The Times - UK (2022-05-23)

the times | Monday May 23 2022 2GM 57

Gallagher PremiershipSport

have snapped your hand off at the start

of the year.

“We’ve won our previous six with

bonus points and we’ve come here and

scored five tries and definitely should

have done a bit better.

“Confidence is good at the minute

and I think that showed in the first half.

We gutsed it out.”

Scorers: Saracens: Tries Tompkins (41min),

Lewington (45), McFarland 2 (49, 59), Goode (67).

Cons Farrell 4. Pens Farrell 3 (1, 11, 34).

Northampton: Tries Freeman (38), Hutchinson

(56), James 2 (70,77), Proctor (80). Cons Biggar 4

Hutchinson. Pen Biggar (34).

Saracens A Goode (D Taylor 69); A Lewington

(A Lozowski 50), E Daly, N Tompkins, R Segun;

O Farrell, A Davies (I van Zyl 64); M Vunipola

(R Adams-Hale 63), J George (E Lewis 69-79),

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 56); D Biggar, A Mitchell (T James

64); E Iyogun (A Waller 53), M Haywood (S

Matavesi 47), E Painter (P Hill 44), A Coles (sin-bin

22), A Ratuniyarawa (B Nansen 64), C Lawes (A

Moon 69), A Hinkley, L Ludlam (sin-bin 25).

Referee M Carley. Attendance 9,053.

Ollie Chessum, the England forward,
epitomises the “new” Leicester Tigers,
who have a burning desire to recapture
the glory days when they dominated
English rugby.
Leicester had to dig deep to defeat
Newcastle Falcons 27-5 on Saturday —
a win that keeps them three points clear
at the top of the Gallagher Premiership
table with one regular-season game,
against Wasps, to come.
The victory came at a price, however,
with Nic Dolly, the England hooker,
suffering a serious leg injury. The
22-year-old is set for a long period of
rehabilitation, with a scan to determine
if surgery is needed, which will remove
him from Leicester’s title challenge and
England’s summer tour to Australia.

pack, and we’ve tried to bring that back

into our game. We are a new Leicester

and we look to bring something

different with a young group at the start

of our careers.”

While youngsters such as Chessum,

Freddie Steward, George Martin and

Jack van Poortvliet have important

roles to play, the presence of

How it stands

Permutations for final day, June 4

(4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for

scoring four tries, 1 for losing by

seven points or fewer)

Top four

Leicester Tigers, Saracens and

Harlequins will be the top three,

with Northampton Saints needing to

beat Newcastle Falcons to get the

last play-off spot. Gloucester, two

points behind Northampton, must

beat Saracens at home and hope

Newcastle pull off an upset. Teams

level on points are separated by

games won, meaning that sixth-

placed Sale Sharks, five points

behind Northampton but with two

fewer wins, are out of the running.

Harlequins are guaranteed to finish

third. Saracens, three points adrift of

Leicester, could still finish top.

Europe

If Wasps gain three points from their

final game, they will steal the eighth

and final Champions Cup spot from

London Irish, who have finished

their season. A win, or a draw with a

bonus point, will be enough. The

bad news? The final day takes them

to Welford Road, where Leicester

have won all 11 league matches at

home this season. Alongside the top

six, Exeter Chiefs are guaranteed a

place in Europe’s elite tournament

for the 2022-23 season.

And at the bottom?

Neutrals will lament the absence of

relegation this year because the

bottom three — Newcastle, Bath and

Worcester Warriors — are separated

by just three points.

P W DL 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 Irish24 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 30

Scorers: Newcastle: Try McGuigan (50min).

Leicester: Tries Nadolo (14), Porter (69) Steward

(79). Cons Ford 2. Pens Ford 2 (20, 63).

Newcastle Falcons A Tait (I Stephens 72);

A Radwan, M Orlando (W Haydon-Wood 66),

L Burrell, M Carreras; J Hodgson; M Young

(C Nordli-Kelemeti 53); A Brocklebank (sin-bin 29;

L Mulipola 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 Tigers F Steward; C Ashton (F Burns

65), M Moroni (M Scott 52), G Porter, N Nadolo;

G Ford, R Wigglesworth (J van Poortvliet 55);

E Genge (N Leatigaga 69), N Dolly (C Clare 29),

D Cole (J Heyes 55), O Chessum, H Wells

(C Henderson 70), G Martin (T Reffell 52),

H Liebenberg, J Wiese.

Referee A Woodthorpe. Attendance 8,015.

an eight-minute burst after half-time

before rallying with two tries from Tom

James, the replacement scrum half,

and one from centre Matt Proctor.

The 42-38 defeat meant that

Northampton left with two

points and are in pole

position to claim the

fourth play-off spot

ahead of Glouc-

ester, with New-

castle Falcons at

Franklin’s Gar-

dens to come in the

last round, a week on

Saturday.

