Opening try: Steve Mafi
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Leicester booked their place in next season's Heineken Cup after beating Northampton 26-14 in the LV= Cup Final at Sixways Stadium on Sunday.
Steve Mafi and Scott Hamilton were the try-scorers as the Tigers went over in each half while George Ford - picked over Toby Flood - kicked 16 points.
In what was the first ever final between the rivals, it was Saints who enjoyed most of the early ball and were 0-6 up after good work at scrum-time.
But in a swift move, Leicester boss Richard Cockerill introduced prop Marcos Ayerza from the bench after just 11 minutes for Boris Stankovich.
Ford then stepped up with two penalties of his own before Myler pushed the Saints back in front at 6-9. Still, the Tigers looked ominous though.
And their dominance paid off in the 25th minute when Irish full-back Geordan Murphy sent Mafi over for a strong finish. Ford converted the try.
Ford added another three just five minutes into the second half after great work from replacement Ayerza against Paul Doran-Jones in the set-piece.
Things got worse for Northampton soon after when the experienced New Zealander Hamilton intercepted fly-half Myler's miss-pass on his own 22 and raced to the try line.
Saints did manage to fight their way back into proceedings and despite some ferocious defence from Leicester, Saxons second-row Christian Day finally breached the line.
It was too little too late for Jim Mallinder's side though as Leicester lifted the LV= Cup.
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Tries: Mafi, Hamilton
Con: Ford 2
Pen: Ford 4
For Northampton:
Try: Day
Pen: Myler 3
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Scott Hamilton, 10 George Ford, 9 James Grindal, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Craig Newby, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 George Skivington, 3 Logoviii Mulipola, 2 Rob Hawkins, 1 Boris Stankovich.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Julian White, 19 Calum Green, 20 Julian Salvi, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Andy Forsyth.
Northampton: 15 Paul Diggin, 14 Vasily Artemyev, 13 George Pisi, 12 James Downey, 11 Scott Armstrong, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Calum Clark (c), 5 Christian Day, 4 James Craig, 3 Paul Doran Jones, 2 Andy Long, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Ryan Glynn, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Tom May.
Comments
adamk says...
Can't believe there's nothing in the media about Callum Clarke's assault on another player. It looks like Hawkins arm is dislocated at the elbow and broken in 4 places. He might never get the full strength of his arm back. Absolute disgrace, Clarke should be banned for MANY years.. if not for life.
Posted 12:42 21st March 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
Rob Hawkins is out for the season with a fractured arm. I'm still waiting to see if the rugby authorities are going to cite Clarke for his foul play or condone it through inactivity and sent out the message that its fine to break your opponent's arm.
If the RFU won't do anything then you need to go to the police Rob. its against the law to deliberatley break people's arms, a tad anti-social. You really shouldn't have people like that walking the streets, it isn't safe.
Posted 11:15 21st March 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
We could have done with a villian of the match on this match report Planet Rugby. Is anything actually being done about Callum Clarke's attempt to break Rob Hawkins arm??? how is this worse than a spear tackle or bitten finger? Do we have a flavour of the month for different kinds of foul play too?
Posted 11:32 20th March 2012
lawynd says...
@pierredelot1 - I don't get it; I made a point and you move the goal posts. I can't speak for other the rest but Scarlets, Wasps and Leicester are all teams I watched in that tournament that put out virtual academy sides in every round except the final. Leicester (you might have guessed I'm a fan) used 48 players throughout the tournament, just for a start. And if we were to use your under-23 quota for a moment, had seven players in the final that met that criteria. There were eight in the semi-final. In the pool stages even more got a chance to play first-class rugby. If you believe it should be an academy competition then fine, but it isn't, and you haven't said that, either.
As for knocking Leicester's Heineken Cup progress, I don't know where that's come from frankly. Even so, the last time they played Toulouse was the 2007-2008 vintage HEC, which ended with a win by the home side each time. Toulouse had a win in the knock-out stages at the Walker's Stadium in 2005 but prior to that, you've got to go back to 1999-2000...which resulted in the home team winning both fixtures again. I can only conclude that you're partaking in illegal narcotics, especially if you think Toulouse somehow espouse amazing flair rugby...
