'The card obviously has an impact. That’s just the way life is'

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson revelled in a dose of derby-day revenge after his Gallagher Premiership leaders pulled away to beat 14-man Leicester 40-17.

Tigers won the reverse fixture at Welford Road and looked well set for a double when they led 10-6 after a scrappy first 40 minutes.

But a red card for Solomone Kata – at which point Saints led 18-17 – proved costly as the hosts pulled clear late on.

“You never get tired of beating Leicester,” Dowson said. “It’s such a historic fixture and we knew the intensity with which they would start the game.

“It was a very turgid, slow first half and we came in at half-time a bit frustrated and a bit annoyed that we hadn’t managed to do more with what we had in terms of possession.

“We managed to keep the ball for multiple phases and clearly a red card has an impact because it was 18-17 at that point and then it was one-way traffic in the last 10 to 15 minutes.

“I thought the work we did in the first half and the work we did in the first 20 minutes of the second half had put them into a place where we could exert control.

“We got on top of them and the card obviously has an impact. That’s just the way life is.”

Tigers skipper Julian Montoya scored the only try of the first half, which otherwise saw Handre Pollard and George Furbank trade penalties.

Curtis Langdon and a penalty try early in the second period put Saints into a healthy advantage but that was cut to a point when Jasper Wiese crossed.

The key moment then came when Kata’s high hit on Fraser Dingwall earned him a red card via TMO review.

Northampton took advantage in ruthless fashion, scoring from a maul via Robbie Smith before efforts from George Hendy and Tom James – along with a tidy Fin Smith drop goal – finished the job.

Leicester head coach Dan McKellar said: “Ultimately, discipline and execution in the attacking 22 killed us.

“Sometimes it’s just a matter of doing the obvious and putting your winger in the corner and at this level, you’ve got to be able to do that against quality teams.

“To play nearly 40 minutes against a team of Northampton’s quality with 14 men, it’s tough.

“We were really slow out of the blocks in the second half but we got back to 18-17 and were well and truly in the game, but again discipline hurt us and a penalty try and yellow card put us down to 14.

“We got the red card and against a team that’s playing with that confidence and momentum, they have at the moment. It’s tough to defend and we ran out of legs.”