The faces may change but Leicester Tigers remain the undoubted kings of English rugby.

First-half tries from Pat Howard and Steve Booth maintained an unbeaten home record over their Midlands rivals which stretches back to 1992 and keeps their Treble dream alive.

The Premiership champions now tackle the play-off final at Twickenham next Sunday, six days before they reach the last - and most important - stop on their trophy trail.

And, if they can wrest the Heineken Cup from Stade Francais in their home city of Paris, Dean Richards' outfit will deserve to be branded the best club side England has ever produced.

Although he has continually stressed the importance of the play-offs, the Leicester director of rugby opted to leave out a number of his key men, including skipper Martin Johnson, with a series of minor niggles.

It offered a rare window of opportunity for the Saints, desperate to overcome their fierce Midlands rivals and earn a Twickenham final appearance for the third time in two seasons.

After gifting away their Heineken Cup crown almost before their defence had started, the Saints have improved markedly since the turn of the year, with coach John Steele confident his side can challenge for the major honours next term.

However, there is rebuilding work to do in the summer, with Tim Rodber, Garry Pagel, Allan Bateman and Pat Lam all set to leave Franklin's Gardens, making victory even more important to set up a memorable farewell party.

With the Tigers opening in slightly sluggish mood, Northampton grabbed the early initiative, although Grayson took one attempt to find his range before eventually putting the visitors ahead.

The Northampton fly-half has accepted the role of England kicking coach on their forthcoming North American tour, but no doubt will be making a video analysis of his own performances after suffering the wrong end of a bizarre decision late in the half.

Having already tagged a second penalty to his total, Grayson thought he had landed number three shortly before the interval when he gained lots of loft to allow the wind to pull his effort just inside the posts.

However, touch-judges Steve Lander and Tony Spreadbury had other ideas and - much to Grayson's consternation - ruled that the former England stand-off had missed.

With Leicester in front courtesy of a fine try from Pat Howard, who took Andy Goode's reverse pass and side-stepped his way over, the decision cost Northampton the lead.

And their frustrations mounted when former Huddersfield rugby league man Steve Booth flew down the left wing to score Tigers' second try in the final minute of the half.

It will not just have been the kettle boiling in the Saints dressing room during the break as they debated their misfortune but needing to score first in the second period to retain any hope, they matched expectation.

Ollie Smith's misguided decision to launch himself for an interception on halfway proved costly as Grant Seely retained possession and handed on to John Leslie.

The Scottish centre had plenty of work to do and not many options available but darted 20 metres, and then produced a superb looping pass for Luca Martin, who shrugged off Booth's weak tackle to score.

Lesser sides may have crumbled, but even these weakened Tigers refuse to take a backward step.

With the wind in his favour, Stimpson let fly with a couple of long-range penalties - the second of which, from five yards inside his own half, sailed between the sticks.

The arrival of Johnson signalled the seriousness of the situation from Leicester's perspective, although Rodber trooped off - for the final time - shortly afterwards with his side still behind.

He joined unused replacement Lam on the bench for the death throes of a glorious career, Bateman already in the dressing rooms being treated for an ankle injury with could be serious enough to rule him out of Wales' summer tour to Japan.

It was not the way any of them wanted to bow out - not that the Tigers care.