Owen Farrell blunders help Leicester edge to victory against Saracens | Premiership

As mid-table clashes go, this was never likely to be obscure, given it involved the last two champions of England at the Premiership’s biggest stadium. But then the news broke the day before that the erstwhile England captain, Owen Farrell, might be mulling over a move to France. That was the end of any obscurity.

Leicester and Saracens finished the afternoon as they were, muscling it out in seventh and sixth respectively, but the Tigers’ win closes the gap between the two to one – in keeping with the theme of yet another impossibly tight Premiership. Leicester may be in seventh, but they are a mere 10 points off the first place and only three off the top four. There is not much room for error for them if they want to make the playoffs, but in the end they dispatched Saracens with some authority if a little less precision.

But the story was always going to be Farrell. Not content with stepping away from England the team, it seems he may now walk away from England the country, if the rumours of a move to Racing prove accurate.

When asked about the latest in his pre-match interview, Mark McCall gave nothing away. Farrell himself, though, proved far more generous barely 10 minutes into the match. His pass, straight from a scrum, was easily intercepted by Dan Kelly, whose subsequent run to the corner was a little more challenging but completed in style.

Farrell will no doubt have felt as if there were nothing he could do to avoid the spotlight, but he is used to that and played a slick part in Saracens’ response at the end of the first quarter. This time straight from a lineout on halfway, he brought Lucio Cinti in from the blindside wing. The Argentine’s half-break sprung Elliot Daly away on a full one. His dummy and pass were exquisitely timed to send Tom Parton to the line for a beautifully worked try.

Farrell’s conversion established a lead, which his penalty a few minutes later extended. Neutrals were praying for him to win the man-of-the-match award and the interview on TV that would come with the champagne. Maybe it was that awkward interlocution he was trying to avoid when he played his part in Leicester’s second try too.

His sliced clearance just outside the 22 set up Leicester’s position just before the break. Saracens infringed in front of the posts. The Tigers chose to take a scrum, and a couple of bruising carries later Matt Rogerson burrowed his way over. Handrè Pollard’s conversion retook the lead for the home team.

They were agonisingly close to a third try on the stroke of half-time when they stole a Saracens lineout. Kelly chipped and chased, but Daly managed to convince the TMO that he had wrapped a hand under the ball as his opposite number went to touch down. It was representative of an engrossingly tight contest.

Both sides had tilts at the other’s 22 in the opening minutes of the second half, but if there was one area one side seemed to enjoy dominance it was the scrum, where Leicester started to make the visitors creak. With that came an ever-steadier flow of penalties.

Then came a yellow card. Farrell had stymied one Leicester attack with a shuddering tackle on George Martin, which dislodged the ball and caused the man himself no little pain. But it was one of the contenders to replace him as England captain who took the hit. When Jasper Wiese tapped an attacking penalty, Maro Itoje had little option but to tackle him, but the referee deemed him not to have retreated – or for Wiese not to have run five metres before he did.

Now Saracens were really up against it. They managed to force Wiese into a knock-on at the next attack, as Leicester seemed to be actually looking for ways not to score. They duly found it, when they drove Saracens back at the next scrum. When they took a scrum of their own at the penalty, Pollard’s long pass released Harry Simmons to the corner, and his conversion took Leicester more than a score clear on the hour.

It proved enough to win the game. But the rumours around Farrell are set to swirl for a while yet.