Northampton’s coaching consultant, Alan Gaffney, wondered before the match whether some of his players had switched off early: as early as last October, it could be argued, given their wretched form since then. But the sight of their oldest rivals, together with the incentive of only a second Premiership double over the Tigers, enlivened a side that started the afternoon with a mathematical chance of being relegated, spirit steering them to an unlikely victory.
The last time Northampton faced Leicester, in September, they were also coming off the back of a heavy defeat by Saracens, but there was hope in their air then. A wretched season in which they have conceded more points and tries than any other club in the Premiership, and are fortunate to avoid more than a passing flirtation with relegation, now contains a sliver of silver after they pushed their neighbours out of the play-offs.
There may have been a gulf between the teams in terms of league positions but there was far less of a gap on the field. Leicester dominated in terms of possession and territory but they led for only three minutes and committed a series of such egregious errors in attack and defence that they did not look worth their customary place in the top four, highlighting the general mediocrity of the Premiership.
Their lineout creaked and they were twice penalised in the scrum after being shoved backwards. The second occasion was when Northampton’s replacement prop Alex Waller was in the sin-bin, and they blew a series of line-breaks through wasteful passing and poor support lines. Leicester conceded their first two tries after their flanker Valentino Mapapalangi positioned himself in no man’s land around the fringes, covering neither the ball-carrier nor a potential receiver.
The match was held up for 10 minutes 13 seconds after it started. The Northampton captain, Rob Horne, got his head in the wrong position trying to tackle Graham Kitchener and was strapped on to a stretcher before being taken to an ambulance. Northampton took time to recover from the blow and should have been at least two tries down following Matt Toomua breaks that came to nothing, before striking with their first attack.
The prop Paul Hill ran through a gap created by Mapapalangi’s poor positioning and eight phases later Ben Foden scored on the left.
Northampton had last won in the Premiership here in 2007 and their only survivor from that day, Stephen Myler, kicked a penalty to put them 10 points ahead.
Leicester stirred themselves to take the lead through tries by Telusa Veainu, who had earlier dropped the ball with the line beckoning, and Toomua after Kitchener had charged down Cobus Reinach’s clearance, but instead of taking charge the Tigers conceded a soft try from a lineout when Teimana Harrison tapped the ball back inside to Reinach, who waved goodbye to Mapapalangi. Three minutes after the restart Ahsee Tuala finished off a swaggering move to extend Saints’ lead to 12 points.
The harder Leicester tried, the more mistakes they made, three George Ford penalties giving them the consolation of a bonus point. They lost five of their own lineouts, three in Northampton’s 22, failed to establish a dominance up front, were thwarted at the breakdown by Harrison and Jamie Gibson, penalised six times in attack, and when they did create space, Toomua squandered a two-man overlap by throwing a pass behind Luke Hamilton. Jonah Holmes did cross the line five minutes from the end but only after George Worth had cleared his path by blocking Piers Francis.
Northampton, who had collapsed in the second half against Saracens the previous week, for once found strength in adversity and two Myler penalties kept them ahead. Their new director of rugby, Chris Boyd, will be at Franklin’s Gardens next week, formulating his plans for next season, and what this campaign has shown is that the gap in the Premiership is between the top two and the rest.
Leicester dropped to fifth and their next match is at home to the team immediately above them, Newcastle, before they finish at Sale, who have top-six aspirations. The Tigers have lost four home league matches this season, their worst run since 2003-04, the last time they were doubled by Northampton.
“The obstruction decision was brutal but what today showed was that if you do not control the ball and keep teams alive, it does not matter where they are in the league, they will beat you,” said their director of rugby, Matt O’Connor.
