Leicester Tigers 22-29 Saracens result - Sarries boost play-offs hopes with bonus-point win at Welford Road

Saracens clinched victory at Welford Road on Sunday, leaving with five points to strengthen their push for a top-four finish with just a handful of Gallagher Premiership games left.

It was an error-strewn game for both sides, but leaving with five points could prove to be an enormous feat for Saracens in terms of the table.

The visitors ran up a 14-point lead in the first 11 minutes to stun the hosts. Jamie George had a hand in both scores, the first of which came from him crashing over from close range, and the second after an exchange between him and Theo McFarland in the wide channels, allowing Juan Martin Gonzalez to stride over the line through a huge gap.

Tigers immediately set about applying pressure to Saracens and after several near misses, they finally scored through Freddie Steward thanks to two slick passes from Jack van Poortvliet and Joe Woodward.

The hosts had managed to fully snatch momentum and instead of pushing for an equaliser, Handre Pollard landed a drop goal to cut the lead to three points, only for Alex Lozowski to fire back with one of his own.

Tigers had the chance to take the lead heading into the break as Hanro Liebenberg dived over at the end of the half, but Pollard missed his conversion. The South African forward started the second half just as he finished the first, and galloped over the line for the hosts to take the lead for the first time.

It was only two minutes into the second half, but they were to be the last points Leicester would score. Saracens replied almost straight away with teenager Angus Hall leaping in at the corner with a stunning finish on his first start for the side.

Theo Dan then scored what proved to be the winning try as Leicester's lineout came undone on their own 5m line. Julian Montoya's throw sailed past his pack and straight into Dan's hands lurking at the back of the lineout, and the hooker dived over easily.

"All the things we lacked last week, we had this week," Sarries chief Mark McCall said. "We had to scrap and fight and compete for everything. We put ourselves under a lot of pressure in the first half, we gave away 11 penalties and we had to do a lot of defending, but we did it really well with huge energy. We just found a way.

"After the Quins game I was dreading having to watch it again. But after today I’m looking forward to watching this again. There was so many extra efforts and stuff off the ball that sometimes you don't see. It felt like a team again, and that’s a feeling we want to chase all year.

"Bath are flying at the top and everyone is scrapping for those final three places, I’m glad we got ourselves back into the fight. I just wanted us to play better and compete better, and we did that."

You can watch every minute of the remainder to the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership season live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

"I think we didn't have the energy we wanted, we didn't play with the spirit that we wanted," Maro Itoje said about last week's result when picking up the Player of the Match aaward. "To be honest I don't think I really deserve this, there was quite a few boys that played better than me, but we had loads of fight.

"We felt like a team. It didn't go perfect, we made loads of mistakes. Lineout - we made loads of mistakes. But some of our young guys, Angus, stepped up today - Tobias stepped up today. Ferg, our 10, and Ivan, they did really well today as well. There's lots to build, lot's to be positive about.

"We had something like 14 points in the first half. We weren't good enough around the breakdown. We didn't quite handle that in the first half. Second half still wasn't great...but I think we were able to build a bit more pressure.

"Every game is worth the same amount of points. Obviously if we lost today it would have been a bit more difficult, but it would have been in our control. We're playing some teams that are ahead of us and if we can take some points off them, it'll look like we're moving in a positive direction."

Hugely entertaining, and incredibly physical game. Some incredible individual performances across the board but it was Saracens who escaped with the win, and a bonus point in tow.

Excellent second-half performance from McCall's side led by Itoje to keep themselves in the play-off race. It is getting exciting as the league edges closer to its conclusion.

Tigers moved into third as they draw level on points with Gloucester thanks to their losing bonus point, but they had the chance to further cement their top-four spot and will be sorely disappointed to miss out.

Tigers try and escape their half in the wide channel and Hassell-Collins fires a chip over the top only for Van Zyl to take it in his stride. Saracens are walking towards the win here.

Sarries' lineout is starting to come undone in these late stages, but Hall fires up out of the line and forces a knock-on to win a scrum for Saracens. Two minutes to go and they will be in no rush to get this scrum done.

Entering the final five minutes here and boy is it getting heated. Hugely important five minutes for Saracens, perhaps their most important of the season so far.

They overthrow a lineout from 5m out and Tigers manage to escape with ease, winning a lineout of their own in Sarries' half.

Tense.

Daly misses the chance to extend the lead with a missed penalty.

BEN YOUNGS TAKES THE FIELD

The savvy veteran nine comes on for JvP for Leicester, while Willis makes way for Christie on the Sarries side.

God this game is wild. Van Zyl's box-kick has zero protection - absolutely none - and Henderson makes him pay with a charge down and strolls over for a try. But the forward is deemed offside and began his run before the scrum-half picks up the ball.

Lucky escape for Saracens.

Oh no. Poor throw from Montoya and Itoje makes a nuisance of himself and the ball sails right into Dann's hands and he dives over with ease to secure a bonus point.

Saracens almost in for another in the corner with a slick move that gets them around Leicester in the wide channel, but Perese and co make excellent ground to stop the score.

One Sarries stalwart makes way for another.

Absolute hammer of a tackle from Cracknell and Montoya dives over and steals Saracens ball to relieve some pressure. The Argentine has been unstoppable at the ruck today.

Kata had some decent showings this half after a pretty poor first half handling-wise. Perese comes on in his stead.

Saracens defend that scrum incredibly well and fight off Tigers at an ensuing lineout to win a penalty, and they kick themselves deep into Tigers' half.

The pace of play at Welford Road is incredible today

Pollard finds Radwan on the wing with a stellar cross-field kick, which the winger takes incredibly. He skips inside past several Saracens defenders. Pollard makes a break and so does Hassell-Collins barely, Saracens turn it over but instantly knock it on and reward Tigers with a scrum.

Saracens reply straight away and teenager Angus Hall leaps in the corner with a stunning finish.

Some poor defending in Tigers' backfield from Steward and there was huge space for the winger, but he finished it remarkably.

Lozowski's conversions edges outside of the post and we're level at Welford Road.