Posted 11:12 20th March 2012
pierredelot1 says...
I'm not arguing about the quality of the rugby, but name me one tournament that really allows young hopefulls to put their handup. I know lets wait until they're past their best amd pick them then. No have a minimum number of developing players on the pitch for all sides.
Whoopee Leicester won again, frankly they'll get knocked out of the Heinekin early on as they continually go back into their shellls under pressure.
Last couple of times I've seen them at Toulouse they were creamed. Must be that ambitious attacking style they are playing that does it. Saints were disappointing too, but I know in England boring rugby brings championships. Yawn yawn yawn.
Posted 19:33 19th March 2012
lawynd says...
@pierredelot1 - I'm not sure what you were expecting, two academy sides? Not likely in a final with silverware and a guaranteed Heineken Cup place at stake. Previous rounds though saw Leicester playing predominantly with youngsters however, and the odd fringe player or those returning from injury to complement them. As it is, George Ford, Graham Kitchener, Logoviii Mulipola, Tom Youngs, Calum Green, Scott Steele and Andy Forsyth are all youngsters being given an opportunity to play top-level rugby, which makes the win against a far stronger Northampton side on paper all the more impressive.
Posted 16:15 19th March 2012
pierredelot1 says...
I tuned in believing that this Tournament was about developing new talent. Fat chance. Whats the point, a few token players brought in but apart from that the same old faces. At least with Llanelli in the last round they gave youth a true opportunity, sadly English clubs are not giving it the same commitment. They should lay down a set number of players under 23 or 20 with a limited number of first team appearances under their belt, then perhapsb we might see some development. No wonder Welsh youngsters come to the fore and shine
Posted 23:10 18th March 2012
pierredelot1 says...
I tuned in believing that this Tournament was about developing new talent. Fat chance. Whats the point, a few token players brought in but apart from that the same old faces. At least with Llanelli in the last round they gave youth a true opportunity, sadly English clubs are not giving it the same commitment. They should lay down a set number of players under 23 or 20 with a limited number of first team appearances under their belt, then perhapsb we might see some development. No wonder Welsh youngsters come to the fore and shine
Posted 23:08 18th March 2012
Crumbie says...
Was it just me or did anyone else see Clark trying to break Hawkins arm? Absolutely disgusting! Also noticed Cockers talking to Clark after the game and his face dropping. Hopefully he will be cited and receive a lengthy ban, I would say the same if a Tigers player had done the same. Seems to be a pattern from Saints players. Other than this it was a great game and could see it meant a lot to both teams.
Posted 22:27 18th March 2012
NHsaints says...
Poor reffing as usual, scrum time was a disgrace and so was the breakdown close to the Leicester line...it took till the last 10 minutes for a leicester player to be binned when really it shouldn't even have been allowed to continue from over 45 minutes by which point it was becoming a disgrace...fair play to leicester though, they did defend well and scored their points when they had their chances...
Posted 21:15 18th March 2012
redcoat2806 says...
Flood is in serious risk of being overlooked for international games if Ford manages to overtake him at Leicester for their big games. I can see it happening by then end of next season...
Posted 19:55 18th March 2012
nabberuk says...
few people are saying Clarke intentionally dislocated Hawkins arm after the ref blew. Anyone see it?
If it's true, he should be getting a long ban.
Posted 17:37 18th March 2012
Physiodan says...
LEICESTER
Posted 17:36 18th March 2012
Jediboy says...
As a Saints fan I'm disappointed by the result today. But congrats to Lester. Overall they deserved the win.
Saints put in a valiant effort but looked inept in attack. All that possession and territory and just couldn't convert it into points. And that's just not good enough.
Lester were too strong, despite conceding a lot of penalties and effectively killing the game. But it worked for them so well done. I have no complaints.
Posted 17:05 18th March 2012