By tjs10
December 26 2002

Despite drafting in England A prop Robbie Morris at the last minute, Saints Young Guns were not able to get the better of the Emerging Tigers in a 15-12 victory for the lads from Leicester.

From the kick-off, Tigers appeared to have been suffering more than their Northampton ounterparts from the effects of yesterday’s over-indulgence. Slow play & poor passing from Tigers gave Saints the upper hand in the opening quarter. An attempted clearance in Tigers’ in-goal area led to a Saints 5m scrum & the resulting try was scored by prop Kelvin Todd. The conversion that followed gave Saints a 7-0 lead after only 9 minutes.

A few minutes later, Tigers spurned the chance of a safe 3 points, opting to kick for the corner instead. Tigers lost the ball at the lineout that followed but were awarded a second penalty moments later when Saints infringed whilst trying to clear the ball. This time Myring opted for the kick at goal, only to see his attempt sail wide of the righthand upright.

In the first half-hour, the only Tigers pressure seemed to be coming quick breaks from Hipkiss & Hersey on the right wing, scything through the Saints tackles but never quite making the full distance due to lack of support.

A try for Saints Fly Half Ben Russell on 36 minutes seemed to sum up Saints play to date and, though the conversion was missed, gave them a deserved 12-0 lead going into injury time.

It’s always good to go into the break having just scored a try & so it proved for Leicester. A fantastic break by Tigers that caught the Saints players napping led to a beautiful solo try for Dan Hipkiss in the left corner three minutes into injury time. Myring’s conversion didn’t look like it had the legs to make it over the bar but just crept over to give Tigers hope (and only a 5 point margin) going into the break.

Tigers emerged for the second period a different team and, almost within 30 seconds of the restart, Hipkiss sprinted clear and crossed unopposed for his second try of the match out on the left touchline. Myring missed the extra 2 points, leaving the scoreline at 12-all with all to play for.

The second half was a more disjointed affair than the first half with Saint physio seemingly spending more time on the field than some of their players, one such player being Saints captain Chris Hyndman who had to be stretchered off after 45 minutes.

Around the hour-mark, Myring missed a penalty and it seemed that the game was destined for a draw but a speculative long kick by Leicester was knocked on by a Northampton back inside his own 22 looked to give Tigers a chance at a pushover try. The ball was instead fed across-field from the lineout but scrappy play resulted in a steal by Saints & a scrum was awarded. The Saints scrum-half was pounced on by a Tigers flanker as the ball came free & a penalty was awarded for holding on.

64 minutes gone & Myring once again had the chance to put Tigers clear from approx 30m out… A clean kick, but it seemed to drift high and left of the upright, only for the two touch judges (after more than a moment’s hesitation) to raise their flags aloft & signal a successful kick! Less than 20 mins left & Tigers had taken the lead for the first time in the match.

10 minutes later Myring had a chance to extend the lead with a further penalty but this time gave the touch judges no doubt as to the necessary decision, sending the ball metres wide.

The remainder of the game was marred by XXX needing to be taken to hospital with neck & shoulder injuries on 80 mins after a heavy tackle.

Because of the number of stoppages in the second half, Phil Dickens was always going to play plenty injury time and 2 minutes after the end of normal time Saints were awarded what looked like being the penalty that would tie the contest. Unfortunately for the home fans, the kicker sliced the ball magnificently and sent the ball further away from, rather than towards the posts!

The match was finally ended on 90 minutes after an unsuccessful drop goal attempt by Tigers from 30 yards out.

The few travelling Tigers fans left happier than their Saintly counterparts, though person least pleased about the day would have to be the FG groundsman who has more than a small job on his hands in getting the (now torn-up) pitch back to it’s pristine condition for the visit of Gloucester in 2 days!

Tigers: Hipkiss, Hersey, Billig, Myring, N.Jones, Golding, Loney, Holford (c) Morley, Cooke, Abraham, Raven

Saints: Wareing, Bates, Coote, Hyndman (c), Diggin, Russell, B.Jones, Todd, Miles, Morris, S.Hepher, Chance, Snape, Bond, Jeffries