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Zack Henry kicks Leicester to derby victory over Northampton

By PA
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Fly-half Zack Henry was Leicester’s hero with 20 points as the Tigers edged out local rivals Northampton 28-24 at Welford Road. Henry, standing in for the injured George Ford, kicked five penalties and converted Ben Youngs’ early try.

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He also added a drop goal to ensure his side avenged a 36-13 defeat at Franklin’s Gardens back in November. Freddie Steward scored Leicester’s other points with a penalty.

Northampton outscored their opponents three tries to one, Paul Hill and Henry Taylor crossing in the second half to go with a first-half penalty try, while Dan Biggar kicked a penalty and two conversions.

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Le French Rugby Podcast | Episode 2 | Steffon Armitage

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However, they still crashed to a sixth defeat in seven matches since the resumption after failing to take advantage of Tigers’ three yellow cards.

Biggar’s penalty gave Saints a fourth-minute lead but it was the home side who soon scored the first try.

Northampton full-back George Furbank was heavily tackled by Nemani Nadolo and lost possession for Youngs to pick up the loose ball and run 30 metres to score.

Henry converted and added two penalties in quick succession to give Tigers a 13-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

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The outside half should have extended that advantage but his straightforward kick rebounded back off a post, although moments later he was back on target with an even easier attempt.

The visitors were comfortably second best in the opening 25 minutes with ill-discipline and frequent handling errors not helping their cause.

They also suffered an injury setback when prop Francois Van Wyk hobbled off, but they received a boost when home lock Tomas Lavanini was sin-binned after dragging down a driving maul.

From the resulting line-out, Saints attacked again and were rewarded with a penalty try award from Wayne Barnes, with the referee issuing another yellow card, this time to flanker Harry Wells.

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It looked bleak for the hosts especially, when they lost centre Guy Porter to a head injury assessment, but somehow they held on with 13 men before a long-range penalty from Steward saw them increase their lead to 19-10 at half-time.

Henry resumed goalkicking duties and five minutes after the restart he kicked his fourth penalty, with Saints changing five players in a short period in an attempt to try and reverse their fortunes.

The move should have paid dividends but Taqele Naiyaravoro charged straight into Steward when a simple pass to a support player would have seen Saints score their second try.

However, Leicester number eight Hanro Liebenberg became the third home forward to be sin-binned as he dragged down a line-out drive, and Saints capitalised when replacement prop Hill waltzed through the defence to score an excellent individual try.

Northampton lock David Ribbans collected a yellow card for a high tackle as playing numbers were reduced once again.

Henry missed with the resulting penalty but he made amends with a neatly-taken drop-goal and then a late penalty to see his side over the winning line.

In the final minute, replacement scrum-half Taylor crossed for a converted try to gain Saints a losing bonus point.

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Bull Shark 2 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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