But minutes later, it was the Tigers fans who were cheering. The scrum again gave the platform, before the ball was passed out to the wing with Nadolo barrelling close to the line before offloading to Guy Porter, who crossed under pressure. Juarno Augustus was sent to the bin following an accumulation of penalties conceded by Saints, and then four minutes later, Iyogun joined him for repeated scrum penalties. This proved to be the catalyst for a chaotic end of the game.
7 12. Jimmy Gopperth: It was a weird afternoon for Gopperth, who struggled to get involved in the first half. After the break he was awesome, finding space with passes and kicks. He nearly got a deserved try twice out wide, but was hauled down just in time. 7 11. Nemani Nadolo: It is getting hard to describe how influential the Fijian is. Every time he gets the ball he seems to make metres (73m in total), and knock over a couple of defenders. Fraser Dingwall seemed to be a favoured target. He kept Tigers in the game for the first half. While official stats say he beat eight defenders, it seemed like a lot more. 9 10. Freddie Burns: His distribution out wide was brilliant in the second half - barring one interception pass he threw. He kicked well from the sidelines, getting five from seven tough kicks. Showed what he’s about, chasing back even when the game was dead to stop Furbank getting a consolation try.
Tigers finally took the lead, after two penalties sent to the corner, when the ball was recycled to the wing and Chris Ashton crossed for his first Tigers try against his former employers to raucous boos from the home crowd. The bonus point came minutes later as George Martin crossed following good work from Gopperth and Youngs. Mitchell deliberately knocked on in the build-up, reducing Saints to 12 men for the following three minutes. Steward then went in for his second and third in the wide spaces of the closing stages. Here's how LeicestershireLive rated the Tigers players out of ten...
7 1. James Cronin: Cronin provided a steely base for Dan Cole to attack from the other side for 64 minutes. Showed more of his skillset with a Tommy Reffell-esque ruck steal that stopped a Saints attack. 8 2. Charlie Clare: Another 80-minute display from the hooker who is taking his chance with Julian Montoya away and Nic Dolly out injured. His work at the set piece was both vital and consistently spot on. However, around the park is where he shone. Clare’s carrying was superb, with body height, speed and aggression always making him metres. 9 3.
15. Freddie Steward: Could he have dreamed for a better return to club rugby? A hat-trick, and was supreme in everything he did. In particular his distribution has drastically improved. Without a doubt, one of the best in the world. 10* 14. Harry Potter: The Aussie winger struggled to get involved in attacking action as much as he would have liked, but his crucial interventions came in defence. Potter stopped two certain tries, once with a tackle, and once with a daring run from his own dead ball area. 7 13.