Leicester boss Richard Cockerill could not hide his relief after his side edged a nail-biting 33-27 victory over Saracens to earn back-to-back Guinness Premiership titles.
Saracens, who were without their suspended coached Brendan Venter, had edged into a 27-26 lead with just minutes left thanks to Glen Jackson’s fifth penalty of a thoroughly entertaining game at Twickenham.
But straight from the restart Leicester secured possession as Scott Hamilton gathered Toby Flood’s chip before replacement Dan Hipkiss charged through several players to seal a thrilling victory.
And Cockerill admits he was uncertain that his side could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat so late in the game.
“I wondered how we would win the ball back,” he said. “But Floody kicked it in the right spot, Scott (Hamilton) caught it, Danny finished off and we won the game.
“To win back-to-back titles is hard, very hard, and you have got to give the players a huge amount of credit.
“Games like this one are cracking matches – as long as you win them.
“Saracens could have won the game – if they had won, people couldn’t have said they wouldn’t have deserved to.”
In a brilliant advert for English rugby, the sides traded blow-for-blow in the first half with Leicester crossing the whitewash first through centre Matt Smith with Saracens’ captain Ernst Joubert’ well worked score being sandwiched by scrum-half Ben Youngs’ superb try.
The Tigers’ 20-14 halftime lead was extended by a Toby Flood penalty only to be dented by Joubert’s second try.
A further penalty from Flood to two from Jackson left the game on a knife edge until Hipkiss struck the killer blow to leave Saracens coach Mark McCall floored.
He said: “It was devastating to lose the game in that fashion
“We let Leicester in for a couple of soft scores, but when we got our hands on the ball we caused them a lot of problems.
“Our ambition as a club is to be involved in these big matches year after year, and we know what it takes to get there.”
