Leicester Tigers and Saracens reach Guinness Premiership Final
Over the course of the entire campaign, it’d be difficult to argue that Leicester and Saracens don’t deserve their places in the Guinness Premiership Final.
The two clubs sealed their play-off final spots at Twickenham on May 29th with hard-fought victories over Bath and Northampton Saints respectively.
There’s a fine line between euphoria and devastation in sport, and the margins proved extremely slim in both semi-finals.
Glen Jackson’s dramatic late conversion sent the Sarries through to their first Premiership final at the expense of the Saints, leaving the home supporters at Franklin’s Gardens with their dreams of reaching HQ in tatters.
After the final whistle, Saracens’ director of rugby, Brendan Venter, was full of praise for his victorious squad of players, who now begin their preparations for the final in just under two weeks’ time. "We knew that we had to stop Northampton behind the gain-line, and the guys tackled their hearts out - they have unbelievable character," Venter commented.
"I thought we just played some great rugby out there."
Northampton had gone into the break with a narrow 8-7 lead, but tries from Alex Goode, Chris Wyles and Schalk Brits, along with three conversions from Jackson, earned the Sarries a place in the final with a close 21-19 win.
The Saints’ director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, was understandably disappointed at the manner in which his side were beaten. But rest assured, they’ll be back next season equipped with this year’s invaluable experience and several new faces.
The jubilant Saracens were then hoping for the cherry on top of their perfect weekend with an upset at Welford Road as Bath took on Leicester. However, thanks to England fly-half Toby Flood’s accurate kicking, the Tigers secured their second consecutive Premiership final appearance.
Flood kicked five penalties to cancel out Olly Barkley’s brace, as Leicester ran out 15-6 winners.
On the balance of play it was the fair result. The Tigers dominated proceedings in the second-half, managing to overcome their early nerves. Both teams went into the interval with six points apiece, but it was the experienced Leicester who prevailed as expected.
Bath can finish this season proud of their achievements – few would have expected them to reach the play-offs at the turn of the year. Nonetheless, it was still a bitter pill to swallow for the club’s head coach, Steve Meehan, who had seen his side win 11 of their last 12 matches at the end of the regular season.
As the overwhelming favourites, Leicester bounced back from their home defeat against Saracens to set up a mouth-watering rematch against their rival title-challengers. Before two weekends ago, the Tigers held a proud home record which stretched back to September 2008.
After the Sarries put an abrupt end to that, this year’s Premiership final offers Richard Cockerill’ side the chance to inflict revenge in the most emphatic fashion.
With little to separate the two finalists, this year’s final promises to be the most enticing and unpredictable for years.
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