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Rugby Union

Saints tame Tigers at Welford Road

24/02/2007

Lowly Northampton pulled off a shock 10-9 victory away to league leaders Leicester to bolster their own battle against the drop and dent the Tigers' title ambitions.

The Welford Road side have so far this season made light of the absence of their host of England players on international duty, but there was no doubt that the home pack could have used the stabilising presence of Martin Corry or Louis Deacon.

Northampton stand-off Stephen Myler led the team in a gameplan designed to hammer home the visitors' physical advantage in the pack.

Leicester's backline posed a constant threat through the explosive running of Seru Rabeni and Alesana Tuilagi, but ultimately Paul Grayson's plot to starve the hosts of possession succeeded in nullifying the danger.

Myler kicked his team ahead on 25 minutes and they nursed their slender advantage all the way through to the interval.

A breakaway try from scrum-half Mark Robinson swung the game decisively in Northampton's favour just three minutes after the break as he gathered a wayward chip ahead from Leicester before out-pacing Brett Deacon and diving over to return it with interest.

The 10-point lead allowed the away side to batten down the hatches with well over half an hour remaining in a dogged attempt to take the points.

Leicester responded by eating into the gap almost immediately with a successful penalty from Ian Humphreys.

Another followed on 57 minutes before a trademark catch-and-drive had the Saints spinning back over their line, but a confusion of bodies left the referee unable to award any try.

Humphreys slotted another over from the tee with six minutes left on the clock, but Leicester's final frantic attacks were met with even more frantic defence as they slipped to their first home league loss in 33 games.

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