Michael Cheika’s tenure at Leicester is just six matches old but a statement victory such as this suggests the Tigers’ faithful can dream again. They went toe-to-toe with Saracens, who have set the pace so far in the Premiership this season, and displayed the trademark stubbornness of any Cheika side by the bucketload to clinch a first win here in six and a half years.
They scored four tries – so too did Saracens – and while the hosts were missing seven players who were away with England, the Tigers themselves were without five for the same reason. It made for an enthralling, frenetic encounter, shorn of star English names, but high on thrills and spills. For Leicester, the Australian centre Izaia Perese was outstanding and the collective effort from the forwards will have had Cheika purring. For the hosts, Tom Willis has somehow upped his efforts after his England snub. He did not deserve to end up on the losing side but you sense these two teams may meet again at the business end of the season.
The Tigers are now up to second and have won five of their opening six matches of the season with the Premiership now on hold for a month as the autumn internationals take centre stage. If that one defeat, against Bath at home, was disappointing, then the Tigers can revel in their 5-1 record – matched only by Johann van Graan’s west country outfit. “I like the way that even when the momentum swung back against us we put our flag in the ground and said: ‘We’re not moving from here, we’re going to win this game,’” said Cheika.
Saracens break for the internationals, not too disappointed either. They rallied from 15 points down and might have nicked it at the end – no mean feat given the disruption they have encountered this week. They lost the fly-half Fergus Burke on Wednesday and his replacement Alex Goode went down with a quad injury in the warmup. It meant a start for Tim Swiel, who joined the club this week as short-term cover, and as Mark McCall revealed afterwards, did not know what the calls his teammates were making even meant.
“It’s not a great situation but he managed his way through the game and I thought he did really well,” said McCall. “There’s a good way to lose and a bad way to lose and that was one of the better ways.”
Leicester opened the scoring with a straightforward penalty from Handrè Pollard but it was Saracens who registered the first try of the match, finished by Nick Tompkins but owing everything to Willis’s bulldozing ball-carrying. The Tigers’ response was immediate, however. A clever grubber from the fledgling centre Joe Woodward was measured perfectly for Ollie Hassell-Collins to gather and dot down before Perese was over for Leicester’s second try on the left after excellent work by Anthony Watson, who claimed a high ball and made significant ground on the right.
Back came Saracens to within a point when Swiel popped up on the shoulder of Juan Martín González, who had made the crucial break before the fly-half’s penalty edged his side ahead.
Leicester responded again to take the lead into the interval with a penalty try on the stroke of half-time – the Saracens tighthead prop Alec Clarey shown a yellow card for his troubles. It got better for the Tigers when the captain Julián Montoya notched their fourth from a driving maul – Perese doing the initial damage with a fine burst up the middle.
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Another Pollard penalty left Saracens needing three scores with a quarter of the match to go, which became two when González dotted down from close range. Again Willis was the provider – a thundering run up the guts of Leicester’s defence just as Saracens were running out of ideas. Asked if Willis can consider himself unlucky to be out of the England picture, McCall said: “I think so, he’s been outstanding in every game this year, eye-catching in every game this year.”
It was one score with nine minutes to go when the replacement hooker James Hadfield squeezed the ball down after a driving maul had been held short but whereas the last-gasp turnaround was forthcoming for Saracens at Bristol last week, Leicester held firm for all five points.
