Harry Ellis showed why he is in pole position to be England's next scrum-half
with a superlative exhibition in Leicester's thumping Zurich Premiership win
over derby rivals Northampton.
The door to the team has been opened after Matt Dawson was dropped from the
England training squad earlier this week.
And with England defence coach Phil Larder watching from the stand,
22-year-old Ellis scored one try, made another and tormented Northampton with
his searing pace.
Flanker Neil Back and wings Austin Healey and Seru Rabeni also scored tries as
the Saints were bullied up front and the visitors could only respond with two
early penalties from Shane Drahm and a late consolation try from Wylie Human.
Larder will also have noted down the name of teenager Ross Broadfoot in his
report to acting England boss Andy Robinson.
With Andy Goode sidelined by a knee injury, the Tigers were forced to hand the
19-year-old his first Zurich Premiership start against their deadliest enemies.
Broadfoot - a star of the England Under-19 team last season - has all the
pedigree to be a major star and his clenched hands, left-footed goalkicking
style is straight out of the Jonny Wilkinson mould.
The teenager was composed enough, making a neat break and sending Healey close
to the left-hand corner as well as drilling over four conversions and two
penalties.
But it was up front where the sparks flew, with a ferocious ninth-minute scrap
that saw principal combatants Martin Johnson and Saints lock Damien Browne
sin-binned.
Referee Tony Spreadbury also had to speak to Northampton's Robbie Kempson,
while Geordan Murphy and Selborne Boome both needed attention for facial
injuries.
While Johnson and Browne were off the field, both sides opened their account
with Healey scoring a controversial opening try.
Ellis produced a blistering 50-metre break down the right-hand touchline and
his chip over the defence saw the ball break free for Healey to pounce with
Spreadbury ruling he had applied enough downward pressure.
Drahm and Broadfoot traded penalties midway through the half and Drahm kept
Northampton in touch with a monster kick from five metres inside his own half on
30 minutes.
Northampton, though, could not control the ball for long enough to put
Leicester under pressure and were punished in the final minute of the half by a
no-nonsense effort from the home side's forwards.
They kept on driving towards the line from five metres out and the pressure
eventually told when a spin off the edge of the maul saw Back credited with the
try and Broadfoot converting for a 15-6 interval lead.
Broadfoot added another penalty early in the second half, then converted from
the touchline after Ellis' brilliant dart into the corner from the back of a
five-metre scrum.
Northampton tried some ambitious counter-attacks launched by Bruce Reihana
from full-back but plenty of others underperformed with England's Ben Cohen
making a string of unforced handling errors.
Rabeni burst through some slack midfield defending to claim Leicester's fourth
try 15 minutes from time and the only consolation for Northampton was a late
score from replacement wing Human that was created by Reihana and converted by
Drahm.
Teams
Leicester: Murphy, Rabeni, Smith, Gibson, Healey, Broadfoot,
Ellis, Rowntree, Chuter, White, M. Johnson, Kay, B. Deacon,
Back, W. Johnson.
Replacements: Warren for Murphy (74), Holtby for Smith (62),
A. Tuilagi for Healey (79), Buckland for Chuter (72),
L. Deacon for Kay (72), H. Tuilagi for W. Johnson (72).
Not Used: Cook.
Tries: Healey, Chuter, Ellis, Rabeni.
Cons: Broadfoot 3.
Pens: Broadfoot 2.
Sin Bin: M. Johnson (9), A. Tuilagi (80).
Northampton: Northampton: Reihana, Rudd, Tucker, Stcherbina, Cohen, Drahm,
Howard, Smith, Thompson, Kempson, Boome, Browne, Fox, Krige,
Seely.
Replacements: Human for Rudd (55), Budgen for Smith (57),
Blowers for Seely (55).
Not Used: Richmond, Lord, Jones, Clarke.
Tries: Human.
Cons: Drahm.
Pens: Drahm 2.
Sin Bin: Browne (9).
Att: 16,815
Ref: T Spreadbury (England).
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