Cockerill defiant as candidates queue up to replace Meyer

Richard Cockerill insisted last week that Leicester are not a club in crisis but their palsied performance at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday evening suggested that they are, at the very least, a side in a state of confusion.

With head coach Heyneke Meyer still in South Africa, where he is attending to his seriously ill in-laws, Leicester lacked direction and were beaten more easily in this passionate East Midlands derby than the scoreline might suggest. Meyer, who was recruited from the Blue Bulls last summer, has been given until next Sunday to decide whether he will be able to rejoin Leicester. Few expect him to, and the rumour mill is already turning, with David Young, the former Wales prop who is now coach of Cardiff Blues, and Philippe Saint-André, who will leave his job as Sale's director of rugby at the end of the season, already being touted as possible candidates to become Leicester's sixth coach in as many seasons.

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In the meantime it has fallen to Cockerill, the former England hooker, to perform a familiar holding job as acting coach, a role he filled somewhat reluctantly last season while Marcelo Loffreda was leading Argentina to the World Cup semi-finals. Though Cockerill did his best to insist that Meyer's absence had no bearing on Saturday's result, the uncertainty surrounding the head coach cannot have helped Leicester's preparations. Precision and focus were required but Leicester were clumsy and disorganised and Northampton extended their unbeaten home record to 28 games.

"The result today is nothing to do with Heyneke being away," Cockerill said. "We prepared well, the senior players worked hard this week along with the coaching staff and it is not as big a disruption as people might want to make out."

The crumb of comfort for Cockerill was that Leicester salvaged a bonus point though they would not have claimed that had Stephen Myler not squandered 16 first-half points with missed place-kicks and a wayward drop-goal attempt.

It was an unusually wasteful performance from the normally reliable Myler though he partially atoned with some raking touch kicks which snuffed out a Leicester comeback and deft distribution which allowed his three-quarters and full-back Ben Foden to torment the Tigers.

Foden set up the first of Paul Diggin's two tries with a diagonal run and scored himself with a blistering finish to James Downey's perfectly weighted pass. Toby Flood contributed all of Leicester's points, including a second-half try from a rare moment of cohesion by the Tigers. Cockerill praised the resilience of his side but it was not enough to dispel the notion that Meyer's absence is unsettling his players.

Northampton: Tries Diggin 2, Foden; Conversion Myler. Leicester: Try Flood; Conversion Flood; Penalties Flood 2

Northampton: B Foden; P Diggin, J Clarke, J Downey C Mayor, 77), S Lamont; S Myler, L Dickson (B Reihana, 72); T Smith (S Tonga'uiha 53), D Hartley, E Murray, I Fernandez-Lobbe (capt), J Kruger, M Easter, S Gray, D Hopley.

Leicester: G Murphy; J Murphy (S Hamilton, 40), S Rabeni, A Mauger (capt), M Smith; T Flood, J Dupuy (B Youngs, 61); B Stankovich (M Castrogiovanni, 55), G Chuter, J White, M Wetzel (M Corry, 55), B Kay, T Croft, B Herring (C Newby 11-23 & 61), B Deacon.

Referee: W Barnes (London).