2GS The Sunday Times May 22, 2022 13HOW THEY STAND
Ford tackle but the fly half could do
nothing to prevent McGuigan from
scoring his 15th try of the season for
Newcastle’s only points.
Another Ford penalty punished
Newcastle indiscipline and the
pressure they exerted in the final
quarter led to Guy Porter stepping
past Alex Tait for a clever try and
then a cross-kick bounced kindly
for England’s Freddie Steward to
score the third try for the away
team, which Ford converted.Star man Jasper Wiese (Leicester).
Scorers: Newcastle: Try McGuigan 49min.
Leicester: Tries Nadolo 13, Porter 68, Steward 78.
Pens Ford 20, 63 (2). Cons Ford (3).
Newcastle A Tait (L Stephens 72min); A Radwan,
M Orlando (W Haydon-Wood 66min), L Burrell, M
Carreras; J Hodgson, M Young (C Nordli-Kelemeti
52); A Brocklebank (L Mulipolaat 61), G McGuigan
(J Blamire 69), T Davison (M Tampin 61); G
Peterson (C Fearns 64), P van der Walt (F
Lockwood 16); G Graham, J Basham, C Chick.
Leicester F Steward; C Ashton (F Burns 64), M
Moroni (M Scott 51), G Porter, N Nadolo; G Ford, R
Wigglesworth (J van Poortvliet 55); E Genge, N
Dolly (C Clare 29), D Cole (J Heyes 55); O
Chessum, H Wells; G Martin (T Reffell 51), H
Liebenberg, J Wiese.
Referee A Woodthorpe.to 13 men, just what you don’t want
when playing Sarries. Alex Coles was
dispatched for preventing a quick tap
penalty and Lewis Ludlam for making
head contact with Farrell in a tackle,
although it looked for all the world
like rugby action.
Despite this, Northampton looked
up and found there was very little
damage. They defended brilliantly
against Saracens’s early power, and
were helped because Nick Tompkins
dropped the ball in the act of scoring
and then later when Alex Goode came
up too flat outside Tompkins and the
scoring pass went astray.
But Northampton negotiated their
denuded period with great courage
and organisation, Dan Biggar was his
regal self. He kicked a high penalty
and it was only 6-3 to Saracens nearer
to half-time — Farrell had kicked two
penalties for the home team.
But then Northampton were able to
take the lead, after an epic of resist-
ance. Tommy Freeman ran a long
diagonal line from right to left, took an
absolutely gorgeous pass from his
hooker, Mike Haywood, and crossed.
It took a third Farrell penalty to claw
back some ground and it was 10-9 to
the Saints at half-time.
You sensed there may be a backlash
— and there was. Saracens scored
twice within a few minutes of the
restart. The splendid Tompkins han-
dled wonderfully, was backed up by
Ben Earl and Tompkins was sent cruis-
ing through to score. Almost immedi-
ately afterwards, the deadly broken-
field running of Segun allowed the
young wing to burst clean through,
hold his nerve when he was caught
and Farrell and company put Alex
Lewington over in the left-hand cor-
ner. Where suddenly Saracens were
scrabbling, they were now 23-10 up
and surging. Anyone who had spent
too long at the pie stand during the
break or too long in the latrines
missed two gems.
Hopefully, they were all back in
time to see the next of the sudden
burst of tries, as Alex Mitchell was
charged down and McFarland kept on
going to score as Saracens absolutely
sprinted towards the horizon at 28-10.
Big Theo came again in the final
quarter, intercepting Mitchell well
inside his own half and stretching his
long legs down the right-hand touch-
line. He held off all phases, and in the
final tackle showing his international
basketball skills, reached down from a
height and deftly grazed the artificial
surface for the try.
Even though Northampton had
scored a beautiful try of their own
when George Furbank found Rory
Hutchison with a pass onto the tackle,
what was a fierce contest had become
a procession.
Star man Theo McFarland
Scorers: Saracens: Tries Tompkins (41min),
Lewington (46), McFarland (50, 60), Goode (68)
Cons Farrell (4) Pens Farrell (4). Northampton:
Tries Freeman (39), Hutchinson (57), James (71,
78), Proctor (80) Cons Biggar (5) Pen Biggar.
