SARRIES PAY THE PENALTY LATE ON
ADAY after celebrating a £32million takeover, Saracens found themselves needing a makeover after blowing a nine-point lead in the final six minutes as Leicester remained top of the table.
The game looked up for Leicester when centre Guy Porter was tackled into touch with time up. Referee Christophe Ridley asked for a review of the tackle by Aled Davies and ruled the scrumhalf had been off his feet when he made the challenge.
Leicester were awarded a penalty which they kicked to touch five metres from the Sarries line.they were driving their way over it when Billy Vunipola collapsed the maul.
Ridley awarded the Tigers a penalty try and showed the outcast England No.8 a yellow card.
Vunipola had impressed until then in front of England boss Eddie Jones, regularly being involved in attack and defence, and Saracens’ chief Mark Mccall expects him to be restored to England’s squad later this month.
“Billy was brilliant throughout the game,” said Mccall, who welcomed back two of his Lions, Owen Farrell (above) and Jamie George.
“He was physical and very clever in the way he went about things. He was really good, as was everyone else in the first half, but after that we went off script and became too individual. Mistakes crept in and they cost us. It was not the kind of performance that will get us very far in the Premiership.”
Mccall said he had no complaints about the penalty try but had not seen a replay of Davies’s tackle. “Ultimately, the scoreboard did not reflect our dominance,” he said.
Leicester coach Steve Borthwick surprised fans by benching a number of regulars, including captain Ellis Genge.
But it proved to be a masterstroke after Saracens were held to a 9-3 lead at the interval despite having first use of the strong wind.
Genge came on along with fellow England internationals Harry Wells and Freddie Steward and emerging scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet, and the tide started to turn as the home side forced 10 penalties out of Sarries.
“The key to playing Saracens is to stay in the game,” said Borthwick.
“I knew we had a chance when we came in at half-time and the players who came off the bench did really well.”
Nigel Wray, who has owned Saracens since the game turned professional in 1995, was in the crowd having conceded control to a consortium that includes South Africa’s 1995 World Cup-winning captain, Francois Pienaar.