Sarries exact their revenge

Saracens registered their fourth successive Aviva Premiership victory with a 26-20 triumph over Leicester on Sunday.

In what was a rematch of last season's Premiership final, Sarries gained some revenge for their Twickenham reverse with an all-action display in front of their own fans.

First-half tries from Schalk Brits and Richard Wigglesworth put Brendan Venter's men in control and 16 points from the boot of Derick Hougaard sealed the win.

Leicester, who were trailing 17-7 at half-time, launched a spirited fightback in the second period and claimed a losing bonus point courtesy of Lucas Amorosino's 69th minute score.

Authority

After 18 hours of heavy rain, and another morning downpour, there were fears the Vicarage Road pitch would be affected, but Saracens kicked off without rain or surface water.

After a scoreless opening quarter, Saracens got themselves on the board through an expertly taken try from South African hooker Brits.

Chris Wyles escaped an attempted tackle by Matt Smith and surged up the right channel. His pass right found prolific forward Brits thundering up the wing, and he duly scored behind the posts, making Hougaard's conversion a routine one.

That was Brits' third try in three starts, continuing the remarkable scoring knack he demonstrated last season.

It was no more than Saracens deserved, and they extended their lead three minutes later courtesy of a long-range Hougaard penalty.

Leicester began to impose themselves on the game as half-time approached, and their pressure in the scrum was rewarded when French referee Romain Poite awarded a penalty try and sent Deon Carstens to the sin-bin.

Billy Twelvetrees duly converted, however Sarries struck a crucial blow on the stroke of the interval when Wigglesworth raced up the left to score.

Nail-biting

Hougaard's conversion increased the lead to 10 points but Twelvetrees kept the Tigers in touch with his first successful penalty of the afternoon.

Hougaard restored the 10-point margin three minutes after that, and increased it with another precise kick after 51 minutes.

The South African then gave Leicester a mountain to climb with a long-range drop-goal in the 55th minute, followed closely by a yellow card for Smith for ball-killing.

Leicester refused to surrender though, Twelvetrees dissecting the posts on 64 minutes to make the score 26-13 in Sarries' favour.

Full-back Amorosino set-up a dramatic last 10 minutes when he latched on to his own kick to score, however Saracens held on to condemn Leicester to a third defeat of the season.