At the full-time whistle, Brendan Venter let out a roar of delight. Until then the South African had been on his best behaviour, but after beginning his return to the Saracens hotseat with a nail-biting victory against Leicester, Venter could no longer hold it in. It no doubt felt all the sweeter at Welford Road, having 16 years ago been slapped with a lengthy ban for making inappropriate and provocative gestures at the Tigers faithful. A celebratory swagger had been a long time coming and who could deny the director of rugby after Saracens overcame Nick Isiekwe’s 20-minute red card to edge this 12-try thriller.
Leicester will be desperately disappointed by how often they conceded the momentum to Saracens and it is not often Gabriel Hamer-Webb will score a hat‑trick and end up on the losing side. Freddie Steward has rarely been in such fine counterattacking form and Aaron Wainwright’s debut suggests he will soon be a fan favourite.
But to the visitors, the spoils. Ben Earl was inspired off the bench and Tomos Williams imperious on debut. Saracens’ ability to overcome adversity, losing Olly Hartley to a nasty-looking arm injury early on and having to briefly deploy Earl at centre, is testament to the spirit engendered by Venter after retaking the reins from Mark McCall. Maro Itoje looks refreshed after his summer break while Elliot Daly, who cropped up in four different positions, is clearly hitting his straps again, too.
In a match that pitted fourth against fifth from last season it appeared likely these two would deliver the pick of the opening weekend’s fixtures and so it proved. It was the kind of afternoon that will delight attack coaches, infuriate their defensive counterparts and it rounded off a record-breaking first weekend with 52 tries. Rotimi Segun’s second proved decisive here but credit goes to Fergus Burke, too, with five conversions to Billy Searle’s four and that ultimately proved decisive.
Venter has largely kept his powder dry since his return, provoking Prem Rugby’s ire by dodging media duties at the season’s launch and doing so again before and after this victory. In his place, the head coach, Joe Shaw, said: “You get hit with the 20-minute red at a place like this, if you want to be in the top four you have got to be able to keep your cool. We came for the win, to put a marker down on what our forward pack have been trying to do in the pre-season.”
Saracens began in emphatic fashion and were a try to the good inside two minutes when Juan Martín González powered over. The Argentinean’s robust finish came on the back of a probing passage of play, new signings Williams and Alfie Barbeary heavily involved before González seized Searle’s failed interception to score. Inside 10 minutes they doubled their lead. Turning down a kick at goal, Saracens went to the corner on the left before fine passes from Williams and Burke put Tobias Elliott away on the right.
Before the half-hour, Leicester had two tries of their own, however, hitting back in fine fashion. Solomone Kata struck with the first, picking up a loose ball and shrugging off Elliott far too easily. Leicester’s second was finished by the always dangerous Hamer-Webb. Sharp hands from Steward put him away but the try owed everything to Jack van Poortvliet’s dart up the middle.
Elliott’s temporary withdrawal meant an Earl cameo at centre just after the half-hour mark and minutes later Saracens had their third try. Earl’s versatility is a considerable string to his bow but there is no substitute for footballing talent and the manner in which Burke, Max Malins and Daly combined for the latter to go over on the left was a sight to behold.
Elliott returned to the field after half-time – Earl shifting to the pack with Barbeary making way – and it was down his wing that Leicester had their third try, and Hamer-Webb his second, after good work from Wainwright.
Back at home at No 8, Earl’s powerful finish from close range re-established Saracens’ breathing space on the scoreboard but in keeping with the topsy-turvy nature of this contest, Hamer-Webb had his hat-trick – and the pick of his tries – after a fine break from deep by Steward and another sharp pass from Wainwright.
Leicester had the bit between their teeth and took the lead for the first time in the match with Adam Radwan’s 54th-minute score. Kata, always a handful, made the initial break before Van Poortvliet’s delightful dink put the ball on a plate for the ex-Newcastle winger. To make matters worse for Saracens, Isiekwe was then handed a 20-minute red card for a high tackle on Steward in the buildup.
Segun’s first try came after Daly’s perfect crossfield kick. Leicester nosed ahead again through James Thompson’s close-range effort but the Tigers were soon down to 14 when Tarek Haffar was sent to the sin-bin. Segun finished on the left with seven minutes to go after slick hands through the backs and Saracens, back to 15 men, clung on with the kind of determination that suggests they will be in the mix this season.
