May sending-off no excuse for Leicester defeat, says Youngs
Leicester’s Ben Youngs refused to use the sending-off of his England team-mate Jonny May for two deliberate knock-ons as an excuse for his side’s fifth straight defeat in all competitions.
May’s first offence in the opening half, as Saracens seemed certain to score a try, cost Leicester a penalty try. His second 11 minutes from time, when he knocked the ball into touch to halt a menacing attack from Michael Rhodes, gave Owen Farrell a penalty which helped Saracens end a seven-match losing run in all competitions.
Leicester fans saw referee Matthew Carley as the pantomime villain and booed the Kent official but scrum-half Youngs was more forgiving.
“If you put your arm out, you run the risk, especially when they are five or 10 metres out. If you leave your hand up there and you don’t catch the ball cleanly, you run the risk,” Youngs said.
“The second one, he just kind of threw it [the ball]. You’ve got less than a second and you are instinctively going to put your hand up. He did it twice and got sanctioned.
“But that’s not the reason that we lost. It’s just one of those things and I’m sure Jonny will not make those mistakes again.” The good news for Leicester is that May is likely to be available for the New Year’s Eve trip to champions Exeter as a sendingoff is usually regarded as sufficient punishment for two technical offences.
Before the game, Leicester head coach Matt O’connor said that the two matches over the festive period would define his side’s season. Having lost this one, Leicester are now in danger of falling off the pace in the race for play-off places.
“The best thing is that we are straight back and focused now. We get a chance to have a go against Exeter away from home,” Youngs said. “They are flying nicely so it will be a great challenge. We will have to dust ourselves down pretty quickly and rip into it.
“We will look forward to going down there and we will use it as a huge target that can springboard the second half of the season for us if we can win there.”
Saracens can also look forward to the new year with renewed optimism after their early opportunism, which opened up a 17-point lead, and subsequent defensive resilience stifled Leicester’s fightback.
“I thought it was a confident display. We didn’t look like a team who were drained of confidence. I felt we played well with the ball and we played well without the ball,” said Saracens’ director of rugby Mark Mccall. “Maybe the difference without the ball today was how good our decision-making was around the breakdown. Our penalty count was low, it was a very controlled performance in attack and defence. I think we are a bit frustrated that we left some tries out there. We were down their end quite a bit and had some good opportunities which we didn’t take. But all things considered, it was a very pleasing performance.”
The one area of concern for Saracens was the scrum, where Leicester were dominant and were awarded a second-half penalty try after a succession of five-metre scrums were collapsed or wheeled.
But Farrell ran the show from flyhalf and No 8 Jackson Wray further enhanced his reputation with a rampaging display in the loose. “Jackson has been one of our most consistent performers in this period. I thought he was exceptional today with the way he carried the ball,” Mccall said.
“But a lot of people played really well and were unsung heroes. Ben Spencer at scrum-half and Marcelo
Bosch at outside centre up against Manu Tuilagi and Matt Toomua was outstanding. Across the board it was a very confident and controlled performance.” Tuilagi, still feeling his way back to fitness after a knee injury, looked ring rusty which contributed to Leicester’s lack of cohesion.
“I thought they deserved the victory. We were too inaccurate and ill-disciplined at key moments in the game which gave them points and gave them an opportunity to stay in it off the back of their good start. You can’t give Saracens 17 points and expect to claw it back,” O’connor said.