With last weekend’s match-winner, Julien Dupuy, rested, it was left to Sam Vesty to provide the killer blow, his coolly struck penalty the last kick of the game.

The defeat will be a particularly bitter one for a Saracens team who were hoping to provide a fitting Vicarage Road send off for the likes of Kris Chesney, Andy Farrell and Cobus Visagie, along with a host of others, leaving the club for reasons ranging from the irrepressible lure of France’s Top 14, to retirement, with others just not South African enough for next season’s set-up.

The much-publicised investment in Saracens by Johann Rupert, the South African billionaire whose company also has stakes in two South African Super 14 sides, has angered many; it has not only threatened the careers of many promising young players at the club but it also brings rugby much closer to the rampant professionalism of football, where a prevalence of capricious billionaires has been so ruinous to the traditions and integrity of the game.

Whether Saracens’ apparent new status as an English enclave for South African rugby will give the club an identity it desperately needs remains to be seen. It certainly appears to be another reinvention of a club who have embraced professionalism in a way like no other since financier, Nigel Wray, became owner in the mid 1990s. In the times since, the club has been in an almost permanent state of transience in a desperate bid for success; coaches have come and gone and the high-profile signings of players like Lynagh, Sella, Pienaar and Farrell, all world-beaters in their pomp, had long passed their best by the time they arrived at the Hertfordshire-based club.

The outspoken Wray, ironically one of the more enduring aspects of the club in recent times, has even voiced his desire to see some matches played in America to broaden the appeal of the game. If Sunday’s experience is anything to go by then a match day experience at Vicarage Road would rival the fanfare seen at American Football games. Baying fans, waving flags, resplendent in Superhero outfits and donning every Saracens fans’ must-have, the Fez, screamed for free t-shirts being propelled into the stands. A giant screen showed an interview with the head coach only minutes before the match and instant replays of the action during the game. Each home score was greeted with blaring pop music and a posse of drummers banged away incessantly; their only apparent purpose being to disrupt both away line-out calls and budding reporters wishing to silently reflect on the game. A stark contrast indeed to the hushing Charlie Dagnall and the ancient rock tunes of his side-kick, the Good Doctor.

The finale to the pre-match entertainment was a routine by Saracens’ very own cheerleading troupe, the ‘Sensations’; unusual but, along with the glorious spring sunshine that bathed the ground, a promising start to the afternoon.

The carnival atmosphere belied the importance of the game in the end-of-season hunt for play-off places and Heineken Cup qualification.  Leicester’s progression into the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup last weekend ensured seven English clubs would qualify for next season’s tournament; it may be Saracens who prove to be the club who benefit should they, along with both Northampton and Worcester, fail to win the Challenge Cup but manage to finish seventh in the league.

Tigers’ appeared to be in a similarly generous mood as the game began, with Saracens’ Argentinean centre, Francisco Leonelli, scoring under the posts within the first five minutes. Saracens won possession having turned Scott Hamilton form Neil De Kock’s testing box kick, and the series of attacks that followed brought them to within five metres of the try-line. Excellent defensive work by Ben Woods was promptly undone by Vesty who, in a show of exuberance bordering on temerity, passed the ball wildly into touch whilst attempting to run the ball out of his own twenty-two down a narrow blind-side. Hugh Vyvyan seized upon the ball from the ensuing overthrown lineout and showed agility belying his advancing years to pass out of the tackle to the onrushing Leonelli. Cue the music and a simple conversion for fly-half, Glen Jackson.

The frenetic start continued as Leicester responded with passages of possession in the Saracens half. They looked threatening with the ball in hand with Ayoola Erinle starting as he would prove to go on, combining some strong, pacy running with deft handling. A promising move down the left hand side, with Tom Croft bearing down on the try-line, was halted by referee David Road after Martin Castrogiovanni had deemed to have given a forward pass.

The Tigers gained an early ascendancy in the scrum and it was from one particularly disruptive push that Jordan Crane took the opportunity to drive at the Saracens defence. In what proved to be a prolonged period of possession, Leicester initially kept it tight with Marcos Ayerza and then Castrogiovanni both driving close to the whitewash. The ball was eventually spread wide to Erinle who cut a neat outside arc to beat his man before passing to Johne Murphy who came within a few feet of the line on the right-hand side. Hamilton intelligently picked up from the ensuing ruck, aware of a poorly defended blind-side, and evaded the grasps of Vyvyan to score a deserved try for the Tigers. No music this time and no conversion either, Vesty missing to the left.

