'Despite it being here at Mattioli Woods I noticed that Sarries were favourites'

Director of rugby Geoff Parling praised Leicester’s commitment after an impressive 36-28 win over Saracens kept his side firmly in contention for a play-off spot.

Tigers were in total control for most of the match to lead 26-7 at one stage, but Saracens showed spirit to come away with a losing bonus point even though they were comfortably second best on the day.

Wing Adam Radwan and Billy Searle were Leicester’s stand-out performers, with the former scoring two explosive tries in a man-of-the-match display and Searle kicking four conversions and a penalty.

Olly Cracknell, Freddie Steward and Joe Heyes also scored tries for the home side while Theo McFarland, Rhys Carre, Juan Martin Gonzalez and Charlie Bracken scored Saracens’ tries. Fergus Burke converted all four.

Parling said: “Despite it being here at Mattioli Woods I noticed that Sarries were favourites coming into the game so it was a great win and a great result.

“We started the game well by moving the ball well and they only remained in the game because of the breakdown as we conceded seven turnovers in the first half.

“The bench could have added a bit more and I would have liked to have kept them out a bit longer and not given them a bonus point.

“Last week at Exeter the result was on me as I failed to set up the team properly, but there was a good emotional response this week.

“I thought Billy Searle managed the game really well and Orlando Bailey playing in the centre had his best game for the club.”

Radwan said: “Last week at Exeter we felt we didn’t turn up, so after a full review we challenged each other to be better and you saw the difference today, although not for the full 80 minutes.

“I’ve not been here too long but you can’t describe how good it is to play here as the crowd make it a very special place to be and the players feel that we owe them.”

Despite securing a bonus point, Saracens’ director of rugby Mark McCall was hugely critical of his side’s effort.

He said: “Although a losing bonus point may be important at the end of the season, it’s of little consolation today.

“You can’t turn up at a place like this and play with that attitude for the first 15 or 20 minutes as only one team had any fight for the physical battle.

“We were second best and I wish I knew what it was as we haven’t been able to win back-to-back games since rounds one and two.

“Some aspects of our second half were good but although they played well in the first half, we allowed them to run at us far too easily.”