By Jason Harris
January 5 2003

An injury time Tim Horan try converted by Andy Goode gave Saracens a deserved bonus point as the Men in Black lost 23-18 to Leicester at Welford Road. However, once again, the game will be rememberd by many Sarries fans for the performance of the match officials, rather than the two teams. Referee Roy Maybank and his touch judges have been heavily criticised by many Saracens supporters and Sky TV pundit Stuart Barnes for his performance, especially when he impeded Adryan Winnan and missed two blatant obstructions in the run-up to Leiceter's second try.

To be fair to Tigers, Maybank also pinged them for offside as they chased a downfield kick, but television replays showed the two "offenders" to be two metres onside.

The Saracens performance quietened the normally buzzing Welford Road crowd and they came away from the game a little disappointed that they didn't quite manage to beat the English and European champions on their own paddock.

Adey Winnan opened the scoring for Saracens after ten minutes, grounding the ball ahead of the chasing Leicester cover after Darrah O'Mahony's clever kick into the corner.

Tigers drew level at 5-5 with a routine catch-and-drive try from Josh Kronfeld and Adey Winnan then outscored Geordan Murphy two penalties to one, making the score 11-8 to the Men in Black.

Leicester, not having much to offer in the threequarters, kept the ball tight and the pressure on. Their forwards hammered away at the Saracens defence and you would have bet your mortgage, life savings and little Johnny's public school fees on England back row man Martin Corry scoring after he took the ball ten metres out from the Sarries line with just Richard Hill covering.

But Hill managed to get his body between the ground and the ball, denying Leicester any further points as Maybank blew his whistle for half time.

After the break, Tigers took a stranglehold on the match and penned Saracens back in their 22 for nearly twenty minutes. But the Sarries defence was still performing its heroics, keeping Leicester down to just one Murphy penalty goal.

With the scores tied and an enthralling final quarter promised, the aforementioned try from Oliver Smith was scored and the home side were in the lead.

Sarries were let off the hook a couple of minutes later as Murphy missed a penalty. But a fluffed 22-metre re-start handed the ball to Leicester.

The ball was moved from right to left and Leon Lloyd brushed aside Tom Shanklin to touch down in the corner, despite the attention of last-man Winnan. Murphy made amends for his earlier miss with a spot-on conversion from the left-hand touchline and the hosts, with time running out, looked home and hosed.

To their credit, Saracens came back and clawed their way into the Tigers 22. As the home side tried to clear their lines, Kevin Sorrell charged down the kick for touch and the ball sat up perfectly for Tim Horan who scored the try under the posts. Former Tiger Andy Goode - booed by some of the less savoury Leicester element when he joined the match earlier in the second half - kept his nerve to bisect the posts and bring Sarries to within five points of their hosts.

The Tigers were not finished and they spurned a chance to kick another penalty goal in favour of a chance to score a fourth try by kicking for the corner. But the fourth try never arrived and shortly afterwards Maybank brought the curtain down on an eventful, if not entertaining, match.

Leicester will have been mightily relieved to get back on course in the league after three consecutive defeats. Sarries, perhaps, will be a little disappointed despite taking a bonus point from the game. It could so easily have been four.