Lloyd's double takes Tigers through

Leicester 29 Northampton 16

King Carlos or the mere commoner Andy Goode? Both are, or have been, international stand-offs and yesterday they were in each other's faces, often with malicious intent. Carlos Spencer is the strutting peacock to Goode's bullfinch, and yesterday they traded tactical kicking, imaginative passing and even the odd blow.

In the end, though, it was Goode who helped Leicester into the semi-finals of the Powergen Cup, which will be played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in March. It took quite a while for the Tigers to subdue their opponents but they dominated the second half and their fourth try earned them a crucial bonus point.

Led by Martin Corry, the Leicester pack - you need a JCB to stop them at Welford Road - made life far easier for Goode, although Spencer did not go quietly. Nor indeed did his team-mates. When the Guinness Premiership kicked off in September the Saints arrived here with high hopes and were demolished 32-0.

They remain bottom but one in the league and with a Heineken Cup place available to the winners of the Powergen, it was a far more resolute Northampton who appeared here yesterday. But you know what happens to resolutions, especially when the penalty count is six to one against. "Fair play to Leicester," Budge Pountney, the Northampton coach, said. "They do what they do best, which is stick it up their jumper."

The Tigers did a bit more than that, and they had to. They were 11-0 down approaching half time when Goode's long pass released Geordan Murphy, who had entered the line from the left wing, and he was able to put Leon Lloyd over in the right corner.

"When your Test players return sometimes it takes a while for the team to play with cohesion," Pat Howard, the Leicester coach, said. "That was the case for about 40 minutes but then our line-out and scrum got better and we achieved our goal, which was to score four tries and get the extra point. It was by no means perfect but we're through to the last four."

Howard returns to Australia at the end of the season and his successor will be announced before the new year. Three coaches are on the shortlist - Jim Mallinder, who is with the England Academy, the New Zealander John Kirwan, who was formerly in charge of Italy, and the Australian Scott Johnson, an assistant coach with Wales. The bad news for Wales is that yesterday Johnson had a VIP seat here.

Northampton got off to a cracking start when Mark Robinson put in a rolling kick which was cleverly kept in play by the boot of John Rudd, and Robinson followed up to score.

After Goode failed with a penalty from halfway he got a lot more chances, most of which he kicked to touch to set up Leicester's party piece: line-out and driving maul. It is extremely difficult to defend against, but the Saints did an heroic job in the first half. Not only did they repel Corry and co but they increased their lead with a couple of penalties by Bruce Reihana. It was important Leicester got something on the board before the interval, and Lloyd obliged.

Leicester's newest and most celebrated flier is Tom Varndell, who made his England debut last week and then jetted off to Dubai to inspire the England sevens team to victory. He wasn't the only wing the Tigers were missing but their cover would put an insurance company to shame.

Murphy, the Ireland full-back, started on the left wing with the admirable Lloyd on the right. Some understudies. Murphy was named man of the match but Lloyd was more deserving of the honour. Before scoring the first of his two tries he had saved a try when Steve Thompson charged down a Murphy kick and was only just beaten to the line by the alert Lloyd.

Five minutes into the second half and the Tigers did everything but build a reserve on the Northampton line, the siege finally ending with Ben Kay credited with the pushover try, a speciality of the house.

Leicester were now 14-11 to the good and the Saints lost Thompson with a leg injury. Within two minutes Spencer put in a beautifully judged cross-kick for Rudd to touch down on the left. So the Saints were back in front, but their and Spencer's delight evaporated. The former All Black had a kick charged down by Corry and the rebound fell perfectly for Shane Jennings.

The Tigers went from strength to strength when they took off the full-back Sam Vesty, who had been a bit flaky, and brought Seru Rabeni on to the left wing with Murphy switching to No 15. It was left to Goode to have the last laugh. His pass nearly put Ollie Smith over, but it led to a try for Lloyd before the stand-off decided that penalties were not beneath him.

Leicester: S Vesty (S Rabeni, 45); L Lloyd, O Smith, M Cornwell (D Hipkiss, 72), G Murphy; A Goode, H Ellis (N Cole, 72); M Holford, G Chuter (J Buckland, 73), A Moreno (D Young, 75), L Deacon (J Hamilton, 66), B Kay, B Deacon, M Corry (capt), S Jennings (L Abraham, 59).

Northampton: B Reihana(capt); S Lamont, B Cohen, R Davies, J Rudd; C Spencer, M Robinson (J Howard, 71); C Budgen, S Thompson (D Hartley, 46), P Barnard, Damien Browne, D Gerard, B Lewitt (G Seely, 71), Daniel Browne, S Harding (D Fox, 58).

Referee: C White (Gloucestershire).