was two bounces of the ball and then the game can go. We could have been more accurate with what we do, I mean that with the ball and the set piece and I thought our collision in the first half lacked a little bit as well.”

The return of the British and Irish Lions – Alex Mitchell, Tommy Freeman, Fin Smith and Henry Pollock all returned to action for the Saints this weekend, but what impact does this have on the squad? Dowson said: “Huge, the quality of those four guys you can’t underestimate it but they haven’t played for such a long period of time, we can train them as much as we want but its never going to fully emulate their game.”

Northampton Saints’ injury crisis – the injuries keep coming for Phil Dowson’s side, as British and Irish Lion Tommy Freeman and George Hendy left the field. Forcing the back three to become Edoardo Todaro, Anthony Belleau and Tom Litchfield, all who have never played on the wing or at fullback. Despite being played out of position, super-sub Belleau scored a 30-minute brace from fullback as the Saints have now lost George Furbank, James Ramm and the latest George Hendy in the 15 shirt.

Battle for Northampton’s 10 shirt – with the signing of Anthony Belleau in the summer as international duty cover for Fin Smith, the Frenchman has caused a stir for the Saints and brings a new insight for his fellow players and coaching staff.

Dowson said: “I think Fin Smith has really cemented himself on the international scene and so therefore he will be away for large parts of the season so that’s why Anthony Belleau is so important, the whole premise of him coming to this league was to be coached, to try something different, a different environment and I think that attitude is really underestimated, to have a different flavour to sort of what were doing off the pitch.”