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Northampton's season on the ropes after Leicester pummelling
By PA
Leicester struck a potentially terminal blow to Northampton’s Gallagher Premiership title defence with a dominant 33-0 victory at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.
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The Tigers scored three tries in the opening 13 minutes to rapidly take the game away from their East Midlands rivals and increase the gap between to two sides in the table to 14 points.
Michael Cheika’s side are up to third – for 24 hours at least as they moved above Gloucester and opened up a six-point advantage over fifth-placed Saracens – with the Saints now needing a miraculous run to remain in the play-off picture.
A Leicester infringement straight from the kick-off meant Northampton were immediately on the attack, with tighthead Trevor Davison knocking on with the try line at his mercy before a minute had been played.
The hosts had missed their first big opportunity but Leicester did not do likewise as Handre Pollard got away down the right before timing his pass to put Adam Radwan in the clear for the opening try in the fourth minute.
The Tigers were soon celebrating again when Jack van Poortvliet chipped over George Hendy before winning a race for the ball with Tom Pearson to gather and score.
The rampant visitors were quickly in once more when Olly Cracknell received the ball following a line-out and broke through some flimsy tackling to barge over.
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Pollard then added two penalties either side of the half-hour to extend Leicester’s already considerable lead to 23-0 as they continued to dominate all facets of the match.
The shell-shocked Saints were unable to get themselves on the board before half-time and falling rain did nothing to improve their chances of getting back in the contest.
The hosts desperately needed to score first in the second half but instead it was the visitors who kept their tally ticking over as Pollard slotted another penalty.
Henry Pollock, scorer of two tries on his England debut against Wales last week, almost made an instant impact off the bench with an electric burst down the left that was well stopped by Radwan metres short.
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Further evidence that this was not Northampton’s night came with Emmanuel Iyogun knocked on in stretching for the line after a quickly taken penalty.
Pollock then looked to have finally got the Saints off the mark after 54 minutes when he ran in off George Hendy’s pass but the score was ruled out for the former fumbling a Leicester clearance at the start of the move.
Just to rub salt in the wounds the Tigers sealed the try bonus point with four minutes remaining when Charlie Clare gratefully gathered Pollock’s loose pass in the Northampton 22 and ran in unopposed.
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this is an unfortunate development at a time when England have just pivoted towards building their team around a core of saints players
I reckon the summer might see a pretty significant influx of Bath players. Will Butt, Guy Pepper, Max Ojomoh, and Beno Obano were all pretty unlucky not to be involved in the 6N, and I think quite a few of the PRC team could be bolters if they get minutes in the prem over the next weeks. Ewan Richards has been excellent and England really need depth at lock. Ciaran Donoghue and/or Orlando Bailey might get a look in too if any of England’s fly halves are unavailable. Arthur Green and Tom Carr-Smith are playing in more competitive positions but could spring a surprise.
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