Premiership semi-final: Leicester Tigers 27-14 Northampton Saints - George Ford inspires win

Leicester Tigers' George Ford will join Sale next season

George Ford inspired Leicester to victory against Northampton in his final home game at Mattioli Woods Welford Road to send Tigers to the Premiership final against Saracens.

The scores were locked at 6-6 at the break after Ford traded first-half penalties with Dan Biggar, who was forced off injured in the second half.

Tommy Freeman then scored for Saints, before Ford hit back with a try.

Three more Ford kicks and a late Freddie Steward try completed the win.

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Tigers claimed their 10th Premiership title last time they reached the final in 2013, beating East Midlands rivals Northampton 37-17.

Leicester's win sets up a final showdown between first and second in the Premiership table, with Tigers finishing seven points clear of Saracens after 24 regular-season games.

They are also two sides who have been heavily punished in recent years for salary cap breaches.

Sarries have returned to the summit of English rugby after being promoted back to the Premiership following relegation in 2020 for persistent salary cap breaches.

Leicester themselves overspent - albeit by significantly smaller sums - in each season between 2016-17 and 2019-20 and were this season hit with a fine of almost £310,000.

Defeat means Chris Boyd's four-year tenure as Saints director of rugby ends without a trophy.

As a home farewell for club stalwarts Ford and Ellis Genge, emotions promised to be high at Welford Road.

A minute's applause in memory of Tiffany Youngs, the wife of former club captain Tom who passed away earlier in the week, was a heartfelt moment before the start of a thunderous contest that was shared by every player and fan in the packed stadium.

Tigers' England scrum-half Ben Youngs, Tiffany's brother-in-law, started alongside Ford, whose 22 points proved instrumental in the high-stakes derby.

Leicester head coach Steve Borthwick said the performance was proof that Sale Sharks-bound Ford "is a world-class player".

"He has been absolutely outstanding all season," Borthwick told BBC Radio Leicester. "And he is a Leicester player for another week."

Victory sends Leicester to Twickenham for the first time in nine years, and comes just two years after Saracens' relegation for salary cap breaches saved Tigers from the drop.

Leicester Tigers captain Ellis Genge (centre), who is joining Bristol at the end of the season, made his final home appearance at Welford Road

Saints fail to deliver Boyd's vision

A succession of Tigers infringements, which eventually sparked a melee in the sixth minute, allowed Biggar to tee up the first points of the game with a long-range penalty.

Boyd spoke during the week about how English rugby needs more risk takers to flourish, and while his players tried to deliver with some scintillating attacks they badly lacked a clinical finisher.

First, full-back Freeman excellently stepped, fended and raced out of his half before failing to collect an audacious chip-and-chase effort.

It then took a review to overrule an Alex Mitchell try, with Courtnall Skosan knocking on in the build-up. The winger again squandered a huge chance with another knock-on minutes later and went on to fumble once more after Ford levelled with his first kick of the day.

Ford's second penalty gave the hosts the lead in the 33rd minute, but a high hit from Guy Porter on Rory Hutchinson earned the Tigers winger a yellow card and put Biggar right in front of the posts to make it 6-6 at the break.

Saints made their numerical advantage count at the start of the second half, with Freeman going over for Northampton's 100th Premiership try of the season, before Ford responded and restored Tigers' lead by converting his own try.

A try-saving tackle from Porter on Skosan protected the advantage, only for the lead to swap again as Saints' James Grayson, who came on to replace Biggar, and Ford traded more penalties.

Oisin Heffernan's yellow card for his hit on Jasper Wiese with 14 minutes remaining was costly for Northampton, with Tigers going on to score 11 unanswered points to finish the game.

'Tigers were resilient' - Reaction

Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick told BBC Radio Leicester:

"It was a tight game throughout and I'm really pleased with the resilience the team showed.

"There were plenty of qualities we showed. The tries we scored were well taken in the second half and the ability to stay composed through a difficult period, I thought was very good also.

"The margins were very tight and I was really pleased the players managed to deal with that."

Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd told BBC Radio Northampton:

"We didn't [take our chances]. That was critical really, if we had nailed one-and-a-half to two of the chances we created in the first half, then we would have created a different game, because they would have had to play a different game.

"We didn't take those chances and then the yellow card mistake, penalty and try [late on], and the game got away from us.

"It's disappointing - 27-14 sounds like a hiding but the game was there for us in the first 60 minutes."

Leicester Tigers: Steward; Potter, Moroni, Kelly, Porter; Ford, Youngs; Genge (c), Montoya, Cole; Wells, Green, Liebenberg, Reffell, Wiese.

Replacements: Clare, Leatigaga, Heyes, Chessum, Martin, Van Poortvliet, Burns, Nadolo.

Sin-bin: Porter (39)

Northampton Saints: Freeman; Proctor, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Skosan; Biggar, Mitchell; Iyogun, Matavesi, Painter; Coles, Ratuniyarawa, Lawes, Ludlam (c), Augustus.

Replacements: Haywood, Waller, Heffernan, Ribbans, Hinkley, James, Grayson, Francis.

Sin-bin: Heffernan (65)

Referee: Matthew Carley.

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