As mid-table clashes go, this was never likely to be obscure, given it involved the past two champions of England at the Premiership’s biggest stadium. But then the news broke the day before that the erstwhile England captain, Owen Farrell, may be mulling over a move to France. That was the end of any obscurity.
Leicester and Saracens finished the afternoon as they were, muscling it out in seventh and sixth respectively, but the Tigers’ win closes the gap between the pair to two points – in keeping with the theme of yet another impossibly tight Premiership. Leicester are seventh, but they are a mere 10 points off first place and three off the top four.
In the end they dispatched Saracens with some authority, if a little less precision. The visitors were a few players light, with three looseheads and the England hooker Jamie George absent. Sure enough, it was through the scrum Leicester eventually pulled away. Had their handling been as tight as their set piece the Tigers would surely have taken a bonus point too.
But the story was always going to be Farrell. Not content with stepping away from England the team, it seems he may now walk away from England the country, if the rumours of a move to Racing 92 prove accurate.
When asked about the latest in his pre-match interview, Mark McCall gave nothing away. Farrell, though, proved far more generous barely 10 minutes into the match. His pass, straight from a scrum, was easily intercepted by Dan Kelly, whose subsequent run to the corner was a little more challenging but completed in style.
Farrell will no doubt have felt as if there were nothing he could do to avoid the spotlight, but he is used to that and played a slick part in Saracens’ response at the end of the first quarter. This time straight from a lineout on halfway, he brought Lucio Cinti in from the blindside wing. The Argentinian’s half-break sprung Elliot Daly away on a full one. His dummy and pass were exquisitely timed to send Tom Parton to the line for a beautifully worked try.
Farrell’s conversion established a lead, which his penalty a few minutes later extended. Neutrals were praying for him to win the man-of-the-match award and the interview on TV that would come with the champagne. Maybe it was that awkward interlocution he was trying to avoid when he played his part in Leicester’s second try.
His sliced clearance outside the 22 set up Leicester’s position just before the break. Saracens infringed in front of the posts. The Tigers chose to take a scrum and a couple of bruising carries later Matt Rogerson burrowed his way over. Handrè Pollard’s conversion regained the lead for the home team. A 12-10 score at half-time was representative of an engrossingly tight contest.
Both sides had at tilts at the other’s 22 in the opening minutes of the second half, but it was that dominance at scrum time that started to make the visitors creak. With that came an ever-steadier flow of penalties.
Then came a yellow card. Farrell had stymied one Leicester attack with a shuddering tackle on George Martin, which dislodged the ball and caused the man himself no little pain. But it was one of the contenders to replace him as England captain who did his time in the bin. When Jasper Wiese tapped an attacking penalty, Maro Itoje had little option but to tackle him, but the referee deemed him not to have retreated – or for Wiese not to have run five metres before he did.
Now Saracens were really up against it. They managed to force Wiese into a knock-on at the next attack, as Leicester seemed to be looking for ways not to score. They duly found one, though, when they drove Saracens back at the next scrum. They took a scrum of their own at the penalty and Pollard’s long pass released Harry Simmons to the corner.
It proved enough to win the game. But the rumours about Farrell are set to swirl round mid-table for a while yet.
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