Williams: This one was for Aaron

MATCH-WINNING marksman Owen Williams said Leicester wanted to give departing coach Aaron Mauger a winning send-off.

“He’s a lovely bloke and a great coach, and we’re going to miss him. It was obviously a shock when we found out earlier this week (that he was going), and we wanted to perform for him today.”

Leicester assistant coach Geordan Murphy said Mauger had handled a difficult situation commendably. “He came in on Monday and said the board had made their decision and it hadn’t gone his way, and he didn’t want that to affect the performance of the team. He did a great job to set the team up for this. The guys wanted to give him a good send-off, and obviously did that.”

Northampton rugby director Jim Mallinder was delighted with the performance of France No.8 Louis Picamoles:

“Louis had a fantastic Six Nations, and in the first half he was something special.”