Saints Diggin for victory

Two first-half tries from Paul Diggin handed Northampton Saints the Midland derby bragging rights as Leicester went down 17-13 at Franklin's Gardens.

In a scrappy affair littered with errors and penalties, it was Saints who ran out worthy winners to extend their unbeaten home record to six Guinness Premiership games this season.

Toby Flood marked his return to the Tigers line-up by claiming all of the visitors' 13 points, however it was two superbly finished tries from Diggin in the space of nine first-half minutes which proved decisive.

The Saints wing crossed on 13 and 22 minutes to put Northampton in command, and despite five missed kicks from fly-half Stephen Myler, man-of-the-match Ben Foden burst clear in the second half to seal the win.

Northampton got the game underway in front of another packed-out Franklin's Gardens, and Flood, returning to the Leicester side after injury, immediately kicked out on the full to hand Saints a penalty chance off the resulting drive.

However the penalty from Myler was to be the first of five missed kicks from the Saints No.10 during a torrid opening 40 minutes.

Difficult

Flood's kicking wasn't much better, and the England international pulled his first penalty effort wide on six minutes as both kickers struggled to find their range.

Despite Tigers' chance it was Saints who dominated the early exchanges and they eventually warmed the hands of the home spectators in the 12th minute courtesy of a superb team move finished off by Diggin.

The home side switched the play from left to right with purpose and it was the in-form Foden who created the opening before feeding Diggin, who dived over in the corner.

Myler missed the difficult touchline conversion, and a penalty shortly after as the score remained at 5-0.

However any home dismay soon turned to joy as just two minutes later Saints and Diggin celebrated a second try of the evening, as he collected a deft offload from Myler before powering over the line.

Another missed conversion from Myler kept the score at 10-0, and Flood made his opposing No.10 pay by opening his and Leicester's account with a straightforward penalty soon after.

Another missed penalty from Myler and another score from Flood saw Leicester fortunately head into the break just four points behind at 10-6 down.

Fascinating

The start of the second half was starved of attacking quality as the game developed into a midfield battle.

However, on 50 minutes the game burst back into life as the effervescent Foden broke the game line with another devastating turn of pace, before touching down under the posts for the 12th Premier League try of his career.

Myler simply couldn't miss the conversion and Saints opened up a comfortable 17-6 lead to trigger the introduction of Martin Corry off the Tigers bench.

With the game drifting away from the visitors, a quick piece of thinking by Julian Dupuy threw Tigers a lifeline as his tap-kick caught the Saints defence napping before he fed Flood to dive over.

The Tigers No.10 converted his try and set up a fascinating last 20 minutes with Saints leading 17-13.

However, for all their determination and desire, Leicester lacked the quality to overturn the deficit and Northampton held on for another invaluable home win.