MATCH REPORT | Saracens Men 29-32 Leicester Tigers

Saracens Men ended the first block of the Gallagher Premiership with a defeat as they were beaten 32-29 by Leicester Tigers at a sold out StoneX Stadium.

On a day when everything appeared to be going against Sarries who lost props Rhys Carre and Marco Riccioni late on as well as fly-half Alex Goode in the warm-up to add to the seven England internationals missing, the Tigers were able to pull away to inflict a second defeat of the season on the Men in Black.

Sarries did all they could and almost completed another memorable comeback as they trailed by 15 points in the final quarter which turned in to a deficit of just three in the closing stages, but it was ultimately a step too far as they had to settle for two bonus points.

Sarries knew they would need a monstrous defensive effort, and an early counter ruck from Lucio Cinti set the tone which sparked the crowd in to life.

Ivan van Zyl could have opened the scoring when he gathered an interception but the Tigers defence scrambled back to haul down the scrum-half.

In what was an uneventful opening to the match with both sides struggling to gain any momentum, Handre Pollard put the Tigers 3-0 up with 14 minutes on the clock with a straight forward penalty.

Then out of nowhere, Sarries hit the front with a brilliant try from Nick Tompkins. Tom Willis, who was a man on a mission made a break and offloaded up to Hugh Tizard, and then the number eight gathered again and popped up to the Wales centre who had a clear run under the posts. Tim Swiel converted, with the replacements behind the posts going wild as the hosts went 7-3 up.

Leicester hit straight back though, as Joseph Woodward’s grubber ahead popped up perfectly for Ollie Hassell-Collins who could stroll over the line from 10 metres out. Pollard’s conversion put the visitors 10-7 ahead.

It got better for the Tigers five minutes later as their second try in quick succession arrived. Anthony Watson gathered a high ball and broke in to the 22 before Toby Knight covered brilliantly to bring him down, but then the ball was spun left to Izaia Perese who went over the final defender and scored in the corner.

Just as it looked like the game might be getting away from them, Swiel marked his Premiership debut with a memorable try to bring Sarries right back in to it. Juan Martin Gonzalez, who looked like he was playing in a video game ghosted through three defenders and then passed inside to Swiel who acrobatically finished under the posts. His conversion cut the deficit to just one point with 10 minutes of the first half remaining.

The pack then fronted up under extreme pressure, and then a huge shove from the pack got a penalty which Swiel kicked straight through the posts to put Sarries 17-15 ahead with just two minutes until the break.

Leicester weren’t done there though, a 50:22 from Hassell-Collins took them right up towards the line and then from the lineout the maul was brought down which saw them awarded a penalty try and Alec Clarey sent to the sin-bin, giving the visitors a 22-17 half time lead.

The Tigers started the second half on the front foot and were very close to scoring just four minutes after the restart when Perese cut through the defence, but an incredible covering tackle from Tom Parton stopped a certain try.

They crossed from their next attack a minute after though to take control of the match. A penalty was kicked to the corner, and then Julian Montoya broke away from the maul to score in the corner. Pollard’s conversion extended their lead to 12 points.

Hassell-Collins then thought he had another as he grubbered ahead and gathered down the touchline, but to the relief of the home crows a check with the Television Match Official there was a knock on in the build up.

Sarries had a golden chance to start the comeback with 30 minutes left, but an accidental offside from a maul which was just five metres out gave the Tigers a huge let-off.

Tizard then went agonisingly close to scoring, but this time in the process of placing the ball down from a neat set-piece move the ball slipped out of his grasp and went forward.

Pollard then struck another penalty to put the Tigers 15 points up on the hour mark, and a chance followed for the hosts as Theo McFarland gathered a chip ahead and passed inside to Gareth Simpson, but he was chased down and the ball was coughed up, summing up the bad luck Sarries had throughout the match.

Sarries did give themselves some hope with 15 minutes to go, another monstrous carry from Willis took play up to the line and then Gonzalez stretched over from one metre out to spring the crowd back in to life. The conversion went wide, but the deficit was now 10 points.

The hosts suddenly had the bit between their teeth, an incredible break from Josh Hallett saw the centre chip and chase and almost go the length of the field as the pressure kept building in the final quarter.

The drama kept coming, another penalty was kicked to the corner and James Hadfield stretched over the line for try number four from close range to cut the gap once more. Swiel kept his nerve to convert, and now it was 32-29 with nine minutes to go.

Leicester had a golden opportunity to put the game to bed with five minutes remaining as they had a five metre lineout, but McFarland’s incredible basketball ability came to the rescue as he stole the lineout and the ball was cleared.

Sarries gave it all they could in the final minutes but couldn’t quite make that final step and were narrowly beaten in a crazy match at StoneX.

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