Stand-ins stand out for relentless Tigers

Leicester 36 Saracens 1

The title race is on and Leicester are in full flow. They won the east Midlands derby last week and they coped admirably with yesterday's handicap hurdle.

Despite being shorn of 12 first-choice players through injury and international calls, The Tigers' stand-ins came steaming up on the rails and even managed a bonus point for good measure – the fourth time in six matches that they have scored four or more tries in the Premiership.

There was no Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Graham Rowntree, Martin Corry, Austin Healey, Dorian West or Lewis Moody, to name but seven of their absent international brigade, but Leicester's awesome strength in depth was never tested; the handling of Saracens was always well within the Tigers' compass. And even when temporarily reduced to 14 men in the second half, after replacement Adam Balding was shown a yellow card three minutes into his game, they were given little to worry about.

The Watford-based team, who were themselves minus a couple of internationals and seven others through knocks, lacked clinical finishing, notably in the first half when chances went begging because of blunders and basic errors or just plain bad luck.

"We were the better side in the first half," said the Saracens chief executive, François Pienaar. "But you have to take your chances against sides like Leicester.

"It is looking ominous for everyone else in the Premiership and it is going to be difficult for anyone to catch Leicester," he added. "They do the simple things so well."

Early on, the home side's cage was rattled, chiefly by the Saracens fly-half, Jannie de Beer, but in the grander scheme of things it was more nuisance value than anything else. Saracens looked bereft of penetration and attacking ideas at times, and defence was more something they sat on than practised.

Although famed for his kicking, De Beer, the former Springbok fly-half, actually took the 13,762 crowd, the Leicester team, and to judge by the expression on his face, himself, by surprise when running in a try. Having been put away by Tim Horan's long pass, he was able to evade at least four tackles before racing over the line. He then converted it.

But he could not rediscover the form that saw him knock over five drop goals against England in Paris in the 1999 World Cup. Yesterday, he was woefully wide and short with his two attempts.

Leicester were already ahead by the time De Beer converted his try, thanks to a monster second-minute pen-alty by Tim Stimpson and a neat try by Rod Kafer, their Australian centre, which came after Horan gathered an Andy Goode kick in the Saracens 22, took the ball up into the thick of the action and promptly turned over possession.

The ball was worked out to Kafer, who put in a deft chip that bounced cruelly for Nick Walshe and obligingly for the Wallaby, who waltzed over for the score, with Stimpson adding the kick.

Penalties were exchanged – two to Leicester and one to Saracens – but the Tigers were picking up the pace and were clearly determined to diet on chips, because it was another precision little kick, this time by the centre Glen Gelderbloom, which unleashed the wing Steve Booth. Although the former rugby league player was tackled by Horan he wriggled out of it well enough to maintain his forward momentum and bounce over the line.

When the loosehead prop Derek Jelley was driven over from a close-range line-out nine minutes into the second half and Goode dropped a goal just short of the hour, Saracens were out of it. Booth's solo effort for his second try of the game and fourth of the season in the 78th minute secured the bonus point and sealed Saracens' fate.

Leicester: T Stimpson (J Holtby, 78); S Booth, G Gelderbloom, R Kafer, O Smith; A Goode, J Hamilton (H Ellis, 74); D Jelley, G Chuter, D Garforth (P Freshwater, 69), L Deacon (G Manson-Bishop, 78), B Kay (capt), W Johnson (A Balding, 59), P Short, J Kronfeld (P Gustard, 78).

Saracens: A Winnan; B Sparg, T Horan, K Sorrell, D O'Mahony; J De Beer, N Walshe; L Harbut (M Cairns, 56), R Russell, S Phillips, A Benazzi (capt; K Benazzi, 69), K Roche, S Cheesebrough (R Peacey, 59), B Cole, A Roques.

Referee: S Leyshon (Bristol).