Northampton Saints 0 Leicester Tigers 33: Tom Vickers' review

In fact, it may have been the most chastening of all.

Because while others have been more significant – Saints have lost play-off semi-finals and finals to their nearest and not so dearest – to be nilled on home soil is surely the nadir.

It was the first time they had been held pointless since a 32-0 defeat at Leicester in September 2005.

And it was also the first time Saints have ever been nilled at the Gardens in the Premiership.

In what felt like a season-defining game, Saints fell woefully flat.

After a bright first minute in which they should have scored, they succumbed, shipping three tries in the space of eight sobering and excruciating minutes.

Tigers, to their credit, were at their gnarly best from the moment they survived the early scare.

It was akin to a tennis player who fails to convert a break point only to be broken themselves in the very next game before seeing the match slip away from them.

That was what happened to a Saints side who were playing catch-up from the moment Adam Radwan cruised over on the right wing.

The opening 15 minutes were from Saints nightmares and Tigers dreams.

The game played out exactly how those of a Northampton persuasion feared and exactly how those from Leicester would have fantasised about.

Saints were toothless and Tigers were ruthless.

After the shock of falling 17-0 down, Saints were hit by more daggers to the heart as Handrè Pollard stuck the boot in, piling up more points via three penalties.

Saints barely troubled the Tigers 22 for much of the first half and when they did come alive in the second period, it was near miss after agonising near miss.

There were real echoes of the league defeat at Mattioli Woods Welford Road earlier this season as chances came and went with frustrating regularity.

Every time they survived another scare, Tigers became emboldened, and they eventually finished the job with a bonus-point score that came from one final gift from Saints.

It was a moment that summed up the night as overeagerness cost Saints, allowing Charlie Clare to rub salt in the gaping wounds by diving over against his former club.

Some of the sold-out crowd had departed by then, not sticking around to see their neighbours celebrating in their backyard.

It was a truly painful experience for the supporters, but even more so for the players and coaches who have seen their title defence ebb away with a whimper.

This season has just never got going for Saints, for so many reasons.

Perhaps that is a piece for another day, for when the Premiership campaign is truly over.

But there is no doubt that Saints continue to miss key weapons that can make a difference.

They have played far too many league matches this season without the likes of Alex Mitchell and skipper George Furbank.

And now they will have Ollie Sleightholme sidelined for much of, if not all of, the rest of this season.

Against Tigers, Saints needed some of the inspiration that the likes of Mitchell, Sleightholme, Furbank and Tommy Freeman can bring.

They needed to be at full pelt against a Tigers team who were always going to be determined to throw a spanner in the works.

But this is a Saints side that needs momentum, as they showed when they went on a superb winning streak in the winter of last season.

When they are able to come together and stick together, they can compete with anyone.

But when games and team selection are sporadic, so are their performances.

They got behind the eight ball early in this campaign as they suffered tough away defeats at the likes of Bath, Leicester and Bristol while lacking some key men.

And they have never been able to get up a head of steam, suffering hugely frustrating losses to the likes of Gloucester and Harlequins.

But this was easily the most tortuous of the lot.

Saints had the ability on the pitch to produce a performance much greater than this.

But they were far less than the sum of their parts against a Tigers team that played to their potential.

Work will need to be done on just what went wrong here.

What about the build-up meant that Tigers were at it from the off while Saints were so sluggish?

But whatever the answers, they are likely to come too little, too late for this stuttering league campaign.

Instead, Saints will have to find a way to ensure this season's joy arrives in Europe.

They are still very much in the Investec Champions Cup mix.

And now they need to use the Premiership as a platform, as a team like Leinster would use the United Rugby Championship to sharpen their blade for European glory.

Saints have to get back to their devastating best and rediscover the belief that took them to the Premiership title and Champions Cup semi-finals last season.

Because, make no mistake, this squad is still more than capable of achieving something special.

However, what happened on Friday night at the Gardens was the complete opposite of that.

Please note: player ratings were not merited on this occasion.