Northampton Saints 31 – 12 Leicester Tigers: Bonus point bragging rights for Saints in Prem Cup East Midlands Derby
11/02/2024 05:45 AM
By Ben Grundy
Northampton Saints put on a bonus point-bashing display at home after disappointment in Leicestershire three weeks ago to level the scores in the East Midlands.
An excellent performance from Tarek Haffar and George Makepeace-Cubitt was accompanied by brilliance from a team packed full of young promise giving fans a bright perspective on the future of Phil Dowson's side.
Northampton Director of Rugby Phil Dowson spoke to TNT Sports and said: "We are delighted, we talked all week about the opportunity this tournament offers and the fact it is a derby as well.
"Loads of those players put their hands up tonight. I think they were conscious of that (loss to Leicester) a couple of weeks ago but fundamentally they wanted to play tonight, they wanted to make sure they worked hard, got our game on the field, all those sorts of cliques and they wanted to enjoy it and I think we saw lots of that, particularly in the first half where it was very physical."
Speaking on the depth and talent in his squad, Dowson said: "We all train together, we are fairly clear about what we want to get out of our game and what that looks like and also what the opposition are going to try to do it as well. We develop every single person to be able to execute that game(plan).
"Our development pathway runs a lot through our loan clubs, particularly Bedford, in terms of game time which is integral to the development of players. This (PRC) gives an opportunity to put them in a Saints shirt and put them next to Saints players to give guys minutes under their belts. I think it is important this group play as a team and focus on what their development is."
It only took four minutes for the Saints to show an attacking threat when Archie McParland thought he had opened the scoring, but his try was ruled out by the TMO after a high shot from Charlie Savala in the build-up.
Heroics from George Hendy held up the Tigers in between the posts to deny them a try of their own. However, after a series of penalties for offside conceded by Saints, the pressure on their defence grew too strong and in the ninth minute, Malelili Satala dotted down in between the posts with Jamie Shillcock adding the extras.
Homegrown Henry Pollock was the beneficiary of a George Makepeace-Cubitt cross-field kick in the 15th minute which allowed him to leap high in front of the Cinch Stand after a rather fortunate bounce, the fly-half knocking over the extra two from his assist to level the score.
A deliberate knock-on in the 22nd minute saw the Tigers reduced to 14 for 10 minutes as scrum-half Tom Whiteley was sent to the sin bin.
Substitute James Ramm went over for Northampton's second of the night after Pollock peeled from the base of the scrum brilliantly and another well-timed Makepeace-Cubitt pass split the Leicester defenders, the 20-year-old having no issues with the conversion.
Tom Litchfield got a try of his own in the 38th minute, running in from 25 metres on the left flank after slick hands between Makepeace-Cubitt and Savala to extend Saints' lead to 12 points going into the break after a failed conversion attempt.
George Hendy side-stepped his side into a bonus point score after Henry Pollock serviced the fullbacks inside line and gave Saints their fourth of the night, the extra two added from the tee to extend the home side's advantage to 19 points with 54 minutes gone.
On his debut, Ewan Baker scored for the Saints in the left corner with just over 20 minutes left on the clock. A sensational set of offloads across the back line and Tarek Haffar, who would not be mistaken for a centre with his handling and support play throughout the evening, set up the debutant. Makepeace-Cubitt fired wide of the posts in his conversion attempt.
Shillcock superbly denied Saints a sixth of the evening as Tom Litchfield wrestled with the fly-half for his second of the evening in the right-hand corner of the pitch but to no avail.
A consolation came in the dying embers of the game for the Tigers as Will Wand sliced through the defence of the Saints and showed impressive pace to go over in the corner, evading the tackle of Ewan Baker. Shillcock's touchline conversion struck the post, keeping the gap at 19 points.