Saracens A Goode (D Taylor 69); A Lewington (A
Lozowski 50), E Daly, N Tompkins, R Segun; O
Farrell, A Davies (I van Zyl 63); M Vunipola (R
Adams-Hale 63), J George (E Lewis 69), V Koch (A
Clarey 50), M Itoje, N Isiekwe, T McFarland (J Wray
61), B Earl, B Vunipola (C Hunter-Hill 69).
Northampton G Furbank; T Freeman, M Proctor, F
Dingwall (P Francis 69), C Skosan (R Hutchinson
55); D Biggar, A Mitchell (T James 64); E Iyogun (A
Waller 52), M Haywood (S Matavesi 47), E Painter
(P Hill 44), A Coles (sin-bin 21-31), A Ratuniyarawa
(B Nansen 64), C Lawes (A Moon 69), A Hinkley, L
Ludlam (sin-bin 25–35).
Referee M Carley (Eng).Leicester Tigers all but secured
their position at the top of the
Gallagher Premiership but had to
fight hard to subdue a Newcastle
Falcons side that was desperate to
mark Dean Richards’s final home
game in charge with a victory.
But Leicester suffered a huge
blow in their bid for the title, with
the England hooker, Nic Dolly,
suffering a serious leg injury after
being the victim of a crocodile roll
at a ruck that earned the Newcastle
prop, Adam Brocklebank, a yellow
card after 28 minutes. Dolly would
have been a key man in the play-offs
for Leicester and was due to join
the England training camp today to
prepare for the game with the
Barbarians before the tour to
Australia this summer. He now
faces an anxious wait to discover
the full extent of his leg injury.
Steve Borthwick, the Leicester
head coach, said: “We will get a
scan and understand what it is, and
then see the best guys to ensure we
get Nic back as soon as possible.
Knowing his character, he will work
hard to come back a better player
and right now he is in pain.”
As so often this season, Leicester
were indebted to the controlling
boot of George Ford and the ball-
carrying and defensive power of
Jasper Wiese. Both players were key
to this victory.
Newcastle finished the match
with two back-row replacements in
the second row to highlight their
present injury problems and they
never had the platform to give
Richards, who is quitting as
director of rugby after ten years in
charge, a special win. This has been
a tough final season for Richards,
whose team have lost 13 of their
past 14 league matches but they
showed spirit to push Leicester
hard until the last quarter.Leicester tried to catch
Newcastle cold in the opening
minute by using Nemani Nadolo in
midfield to commit the defence and
then worked Chris Ashton clear on
the left wing. Only a superb
covering tackle by Adam Radwan
stopped the Premiership’s record
tryscorer from registering another.
With the swirling wind a factor,
both teams tried a period of kick
tennis which Ford dominated with
his box of tricks. A scrum penalty
was kicked to touch and Leicester
used the power of Wiese to batter
the defence, before Nadolo was
given the ball. He twisted out of the
tackle to touch down from short
range for Ford to convert.
Newcastle lost the lock, Philip
van der Walt, to injury bringing the
industrious Freddie Lockwood into
the contest, which Leicester
continued to dominate with a Ford
penalty. Newcastle then opted to
stop kicking away hard-fought
possession and Michael Young
broke up field, his chip ahead
enabling the hooker, George
McGuigan, to sprint to within
touching distance of the ball over
the tryline, only for Ashton to
narrowly beat him to touch down.
Ellis Genge, the Tigers captain,
thought he had reached the line
after more good work by Nadolo
and Wiese but the TMO ruled him
short. Newcastle responded by
giving Radwan the ball in space.
The wing put on the afterburners,
rounded Guy Porter, stepped
Nadolo and made 50m.
This ignited the Falcons attack.
