Chessum leads the Tigers' power pack

LEICESTER outfought the champions in a display of power led by England lock Ollie Chessum.

- ROB WILDMAN

And to crown his night the young forward bustled over for Leicester's third try in the 61st minute.

In another incident-packed East Midlands get together, both teams had two players sin binned on a testing night for match referee Anthony Woodthorpe and his team.

Northampton departed feeling hard done by as they had three seemingly good tries disallowed once the officials went to the screens, and had to wait until the final moments before Tommy Freeman grabbed a consolation.

It was thoroughly frus trating for Saints, but overall they ran into a charged up Tigers pack that held sway from the moment Freddie Steward scored the first try in the second minute.

A crucial second-half spell brought Chessum's try after No.8 Ollie Cracknell had also finished off.

Leicester, driven on by a near capacity crowd of over 23,000, quickly gained the momentum and were rewarded by that Steward score. A well-worked move from a tapped penalty ended in the full-back nipping through a gap created by Jack van Poortvliet's quick pass. Handre Pollard converted and added a penalty in the 23rd minute to stretch the lead.