Leicester continued their revival with a third consecutive win at the expense
of Midland rivals Northampton in front of a capacity 12,600 crowd at Franklin's
Gardens.
Both sides were badly hit by international call ups - Saints were missing
seven front line players while Tigers had half a dozen men at Twickenham.
And it was Leicester who coped the better, dominating the second half with
man-of-the-match Josh Kronfeld scoring the game's only try in the 72nd minute.
Saints, who already have former Springbok lock Johan Ackermann out with a
long-term injury, suffered a fresh setback when ex-Wallabies forward Mark
Connors was helped off clutching his shoulder in the 67th minute.
Tigers kept it plain and simple, with their forwards dictating play.
Kronfeld, making only his fourth appearance of the season for Tigers, may have
been the outstanding forward but there were huge contributions from Martin
Corry, Adam Balding and Dorian West.
It took Leicester just four minutes to take the lead with a penalty from
full-back Geordan Murphy.
He then swapped penalties with Saints fly-half Paul Grayson before the
interval and made it 9-3 to Leicester in the 50th minute.
The Leicester pack had a stranglehold on the game and Kronfeld was driven over
the line from a close-range maul set up from a trademark Tigers line-out
drive. Murphy converted to put a dampener on Northampton's celebrations for the
opening of their new West stand.
Teams:
Northampton: Beal, Sleightholme, Tucker, Leslie, Ripol,
Grayson, Howard, Morris, Richmond, Budgen, Phillips, Connors,
Seely, Blowers, Soden.
Not Used: Miles, Sturgess, Hunter, Fox, Bass, Brooks, Reihana.
Pens: Grayson.
Leicester: Murphy, Lloyd, Smith,
Kafer, Booth, McMullen, Ellis,
Freshwater, West, Tournaire, Deacon, Corry, W. Johnson,
Kronfeld, Balding.
Not Used: Garforth, Short, Gerry, Vesty, J. Hamilton,
Gelderbloom, Chuter.
Tries: Kronfeld.
Cons: Murphy.
Pens: Murphy 3.
Att: 12,600
Ref: Dave Pearson (RFU).
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