Saints deliver derby-day delight after Kata sees red for Leicester Tigers

Phil Dowson's men scored five second-half tries, having headed in at the break 10-6 down against their local rivals.

Solomone Kata's dismissal on 61 minutes proved pivotal as Tigers were just a point behind at that stage of the game.

And Saints pressed on in pursuit of tries, taking the game away from a Leicester team whose Gallagher Premiership play-off hopes have been dented.

For the black, green and gold though, it was a hugely welcome derby-day win, having lost five of the last six league meetings with Leicester.

And it meant Saints consolidated their status as league leaders ahead of the trip to Twickenham, where they will face Harlequins next Saturday.

Dowson had taken the opportunity to rest key men such as Courtney Lawes and Ollie Sleightholme on derby day, and Saints did initially struggle to click into gear.

They invited some early trouble as George Furbank, playing at 10, missed touch with a penalty and then Alex Mitchell booted the ball out on the full to let Tigers get early territory.

Saints escaped thanks to a Curtis Langdon clearance kick, but the home side were struggling to get anything going as Tigers targeted the breakdown at every turn, counter-rucking ferociously.

Tigers were soon flying forward as they moved the ball quickly, but Tom Seabrook stripped the ball out wide as Jamie Shillcock failed to find Freddie Steward, who was wide open.

Saints were behind soon after though as referee Christophe Ridley made a call to sin bin Elliot Millar Mills for head-on-head contact with Ollie Chessum.

Tigers used their man advantage to send a lineout drive over the line, with Julian Montoya opening the scoring.

Handre Pollard slotted the conversion from the touchline to give Tigers the start they wanted, but Saints responded through a Furbank penalty.

Pollard cancelled that three points out as Ridley harshly penalised Juarno Augustus for being off his feet at the breakdown.

Tigers were soon flying forward again and they should have scored when Steward went racing down the right, but James Ramm held his position well and Shillock knocked the ball into touch.

Millar Mills returned from the sin bin with his team seven points down and Saints desperately sought their first score of the game as the clock ticked towards the 30-minute mark.

But after Tigers gave away a couple of penalties on their own line, Mitchell made a dart and was held up.

Saints were being totally frustrated by the men in hot pink, who were blunting their local rivals time and again.

A flash of excitement arrived when Tom Litchfield led a break on halfway, forcing Tigers to infringe, allowing Furbank to slot a penalty.

Saints were starting to get into their stride on the counter-attack and after Lewis Ludlam caused some panic, Tigers infringed again.

The referee had lost patience and Jasper Wiese was yellow carded, but after going for the corner, Saints couldn't make it count as they knocked on and Tigers escaped.

The home side almost shot themselves in the foot before the break as Alex Coles tried to run the ball clear from his own line but only offloaded to Harry Wells, who had to be stopped by Mitchell as he eyed the line.

Saints headed in four points down at half-time, having really struggled to get into their attacking groove, with Tigers proving a typically tough object to move.

However, there was finally something for the home fans to shout about three minutes into the second period as Langdon turned on the turbos down the left, racing away to score.

Furbank missed the conversion to leave the gap at a single point but it was soon eight as Saints were awarded a penalty try.

The home side had swarmed all over Tigers and Shillcock was punished for a deliberate knock-on after Furbank tried to send the ball wide to the open space.

Shillock was sin-binned as the referee headed to award the penalty try, drawing huge roars from the home fans.

But Tigers responded well, piling the pressure on Saints and eventually going over through a trademark Wiese surge from the back of a lineout.

Pollard converted and the gap was just a point again as the 14 men celebrated breathing new life into their victory bid.

However, there was a big blow for Tigers on 60 minutes as centre Kata went flying in on Fraser Dingwall on halfway and his high tackle was deemed to have a high level of danger, meaning the Tigers centre was sent off.

Saints immediately took advantage, turning on the power in the maul and sending Robbie Smith over for the score.

Furbank converted to make it 25-17 and Saints had the bonus-point try soon after as some brilliant combination play between replacements Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman opened the door for Hendy to score.

Furbank converted but Saints were down to 14 men when Hendy was sin-binned for being offside after a sensational cover tackle from Fin Smith on Ollie Hassell-Collins.

It didn't matter though as Saints soon charged from inside their own half, with Freeman's kick ahead spilled by Phil Cokanasiga under pressure from Ramm, and Tom James picked up to score.

The conversion was missed but Saints were 20 points up, and that became 23 when Fin Smith landed a lovely drop goal.

Tigers tried to hit back one final time but Saints snuffed them out as their jubilant fans serenaded the team who had provided a delightful win on derby day.

Saints: Ramm; Hendy, Litchfield (Freeman 57), Dingwall, Seabrook (F Smith 62); Furbank, Mitchell (James 71); A Waller (Haffar 60), Langdon (R Smith 60), Millar Mills (Davison 60); Mayanavanua (Lockett 61), Moon; Coles, Ludlam (c) (Graham 71), Augustus.

Leicester Tigers: Shillcock (Brown 57); Steward, Kelly (Cokanasiga 69), Kata, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, van Poortvliet (Youngs 65); Cronin (van Wyk 56), Montoya (c) (Clare 56), Cole (Hurd); Wells (Hatherell 65), Chessum; Carnduff, Reffell (Cracknell 39), Wiese.

Referee: Christophe Ridley