Aviva Premiership wins for Chiefs, Quins and Tigers MAU NOT MERRIER
RUGBY UNION Sacked Aaron sees Tigers stun Saints
AARON MAUGER got a look at what might have been as the Tigers finally turned up – but it was too late to save his neck.
Kiwi coach Mauger got the bullet on Monday but insisted on taking charge of this East Midlands derby for one last crack at Saints.
And finally Tigers showed some bottle to fight back from 22-16 down to nick the game thanks to two big Owen Williams penalties at the death.
Australian Matt O’Connor takes over as head coach this week just days after Mauger helped Tigers to the AngloWelsh Cup and into the top four with this win. Go figure.
Tigers have sacked one director of rugby and one acting boss this season but are still in the title hunt – and that is partly down to Mauger.
Assistant coach Geordan Murphy said: “I don’t think anything about this season has been fully planned. We have been had some pretty poor performances and the players will take that on their chins.
“We have come under a lot of criticism this year and when a side come under a lot of criticism it can go one of two ways – they fracture and split up or they become a really tight unit and this side will become a really tight unit come finals time.”
Mauger was too choked up to speak after the game and headed straight down the tunnel for a beer as Leicester finally showed the fight that has been missing this season.
They conceded three tries in the first half – one to the brilliant French No. 8 Louis Picamoles and the others to Nafi Tuitavake and Ahsee Tualee – as they looked down and out at half-time, trailing 22-16 with the Saints’ England boys rampant.
The boot of Freddie Burns kept them in touch in the first half – but they came out after the interval determined to put things right.
The lead changed hands five times in the second period with Ben Youngs scampering in for one try and Lachlan McCaffrey stretching over for Tigers’ third.
But Stephen Myler’s fourth penalty put Saints 31-30 up with seven minutes left.
Then Williams banged over a three-pointer after Tuala was caught offside and he nailed the win a minute from time.
Produce
Williams: “We wanted to produce for Aaron. He is a great coach who we will miss dearly.”
Saints are down in seventh and struggling to make the playoffs with four rounds of the Premiership left. But they knew what was coming yesterday.
Boss Jim Mallinder said: “Aaron has clearly done a good job in terms of winning a trophy last week and getting them into the top four. There is always emotion in this game – we knew they would be revved up.”