The Gallagher Premiership Final was contested between the best supported team in the country (Leicester) and the least popular team in the country (Saracens). To many minds this unpopularity was intensified watching the Sarries players whooping and hollering after every decision that went their way in the semi-final against arch-enemies Harlequins the week before. There was always going to be a lot of kicking in this match, with what was at stake, and so it proved, with former Saracens scrumhalf Richard Wigglesworth proving an inspired choice to start against his old club for Leicester.
Leicester were vying to win their first Premiership title in 9 years, having spent a couple of seasons in the doldrums at the bottom of the table, whilst Saracens were (nauseatingly) coming out with a lot stuff around “redemption”, following their justified relegation to the Championship the year before for breaking the salary cap.
There were intriguing matchups across the park but the two in each division that stood out were:
- Tommy Reffell v Ben Earl, on the openside and at the breakdown;
- Jasper Wiese v Billy Vunipola, as respective battering rams at No. 8;
- Wigglesworth v Aled Davies, box-kicking specialists; and
- George Ford v Owen Farrell, rivals and teammates for England.
Saracens took the lead after Hanro Liebenberg was penalised for a late hit on Nick Tompkins in midfield and Farrell slotted the easy penalty to put them 3 – 0 up inside the first 5 minutes.
The game then settled into a pattern of continuous box-kicking, only punctuated in the first quarter by Ford going off for a serious looking lower leg injury, to be replaced by Freddie Burns in the biggest game of his life.
In the first flashpoint, the TMO intervened to draw the attention of referee Wayne Barnes to potential foul play when Aled Davies rocked Julian Montoya with a shoulder to the head. A lot of mental gymnastics were then executed by the officials to see Davies only given a yellow card. The inconsistency around head contact remains a scourge of rugby the world over.
Once the Leicester crowd got over this injustice, the Tigers went wide from first phase off a lineout inside the Saracens half and after good running by Freddie Steward and Chris Ashton, Liebenberg was the benefactor of great patience and ball recycling when he barged his way over for the first try of the match. This gave Leicester a 7 – 3 lead. This was reduced to 7 – 6 when Elliot Daly kicked a long range penalty, as a warning to Leicester of the perils in conceding silly penalties anywhere around 50m out.
Wigglesworth’s influence was beginning to grow, as he outkicked Davies and when he charged down Farrell’s attempted clearance, Chris Ashton dinked the ball inside only for Farrell to somewhat atone for his earlier error, but in taking the ball back behind his goalline he conceded a 5m scrum to Leicester who could now smell blood. Leicester won a penalty at the resulting scrum and then from a Genge tap and go, Wigglesworth employed some brilliant deception by faking to go openside only to drop the ball off for Jasper Wiese to come blindside and barrel his way over. He is unstoppable from such close range. Leicester now went out to a 12 – 6 lead, which would remain until half-time.
The second half continued in the same vein as the first, with plentiful kicking. Leicester were strangling Saracens with their brilliant kick-chase and defence, in fact Saracens had not touched the ball in Leicester’s 22m until the 3rd quarter of the match. Saracens’ lineout defence was keeping Leicester at bay and then in the 64th minute, Leicester conceded another stupid penalty for a tackle off the ball which Farrell slotted to make it 12 – 9 to Leicester with a quarter of an hour to play.
Saracens then built some pressure in the Leicester 22m area and from a 5m scrum, Billy Vunipola was tackled high in a clear act of foul play and Matt Scott, the Leicester replacement, was lucky to only be given a yellow card. Surprisingly, with a one-man advantage Saracens chose to go for poles to level the scores rather than go for the jugular. Farrell couldn’t miss from out in front and the scores were level at 12 – 12 with just over 5 minutes to play.
Then came the moment of the match. Leicester retained the ball well through pick and drives, trying to work a position for Burns to have a go at a drop goal. After a number of phases, the last being a crucial carry from Jasper Wiese, getting over the gainline allowing his teammates to clean the ruck, the ball was snapped back for Burns in the pocket who kicked the goal and the roof nearly came off Twickenham as the Tigers led 15 – 12 with seconds remaining.
There was still the kick off to negotiate, which Leicester did and when the ball came back out to Freddie Burns after the hooter, he ran towards his tryline before making sure the ball went into the stands to cue wild celebrations for the Tigers.
Leicester’s kicking game on the day, where they kicked 90% of their possession, was just too good for Saracens, as was their kick-chase and organised defence. The 17 turnovers that Saracens conceded were crucial, and the fact that none of their star players showed up clearly played a role in Leicester’s somewhat surprise victory, despite having led the League table all season. Itoje and George were anonymous and Ben Earl was peripheral at best. Quite possibly the histrionics from the week before against Quins had taken it out of these 3. Billy Vunipola was the one bright spark for Sarries, his display almost certainly playing him into the starting 8 jersey for England against Australia with good carries and defence and a jackal penalty for good measure.
Once again, South Africa’s enviable depth at loose forward was demonstrated with the day’s tryscorers both being South African back rowers. Jasper Wiese produced a man-of-the-match performance just to remind the rugby public that while Evan Roos and Elrigh Louw have performed well in the URC, the incumbent 8 cannot be overlooked when he plays like this. Tommy Reffell got the better of Ben Earl and he will be a massive danger at the breakdown on the hard tracks for the first two tests against the Boks. Steve Borthwick is universally acknowledged as one of the most dour men in the sport, but he is very detailed, especially in the lineout, and he must surely be a shoo-in to be Eddie Jones’s replacement after RWC 2023. Despite all the kicking, it was an enthralling and physical game of chess, which the Tigers deserved to win.
