Boyd delighted with 'gutsy' Saints win at Welford Road

The black, green and gold had looked in a strong position at 23-10 up but Leicester Tigers fought back and were applying huge pressure late on.

Saints lost JJ Tonks to the sin bin five minutes from time and it looked like Dan Biggar would be forced to go off injury, which would have left the away side down to 13 men.

But Biggar battled on and helped his team record a crucial 23-18 win that keeps their Gallagher Premiership play-off hopes very much alive.

And Boyd said: "The outcome we're obviously delighted with - to get four points here at Welford Road in the local derby.

"It's important for our supporters because there's such a rivalry and tradition so that part is very good.

"The performance was patchy but there was some gutsy defence at the end when we went down to 14 with a dubious yellow card, then Dan Biggar was down to one leg.

"We hung in there and got some crucial steals.

"It could have gone either way and after half-time we had three or four opportunities to bury that game and we didn't so that was disappointing.

"People talk about attack winning games and defence winning championships and we've been a bit leaky in that department but I thought we were gutsy at the end there.

"We're certainly happy to get the four points."

On man of the match Biggar, Boyd said: "Dan got a pretty crucial tap tackle on (Jasper) Wiese and he's one of those guys if you had to get in the trenches and take someone with you, he's the first guy you'd pick.

"I'm just pleased for him that we came away with the victory."