“We knew if we got a

point or two we only need

to win in two weeks’ time

so it was a case of

chancing our arm a little

bit,” Dan Biggar, the North-

ampton and Wales fly half,

said. “If you’d offered us

Newcastle at home, without

being disrespectful to them,

to qualify for the top four we’d

Mako Vunipola strolled into his first
England camp for more than a year
yesterday with the chance to rebuild his
international career and bury his
World Cup heartache.
The Saracens loose-head prop had
been out of favour with Eddie Jones, the
England head coach, since the 32-18
collapse to Ireland in last year’s Six
Nations but is now part of a three-day
get-together in Richmond as Jones
starts to plan his squad for the World
Cup in France next year.
Vunipola is two games into his return
from a spell on the sidelines after suffer-
ing from an ankle injury that required
surgery in March. At 31, he is desperate
for another tilt at the World Cup,
having been part of Jones’s squad that
reached the 2019 final in Japan,
only to fall in a heap against
South Africa.
And after a false start
against Toulon, when
Saracens were dumped
out of the Challenge
Cup last weekend, 25-16,
Vunipola was back to
something like his best in
Saturday’s 42-38 win over
Northampton Saints, which
sealed a home Premiership
semi-final for Saracens.
“I enjoyed the last World Cup,” Vuni-
pola said. “Obviously, we fell short but it
was one of the best campaigns I’ve been
a part of with England or with the club.
I want to do that again but I also want to
win the World Cup. I’m not ready to
hang my boots up yet, I’m ready to fight
for my position.
“I didn’t think my time was gone. You
always have a point to prove. If you
don’t, then you won’t be there in the first
place.”
Vunipola insists that his desire to play
for England has remained constant.
“That’s why I wanted to stay at Saracens
— one because I love the club and two
because I want to put my hand up for
selection. I’ve got an opportunity now
and I’ve got to go and put my best foot
forward. You’ve got to prove yourself
every time you go in there; you can’t

take it for granted, espe-

cially getting to this

part of my career.”

That semi-final

defeat by Toulon was

described as a “punch in the

face” by Mark McCall, the

Saracens director of rugby, and

Vunipola admitted he was not on

top form after his time off.

“Toulon executed their plan

and we just didn’t do the same,” he

said. “That’s partly my fault. When

the pressure comes on you expect

your leaders to step up and I was a

bit gutted and depressed I didn’t

do that.”

Northampton were expected to

be punchbags at the StoneX Stadium

on Saturday but led 10-9 at half-time

after absorbing everything that a

wasteful Saracens threw at them.

They were on the canvas, though,

when Saracens scored three tries in

Vunipola: I have a point to prove

0

2

Adam Hathaway

1

Saracens

Northampton

42

38

SIMON PARKER/FOCUS IMAGES

Vunipola ran into England team-mate Courtney Lawes but showed signs of a return to form on Saturday

67

England caps won by

Mako Vunipola — but he

hasn’t played for his

country since the

defeat by Ireland

14 months ago

Biggar is confident Saints will

claim a place in the play-offs

Chessum: We’ll use past glories to inspire new chapter

Gloucester’s Jack Singleton has been

called up to replace him, while Bath’s

Ewan Richards and Nick Isiekwe, of

Saracens, have replaced Lewis Ludlam

and Joe Launchbury.

Dolly was injured by an illegal croco-

dile roll that earned the Falcons prop,

Adam Brocklebank, a yellow card. His

loss is a warning to the Leicester young-

sters that, although they have dominat-

ed the league, nothing can be taken for

granted this season.

Chessum, 21, is keenly aware of the

club’s proud trophy-winning history,

although the most recent of their

record ten English league triumphs

came in 2013 and they finished an

embarrassing 11th in 2019 and 2020.

This prompted big changes and the ar-

rival of Steve Borthwick as head coach.

“Of course we know about the

history but we feel we’re writing a new

chapter and we are coming off a couple

of years where the club wasn’t in a great

spot,” Chessum said.

“We speak about the old Leicester,

with the driving maul and the forward

experienced old hands such as the

player-coach Richard Wigglesworth,

who has six Premiership winners’

medals — one with Sale and five with

Saracens — is crucial in dealing with

the business end of the season, where

the play-offs bring a different pressure.

“We have got lads in there like Wiggy

who are giving us the pointers and

control that we need,” Chessum, who

has won two England caps, said.

“It is massive to have guys like Wiggy

who have been through this situation

many times in their careers — and then

you have guys like me and the other

young lads who have never been in this

situation. We have a real mix of young

and old, inexperience and experience.

“It would be easy for us to sit back and

cruise through to the semi-finals but

that is not what we want to do.”

Dolly was carried off on a stretcher

after being hurt in the crocodile roll —

a clearing-out method at a breakdown

where the tackler wraps their arms

around the opponent’s waist and rolls

them to the side. He had been due to

join the England squad yesterday

before the game with the Barbarians

and the three-Test tour to Australia.

“It is never nice to see anyone in-

jured, but unfortunately that is the

nasty side of the game,” Chessum said.

“It was a yellow card but there wouldn’t

have been malice. It is rugby and boys

are putting their heads and bodies in

places they don’t in other sports.”

0

2

Chris Jones

1

Newcastle Falcons

Leicester Tigers

5

27

Chessum and his youthful Leicester

team-mates are hungry for success