By Ian Birks
November 28 2004

Saracens’ visit to Welford Road was to provide a more difficult challenge for the ascendant Tigers than many had expected. Saracens, under ex-Leicester coach, Rod Kafer, have had an indifferent season so far, so it is hardly surprising that a Tigers game and would bring out the best in Saracens.
A low scoring first half started with an exchange of penalty kicks from Andy Goode and Robbie Kydd. The usual Welford Road respect for the kicker was marred on at least three of Goode’s kick attempts by a lone Saracens fan shouting ‘Sarries reject’ whenever Goode prepared to kick; he clearly has a depth of knowledge that we can only hope to avoid!

Sarries had done their home work on Leicester, especially when it came to the scrum, which was reset time after time within striking distance of the Leicester line. Holford, the relatively inexperienced Leicester prop, was targeted by the Saracens front row but eventually it was Yates who was penalised for not binding after the scrum after a series of collapsed scrums. The tactic paid off in terms of disrupting the game plan, but with only 9 points in the whole of the game, turned out to be a wasted effort from the Saracens pack.

The game was one of those scrappy affairs; aimless high kicks, missed touches, handling errors dogged both sides with only the occasional glimpse of brilliant rugby that we know both teams can produce.

The visitors took a lead 3-6 with another successful penalty kick from Kydd. The first try came shortly after when a dropped ball by Kydd gave the Tigers an attacking scrum; Goode’s perfect mis-pass allowed the ball to find its way to Tom Varndell via Vesty and Hipkiss, allowing the winger to slide over the corner. Goode missed the difficult conversion and the first half ended 8-6.

The second half saw the Tigers taking the game through the forwards. Henry Tuilagi was used to batter the Saracens in to some form of submission resulting in giving Goode his second penalty kick of the day when the Sarries forwards were penalised for killing the ball. 11-6.

A further Goode kick just before the hour-mark took the score to 14-6, meaning that the Saracens needed to score twice; something that they had not looked like doing all afternoon.

A few minutes later, Saracens replacement Glen Jackson slotted a magnificent long-range effort to bring the visiting side to within 5 points and a much needed bonus point was in sight. 14-9.

As if re-vitalised by this, Sarries came very close to scoring a try when Haughton broke, but Kydd could not take the poor pass to give the Sarries the try.

Healey showed some of his old magic with a kick and chase out of the Leicester 22, the obstruction went unnoticed and Sarries were able to clear their lines temporarily as the Tigers finished the game the stronger.

The game was sealed with a try from Leicester replacement, Ollie Smith; pressure from the Tigers lead to a ruck just short of the try line and Smith ran in to dot the ball down under the posts. An easy conversion took the score to 21-9.

Teams.
Leicester: Vesty, Varndell, Hipkiss, Gibson, Healey, Goode, Bemand, Holford, Cockerill, Morris, M. Johnson, L. Deacon, B. Deacon, Back, H. Tuilagi.
Replacements: Lloyd for Varndell (62), Smith for Hipkiss (45), Buckland for B. Deacon (80). Hampson, Hamilton, W. Johnson, Broadfoot.

Saracens: Kydd, Haughton, Johnston, Sorrell, Castaignede, Bartholomeusz, Williams, Yates, Cairns, Visagie, S. Raiwalui, Fullarton, Randell, Skirving, Vyvyan.
Replacements: Jackson, Raulini , Lloyd, Chesney , Seymour. Kyriacou, Vaikona.

Referee: Dave Pearce