Tigers stunned by Wasps and old boy Goode
LONDON Wasps fly-half Andy Goode overcame blustery conditions to summon a man-of-the-match display and upset his former team, Aviva Premiership Rugby champions Leicester Tigers, 22-12 at Adams Park yesterday.
Goode, who notched 17 points, including two opportunist drop-goals as Leicester continued their six-year winless streak in High Wycombe, hailed his forwards for helping him cope with the first murmurs of stormy weather.
“It was difficult conditions, it’s never nice for kickers to kick in the wind, but credit to our forwards, they were under a bit of pressure at the scrum at times but they bounced back,” he said.
“I’m just there to kick the goals, some miss and some go over and luckily I got a few.”
Elsewhere, Harlequins ended their four-game losing streak with a 24-3 victory over Sale Sharks at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday, youngsters Luke Wallace and Jack Clifford scoring the tries.
“The game is always challenging but you have to have belief in your young players,” said Quins boss Conor O’Shea. “Luke Wallace, Jack Clifford and Joe Trayfoot played the whole of the second half and it was a huge learning curve for them but they will have learnt so much. I would have expected them to be our back row in four years time, not now but they have been thrown in at the deep end because of injuries.”
Saracens were brought crashing down to earth on Saturday at Franklin’s Gardens as their perfect start to the season was halted in a 41-20 defeat.
Saints ran in six tries, including two for England’s Ben Foden, and Sarries boss Mark McCall said: “We were beaten in every way by a Saints team that was red hot. They were outstanding. When you come here you have to get the foundations of your game right and their set piece was well on top.”
London Irish had to settle for a losing bonus point in Newcastle yesterday after Shane Geraghty’s last-gasp penalty fell agonisingly short to give the Falcons a 13-11 win.
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