The early promise of a flowing, open affair soon subsided with the game becoming tighter as the defence structures of each team held firm. Tigers’ line-out was well disrupted by the wily and leggy trio of Chesney, Vyvyan and All Black, Chris Jack. Saracens pushed into Tigers territory with some smart kicking from their lively half-back pair of De Kock and Jackson. Tigers were their own worst enemies at times, putting themselves under pressure with handling errors and infringements; captain Geordan Murphy unusually prominent in this regard.

Saracens extended their lead on 25 minutes with a Jackson penalty, making amends for a miss five minutes earlier. In both instances it was Leicester’s forward, Castrogiovanni, that was penalised and his infringing certainly detracted from an otherwise inspired performance from the iconic Italian prop who formed the cornerstone of a dominant scrummaging effort, unleashed some turnover-inducing tackling and carried strongly in the loose.

Leicester had their fair share of posession and showed their attacking intent late in the half as two kickable penalties were turned down in favour of quick taps by Harry Ellis. As Tigers were building momentum, it was a strong run by Erinle that stretched the Saracens defence to breaking point forcing them to concede a penalty. Vesty’ successful kick took the game into half-time at 10-8.

Tigers started strongly in the second half with Castrogiovanni continuing his rumbustious afternoon with some strong carries, ably supported by Woods. Hipkiss was, yet again, a constant threat, and so often the Tigers go-to-man to break the gain-line.

The sides traded kickable penalties early in the half, but both were missed.

The game began to open up, and turn in the Tigers’ favour, on the sixty minute mark by which point Harry Ellis had been replaced by the precocious Ben Youngs. As in the previous weekend, Ellis’ withdrawal served to emphasise his lack of sharpness at the breakdown with Youngs providing much needed zip both in his passing and with his running.

It was not surprising that the passage of play leading to Leicester’s second try came from a scything break from the diminutive scrum-half, taking the Tigers deep into the home side’s territory. Dan Hipkiss almost broke through with a well-timed run but by now Tigers had done enough to gain an overlap on the left; they took advantage with brisk passing from Youngs and Johne Murphy sending Erinle in for a well-earned try. Vesty missed a difficult touch-line conversion and a quick Saracens penalty in reply, left the game poised at 13-13 with ten minutes remaining.

The game finished as it began with both sides looking threatening with ball in hand. Tom Croft was prominent, and yet again producing another strong 80-minute performance ; his athleticism in the line-out, game breaking speed and aggressive work on the floor makes his omission from the Lions’ squad all the more baffling. Saracens were unlucky not to take the lead as a Jackson penalty attempted rebounded off the post.

Youngs, showing his inexperience, had a lucky reprieve when the Saracens players were deemed to have not retreated ten metres following his quickly-taken penalty which should have gone to touch. Geordan Murphy made no mistake the second time kicking the Tigers into the Saracens half. Though possession changed hands from the lineout, the Tigers won a dramatic last–minute penalty, with Saracens penalised for handling in the ruck.  Defying a deafening crescendo of furious drumming, booing fans and screaming cheerleaders, in a scene that couldn’t be further from the respectful silences observed at Welford Road, Vesty struck the winning penalty to give Tigers victory.

Though a close affair, with the Tigers midfield creating only a few try-scoring opportunities from the considerable possession they had, nothing should be taken way from a valuable four point victory given the mental and physical demands of a Heineken Cup quarter-final a week before, the host of internationals that remain injured and bearing in mind that Vicarage Road has been something of a fortress for Saracens this season.

There is a growing sense that the Tigers are once again developing a winning habit similar to that cultivated at the club during Cockerill’s playing days. With the position at the top of the league maintained, and  only a home fixture against the relegated Bristol remaining, Tigers fans may allow themselves to look forward to a home play-off to accompany their Heineken Cup semi-final.

Man of match: Martin Castrogiovanni

Saracens: Goode, Wyles, Leonelli (Farrell, 67), Barritt (Cato, 76), Penney, Jackson (C), De Kock (Marshall, 53), Aguero, Ongaro (Cairns, 62), Mercey (Visagie, 51), Vyvyan, Chesney (Ryder, 70), Jack, Seymour (Barrell, 48), Melck

Try: Leonelli

Conv: Jackson

Pens: Jackson (2)

Leicester: Murphy, Hamilton, Erinle (Rabeni, 62), Hipkiss, J Murphy, Vesty, Ellis (Youngs, 53), Ayerza, Chuter (Kayser, 57), Castrogiovanni (Cole, 62), Croft, Kay, Newby, Woods, Crane

Not used: Hemingway, Pienaar, Varndell

Tries: Hamilton, Erinle

Pen: Vesty (2)

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