Josh Basham was denied by a fineDolly falls victim to crocodile
roll to dent Tigers’ title hopes
NEWCASTLE 5
LEICESTER 27
Chris Jones
Kingston ParkP W D L F A B Pts
Leicester 23 19 0 4 706 442 14 90
Saracens 23 17 1 5 762 455 17 87
Harlequins 23 15 0 8 609 507 19 79
Northampton23 13 0 10 699 613 18 70
Gloucester 23 12 1 10 631 518 18 68
Sale 23 11 3 9 517 476 13 65
Exeter 23 12 0 11 537 496 16 64
London Irish 24 9 5 10 660 666 17 63
Wasps 23 11 1 11 604 580 14 60
Bristol 23 8 0 15 554 676 16 48
Newcastle 23 6 1 16 410 595 7 33
Bath 23 5 1 17 434 720 9 33
Worcester 23 5 1 17 408 787 8 30Dolly is carried off on a stretcher, with what looked to be a serious injuryTwo minutes into the second half,
the champions ignored the
possibility of a three-point penalty
for the third time and went for the
corner. Seventeen points in arrears,
the decision is an easier one to make.
Another penalty was conceded, still
five metres out but Harlequin lost
possession and it took a magnificent
tackle from Joe Marchant to save the
day. That try-saving tackle may have
been the turning point in the match,
even though the centre blotted his
copybook, throwing a pass out of
play after a typical Danny Care break
through the middle, seconds later.
Within a minute the duo combined
to cut the Gloucester lead to ten
points with Care chipping and
Marchant snaffling the bouncing ball
in goal for a cute try. When Marchant
scored his second — almost inevitably
— after a spell of intense pressure and
with Huw Jones causing chaos,
Murley goes over in the corner for
the try that gave Quins victorysubdued all game, drilled the
conversion through the posts.
The comeback kings had done it
again. They might not want to give
Leicester and Saracens such a lead in
the play-offs but for now their fans
can celebrate the arrival of summer.Star man Joe Marchant (Harlequins)
Scorers: Harlequins: Tries Dombrandt 16min,
Marchant 48, 59 (2), Murley 68. Cons Smith (4).
Gloucester: Tries Morgan 11, Clarke 18, Harris 30.
Drop goal Hastings 34. Cons Hastings (3).
Harlequins H Jones (Musk 75min) ; L Lynagh,
J Marchant, A Esterhuizen, C Murley (David 69);
M Smith, D Care; S Kerrod (J Marler 22), J Walker,
W Louw; M Symons (S Lewies 64), H Tizard;
Lewies (M Jurevicius 54), T Lawday (W Evans 50),
A Dombrandt.
Gloucester S Carreras (B Twelvetrees 64min);
L Rees-Zammit, C Harris (Seabrook 45),
G Kveseladze, O Thorley; A Hastings, C Chapman
(B Meehan 65); V Ruskin (H Elrington 47), S Socino
(J Singleton 61), K Gotovtsev (Balmain 50);
F Clarke, M Alemanno (Davidson 72); R
Ackermann, L Ludlow, B Morgan (J Reid 43).
Yellow card Rees-Zammit.
Referee C Maxwell-Keys (Eng)
Attendance 47,421summer seemed to be arriving for the
supporters from southwest London,
albeit an hour later than expected.
Soon Harlequins were camped in
Gloucester territory until Cadan
Murley scored in the other corner,
Marchant’s take and give being
central to the score. Marcus Smith,NERVELESS BAILEY MASTERMINDS BATH’S REVIVAL
The Bath head coach
Neal Hatley hopes
Orlando Bailey can
twist Eddie Jones’s
arm during the
England training
sessions and
Barbarians game to
persuade the head
coach to take the fly
half to Australia in July.
Hatley sang Bailey’s
praises after the 20-
year-old produced a
commanding display
in helping his side
fight back to overhaul
London Irish 27-24 at
the Rec, in particular
keeping hiscomposure minutes
from time to kick the
winning penalty.
It may well have
also denied Irish thechance to hold on to a
top-eight spot and a
Champions Cup place
next season.
Hatley said: “It has
been a tough season
but he has been one of
the bright sparks. We
want to carry this
belief into the final
game at Worcester.”
The Irish director of
rugby, Declan Kidney,
said: “It’s hugely
frustrating not to get
the win but now we
will keep a close eye
on Wasps’ game at
Leicester. It’s now out
of our hands,”Bailey landed 12
points with his bootMATT IMPEY/SHUTTERSTOCK