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Terrific Tigers tame Sarries to close in on top four
By Christopher Devine
Leicester Tigers gave their Premiership hopes a welcome shot in the arm with a 28-20 victory at European champions Saracens on Sunday.
The Tigers arrived at Allianz Park trailing fourth-placed Newcastle Falcons by nine points, but more than halved that deficit by running in four tries to claim a bonus point.
Manu Tuilagi was among a number of impressive performers for Leicester, scoring the first try of the match and unselfishly putting Jonah Holmes over for his side's fourth as Saracens missed out on the opportunity to return to the top of the table at the expense of Exeter Chiefs.
Tuilagi and Greg Bateman scored similar tries to put Leicester on top during a bruising first half punctuated by a succession of injury-enforced substitutions, both men powering over from the base of a ruck.
A glorious Telusa Veainu score, which saw the full-back produce a powerful, slaloming run after Matt Toomua's half-break, was converted by the latter to make it 21-6 at the interval.
Nathan Earle then spurned two chances in quick succession for Saracens and when the wing failed to collect a loose pass from Brad Barritt, Tuilagi pounced to power down the left flank and set up the Holmes score that clinched a bonus point.
Two wonderful individual tries from replacement Max Malins at least made the scoreline more respectable for Saracens, who welcomed back Schalk Brits from a lengthy injury lay-off, but Leicester were not to be denied a first Premiership win at Allianz Park.
Earlier in the day, Greig Tonks kicked 17 points as rock-bottom London Irish beat fellow strugglers Worcester Warriors 22-9 to secure only their second league win of the season.
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Latest Comments
John, McKenzie was 10 years ago and he only lasted 15 months until the disgustingly unfair affair that brought him down. I thought that if he didn't get another gig over Eddie V2 then he was done. I read that he had been approached but declined to put his name in the ring.
There are no potential Wallaby coaches outside of McKellar unless you have some inside info?
Go to commentsThe way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.
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