Henry Pollock scuffles with England teammates as Leicester beat Northampton Saints

Leicester Tigers’ dominant second-half performance earned them an impressive 28-7 victory over East Midlands rivals Northampton Saints.

The visitors, and Gallagher PREM champions, actually led at half-time at a soaking Mattioli Woods Welford Road, but they had no answer as the Tigers turned on the power to score four tries following the restart.

It meant Leicester could enjoy a third win in four league games, as well as getting one over Saints on their own turf for a fourth season running, as they jumped up to second in the table.

The wet and windy conditions quickly played a part as Northampton grabbed the game’s opening try after only seven minutes.

With advantage being played, Fin Smith chipped towards the Leicester try line and, after Billy Searle’s fumble, James Pater pounced to score, with Smith adding the conversion.

It’s all HEATING up as we reach half-time in the East Midlands derby 😤🔥

Henry Pollock is right in the thick of things 👀

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A succession of penalties conceded by Saints gave Leicester a chance to hit back quickly, but their captain Ollie Chessum knocked on close to the line as the visitors’ defence held firm.

But the Tigers were on the board after 19 minutes when Freddie Steward blasted a superbly struck penalty between the uprights from just inside the Northampton half.

It brought the hosts back within four points, and it took some strong defence deep into their territory to keep it that way, as a spell of pressure was ended by Tommy Freeman knocking on under the posts.

It remained 7-3 to Saints at half-time, but a fracas down the touchline as the players made their way towards the tunnel indicated a fiery second half was on the way.

The home crowd was brought to its feet four minutes after the restart when a driving maul rumbled its way over with Jamie Blamire grounding the ball, although Searle’s missed conversion meant Leicester’s lead was just one point.

But their dominant start to the half brought a second try when the ball was worked out to the left to Gabriel Hamer-Webb whose pass led to Cameron Henderson scoring in the corner. Searle’s conversion again slid wide.

The Tigers were more than a score clear, though, when Finn Carnduff crashed over from close range in the 57th minute after a beleaguered Saints defence had illegally collapsed a maul.

Having not converted any of his side’s three tries to that point, Searle extended the hosts’ lead further with a penalty from in front of the posts.

Northampton’s afternoon continued to disintegrate when they had Tom Lockett sin-binned for making head-on-head contact with Solomone Kata with 10 minutes left.

And the Tigers rubbed their noses in it by claiming a bonus point not long after when Searle’s long pass found Steward and the England full-back glided in under the posts.