George Ford delivered a vintage performance on his final Leicester appearance at Welford Road to steer the Tigers past a dogged Northampton side and into a first Premiership final for nine years. Ford finished with 22 points, a full house after a late drop-goal and arguably the most crucial try across his two spells at Leicester to reverse his side’s fortunes in a match that threatened to slip away .
The upshot is that Steve Borthwick takes Leicester to Twickenham to face his old club Saracens next Saturday after a day that demonstrated that power and physicality remain the greatest assets in the Premiership.
A fly-half of Ford’s ability and experience helps and while Owen Farrell’s duel with Marcus Smith commanded interest, here was Leicester’s No 10 serving up a reminder that there are few better in the land to ensure he has one more run-out for the Tigers before his summer move to Sale. “I’ve been here eight years in two stints and loved every second of it – the highs and the lows,” said Ford. “You won’t find a more traditional rugby club. I’ll miss it greatly but we’ve got a job to do next week.”
All credit to Northampton, who contributed so much to this fiery east Midlands derby. They showed considerable character amid questions as to whether they had the substance to back up their style but they were made to pay for a failure to take thechances. Ultimately they went begging, allowing Leicester to fight back with their forward might after a considerable scare from their rivals, and ensuring Chris Boyd’s tenure ends a week earlier than hoped.
Before kick-off, hostilities were put into acute perspective with a minute’s applause was in memory of Tiffany Youngs, the wife of the former Leicester captain Tom and sister-in-law of the scrum-half Ben, who passed away earlier this week after suffering from cancer. “Some things are bigger than rugby and what the Youngs family have been through, nobody can ever imagine,” added Ford. “That effort, from everyone here at Welford Road, was for the Youngs family. What a family they are. That, today, was for them.”
Leicester were not helped by losing Dan Kelly to injury inside the first two minutes – and the backline reshuffle it prompted – but Northampton started by far the brighter. When Lewis Ludlam was not engaged in afters with Ellis Genge he was to the fore for Northampton, Rory Hutchinson enjoyed himself and had Courtnall Skosan not been enduring one of those afternoons when nothing sticks in the hands, Northampton might have romped home.
Dan Biggar had kicked Northampton into a 3-0 lead before Alex Mitchell thought he had scored the opening try under the posts but for a knock-on from Skosan in the buildup. Ford then levelled the scores and gave the Tigers a narrow lead from the tee but Northampton finished the half the stronger and after Leicester’s Guy Porter was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Hutchinson, Biggar levelled at 6-6.
Tommy Freeman finished off his eighth try in six Premiership matches soon after the restart but Northampton’s lead lasted less than five minutes. All of sudden Leicester’s forwards started to carry with that little bit more oomph and there was more fizz on Ford’s pass, only for a show and go and a dash to the posts to outfox Northampton. He converted for good measure to give Leicester a two-point advantage before he and James Grayson exchanged penalties.
Northampton’s task was then made all the more difficult when the replacement prop Oisin Heffernan was shown a harsh yellow card for a high tackle before Freddie Steward twisted the knife in the right-hand corner after a delightful flat pass from Ford, who sealed Leicester’s place in the final with a late drop-goal and another last-gasp penalty. “There’s disappointment that we didn’t advance to Twickenham,” said Boyd. “And frustration that we created four opportunities in the first 55 minutes and if we scored two of them we might have forced Tigers to go away from their game plan.”
