Premiership: Leicester Tigers 17-29 Saracens

Jamie George showed the Leicester defence a clean pair of heels to score under the posts

Saracens stopped a run of seven successive defeats by beating Leicester at Welford Road to climb to second in the Premiership.

Jonny May's deliberate knock-on gave Saracens a penalty try and hooker Jamie George rumbled in for a second.

Saracens led 17-0 but Tigers hit back when Mathew Tait scored in the corner.

Owen Farrell's boot extended Sarries' lead but a penalty try kept Leicester in the hunt before winger May was sent off for a second offence.

Jonny May heads for the touchline after being shown the red card

The visitors also finished the game with 14 men after prop Mako Vunipola was sin-binned after a series of scrum penalties, but held on for their first win since beating London Irish on 28 October.

Saracens moved up two places in the table - 10 points behind leaders Exeter - with Leicester remaining in sixth.

England fly-half Farrell's kicking was typically immaculate as he contributed 19 points, with the long-range penalty attempt by Marcelo Bosch which drifted wide the only miss by the visitors.

Leicester showed plenty of grit after falling behind early on with Adam Thompstone's clever inside pass allowing Tait to force his way in at the corner, and Sarries did not manage a single point while May was off the pitch after his first yellow card.

But the home side could never get any closer than seven points and May's exit from proceedings left them with too much to do in the final 11 minutes.

Leicester director of rugby Matt O'Connor: "You can't give a side as good as Saracens a 17-point start and we were always chasing the game after that.

"They deserved to win as we were too inaccurate and ill-disciplined at key moments, for, although we dominated the set scrums, we were well behind on the penalty count.

"They were clinical and took their chances and made us work hard for everything. Jonny May's card wasn't why we lost, but it's harsh and I would like the law makers to have a look at it."

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall: "It was a confident display from us as we were good with or without the ball and our penalty count was very low.

"I'm glad that we are back to winning ways but we were never far away from victory.

"We did leave a couple of tries out there but we were in control and I didn't think the red card affected the result in any way.

"Jackson Wray has been one of most consistent performers and he was outstanding but I thought we were good across the board with Ben Spencer impressing and Marcelo Bosch handling [Manu] Tuilagi very well."

Leicester: Tait; Thompstone, Tuilagi, Toomua, May; Ford, B Youngs; Mulipola, T Youngs (captain), Cole, Fitzgerald, Kitchener, Mapapalangi, Williams, Kalafamoni.

Replacements: Polota-Nau, Traynor, Baumann, Wells, Hamilton, Harrison, Ford, Malouf.

Saracens: Goode; Maitland, Bosch, Lozowski, Wyles; Farrell, Spencer; Vunipola, George, Figallo, Skelton, Kruis, Isiekwe, Clark, Wray.

Replacements: Tolofua, Barrington, Koch, Rhodes, Burger, Whiteley, Tompkins, Earle.

Referee: Matthew Carley.

Attendance: 24,873