A turnover from Henry Pollock at the breakdown allowed George Makepeace Cubitt to fire the ball into the stands and bring an impressive Saints performance to a close, whilst keeping the Franklin's Gardens home record alive, 31-12 Northampton.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS: 31
Tries: 5 (Pollock 15' Ramm 22' Litchfield 38' Hendy 54′, Baker 59′)
Conversions: 3 (Makepeace-Cubitt 15' 22' 54′)
Penalties: 0
Yellow cards: 0
Red cards: 0
Drop Goals: 0
Northampton Saints: 15 George Hendy 14 Mitieli Vulikijapani 13 Tom Litchfield 12 Charlie Savala 11 Tom Seabrook 10 George Makepeace-Cubitt 9 Archie McParland 1 Tarek Haffar 2 Craig Wright 3 Luke Green 4 Chunya Munga © 5 Gavin Thornbury 6 Fyn Brown 7 Angus Scott-Young 8 Henry Pollock
Replacements: 16 Nathan Langdon 17 Emmanuel Iyogun 18 Sonny Tonga'uiha 19 Will Spencer 20 Josh Kemeny 21 Jonny Wiemann 22 James Ramm 23 Ewan Baker
LEICESTER TIGERS: 12
Tries: 2 (Malelili Satala 9' Wand 78′)
Conversions: 1 (Shillcock 9')
Yellow cards: 1 (Tom Whiteley)
Red cards: 0
Drop Goals: 0
Leicester Tigers: 15 George Pearson 14 Malelili Satala 13 Will Wand 12 Solomone Kata 11 Jack Kinder 10 Jamie Shillcock 9 Tom Whiteley 1 James Whitcombe 2 Finn Theobald-Thomas 3 Tim Hoyt 4 Come Joussain 5 Tom Manz 6 Matt Rodgerson 7 Emeka Ilione 8 Kyle Hatherell
Replacements: 16 Archie Vanes 17 Archie Van der Flier 18 Henry Mountford 19 Lewis Chessum 20 Sam Williams 21 Charlie Bemand 22 Charlie Myall 23 Tom Threlfall
5 Talking points: Northampton Saints 31 – 12 Leicester Tigers
1. Tarek Haffar a centre at prop? – The tight-head was impressive throughout the evening and stepped out of the conventional role of a prop to boost his side's offensive play. The English front-rower could easily be mistaken for a centre in the game, supporting the ball with runs on the shoulder and carrying his side up the pitch, pinching extra yards from the gain line with pure power and determination. With the absence of Alex and Ethan Waller, it will be exactly the kind of prospect the coaching team will have wanted to step up to the plate.
Haffar spoke to TNT Sports after receiving Player of the Match: "I'm very impressed with myself and the lads, they created a great platform for everyone to play on.
Missing no tackles in the game the Prop 'loved it': "I honestly loved that (the game), especially the tackling stat, I feel that's big work for me, so I am really happy to hear that.
With lots of Saints absent on international duty, Haffar revealed the impact that has on him and the squad: "Everyone here has aspirations to be in the international setup and we all train together and it creates great depth so we can all slot in and do exactly what the seniors can do."
2. Makepeace-Cubitt makes his mark on the Gardens – Running out at the Cinch Stadium for the first time, the 20-year-old fly-half was a significant contributor to all of Saints' scores in the first period. The England U20 international exhibited sill from the boot and flare from his hands with perfectly delayed passes to set up Ramm and Litchfield for their scores and a cross-field kick that was snatched up by Henry Pollock. Following in Fin Smith's footsteps the fly-half was not afraid to get his hands dirty, often being one of the first into contact, chopping down Tigers players with firm tackles.
3. Archie gets his revenge– Having started the game at Welford Road three weeks ago, the scrum-half highlighted how he wanted to get revenge at the Gardens and that he did. The 19-year-old showed his previous experience playing in the Premiership and was buzzing around the base of the ruck, sniping superbly and offloading in quirky but successful ways.
4. Homegrown Henry on fire– A storyline that seems to be repeating itself in Northampton's fixtures is Henry Pollock's excellence and it was no different tonight. The number eight carried well from the base of the scrum and showed grit and determination in defence, placing him surely high in the potential future talent England have on offer in years to come.
5. A scrappy game both in and out of play – Both sides showed inexperience in the game as defensive lines were sometimes set jagged and attacking phases were not executed to their best with a series of handling errors that made the game scrappy at times. Leicester were the more shaky side on the ball, struggling to build phases of possession after handling errors that ultimately cost them two tries alongside positions of attacking strength in the Saints 22. However, out-of-play was no different with three mass confrontations in just the first half alone showing the significance and the meaning of an East Midlands Derby to the players.
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