Zack Henry kicks Leicester to derby victory over Northampton
Fly-half Zack Henry was Leicester’s hero with 20 points as the Tigers edged out local rivals Northampton 28-24 at Welford Road. Henry, standing in for the injured George Ford, kicked five penalties and converted Ben Youngs’ early try.
He also added a drop goal to ensure his side avenged a 36-13 defeat at Franklin’s Gardens back in November. Freddie Steward scored Leicester’s other points with a penalty.
Northampton outscored their opponents three tries to one, Paul Hill and Henry Taylor crossing in the second half to go with a first-half penalty try, while Dan Biggar kicked a penalty and two conversions.
However, they still crashed to a sixth defeat in seven matches since the resumption after failing to take advantage of Tigers’ three yellow cards.
Biggar’s penalty gave Saints a fourth-minute lead but it was the home side who soon scored the first try.
Northampton full-back George Furbank was heavily tackled by Nemani Nadolo and lost possession for Youngs to pick up the loose ball and run 30 metres to score.
Henry converted and added two penalties in quick succession to give Tigers a 13-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The outside half should have extended that advantage but his straightforward kick rebounded back off a post, although moments later he was back on target with an even easier attempt.
The visitors were comfortably second best in the opening 25 minutes with ill-discipline and frequent handling errors not helping their cause.
They also suffered an injury setback when prop Francois Van Wyk hobbled off, but they received a boost when home lock Tomas Lavanini was sin-binned after dragging down a driving maul.
From the resulting line-out, Saints attacked again and were rewarded with a penalty try award from Wayne Barnes, with the referee issuing another yellow card, this time to flanker Harry Wells.
It looked bleak for the hosts especially, when they lost centre Guy Porter to a head injury assessment, but somehow they held on with 13 men before a long-range penalty from Steward saw them increase their lead to 19-10 at half-time.
Henry resumed goalkicking duties and five minutes after the restart he kicked his fourth penalty, with Saints changing five players in a short period in an attempt to try and reverse their fortunes.
The move should have paid dividends but Taqele Naiyaravoro charged straight into Steward when a simple pass to a support player would have seen Saints score their second try.
However, Leicester number eight Hanro Liebenberg became the third home forward to be sin-binned as he dragged down a line-out drive, and Saints capitalised when replacement prop Hill waltzed through the defence to score an excellent individual try.
Northampton lock David Ribbans collected a yellow card for a high tackle as playing numbers were reduced once again.
Henry missed with the resulting penalty but he made amends with a neatly-taken drop-goal and then a late penalty to see his side over the winning line.
In the final minute, replacement scrum-half Taylor crossed for a converted try to gain Saints a losing bonus point.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments