Billy Searle pulls the strings as Leicester prove too strong for Saracens
The temperature was zero at kick-off but when the pluses and minuses were totted up, Leicester were comfortably in credit and Saracens were out in the cold,A clinical and cohesive performance by Geoff Parling’s side has them looking upwards, contemplating the playoffs, while the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, must reflect on his team’s inconsistency,As the regular season reaches halfway this was a highly significant mid-table encounter: Leicester in fifth, and sixth-placed Saracens still have ground to make up on the top four, but the home side narrowed the gap with an accomplished win,There were plenty of illustrious names on the teamsheet but it was Billy Searle, the Leicester fly-half, whose headline-grabbing performance won him player of the match,At 29, Searle has already played for five different professional clubs in England and three in France.
On this sparkling form you wonder why any of them let him go.Adam Radwan, meanwhile, is trying to force his way into the thinking of Steve Borthwick, the England head coach.The former Newcastle wing is increasingly adding power and perceptiveness to his prodigious pace.Performances this good will spark a conversation or two at Pennyhill Park.“There’s load of unbelievable wingers [available to England],” Radwan said.
“But the only thing I’m focused on is playing for Leicester, I absolutely love it.Whatever comes off the back off that, comes off the back of that.”An industrious opening, in Leicester’s time-honoured physical style, barely gave Saracens a look-in and must have pleased the onlooking Martins, Johnson and Corry, among the capacity crowd.Leicester moved the ball well, too, and the full-back Freddie Steward soon dived on a perceptive grubber kick by Searle.The No 10 was denied a try of his own, held up after darting over, but Leicester kept Saracens pinned back and Olly Cracknell crashed over to make it 14-0 after Searle’s second successful conversion.
Saracens had not had a sniff, but showed there was nothing wrong with their own game when the flanker Theo McFarland applied a twisting finish from close range.Searle soon spotted a gap in midfield and roared down the middle.A superb grubber, angled right for Radwan, allowed the wing to dive over in the corner – while Elliot Daly was sent to the sin-bin for a late hit on Searle.It was an expression of frustration by Daly, who limped out of Welford Road after what looked a painful leg injury, at Leicester’s dominance.Sarries also simultaneously lost Jamie George and Nick Isiekwe to failed head injury assessments.
Harry Potter left Leicester a couple of years back – but they still have a bit of midfield magic in Will Wand, drafted in late to replace Izaia Perese.The 24-year-old outside-centre had been lively, and was held up over the line as the Tigers threatened to take the game away from McCall’s team.McFarland escaped punishment for a high hit on Searle just before the break – penalty aside – and it seemed Saracens would be nursing a 12-point deficit at the break.But when Ollie Chessum chugged over halfway, Wand progressed on the Leicester right, and the prop Joe Heyes applied an impressively powerful finish to claim their bonus point.That was 26-7.
When Saracens’ Rotimi Segun ran an excellent line after half-time, the Leicester replacement Emeka Ilione was penalised, arguably harshly, while effecting a turnover.From the resulting position, Rhys Carré powered over, and it was a 12-point game.Ilione’s breakdown work was impressive on his first appearance for 10 weeks, and will have been noted by Borthwick.After Searle added a penalty, Radwan pounced on a pass by Ivan van Zyl and ran most of the length of the pitch to score and whip the crowd into a frenzy.There is a reason Saracens are the only side in the Prem with a double-figure bonus point tally, though, and they persisted.
Max Malins touched down, only for what would have been their fourth try to be ruled out for a knock-on.Leicester fought to prevent the visitors taking a bonus point – but Charlie Bracken nicked one a minute from time.It was little consolation for McCall.“We allowed them to run at us.They played well but we allowed them to – much more than we should have,” he said.
“And there were periods when we showed better team fight … As a team we want to know what we’re going to get from each other every week … at the moment, we don’t,”
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