George Ford’s boot hand Tigers Cup glory

Teenage sensation George Ford kicked 12 points from the tee to help Leicester Tigers beat Northampron 26-14 and win the LV= Cup final at Sixways.
The Tigers scored twice through Steve Mafi and Scott Hamilton before spending most of the final half hour defending their line brilliantly.
Director of rugby Richard Cockerill had said he would keep faith with the youngsters who had sent his side to the final, but opted to bring in some experienced players to face their East Midlands rivals.
The early stages were all Northampton‘s and Stephen Myler scored two penalties from distance to give them a 6-0 lead.
Leicester were massively struggling in the scrum, with Boris Stankovich at fault on more than one occasion for a collapse and he was replaced after 12 minutes by Marcos Ayerza with a calf injury.
One Tigers youngster to keep his place was fly-half Ford, who turned 19 on Friday, and he did not let Cockerill down, scoring his first two kicks of the afternoon to level the scores.
Saints went back ahead when Myler overcame the Worcestershire sun in his eyes to make it 9-6.
Leicester made another change in the scrum, with Tom Youngs coming on for Rob Hawkins and after breaking through from a scrum, they won a penalty which Ford converted to level it up.
Then came the opening try after 25 minutes, Billy Twelvetrees’ break setting up the move and Mafi dodging Saints tackles to cross. Ford added two more points to make it 16-9.
Leicester could have considered themselves unlucky not to lead by more at the break as Martin Roberts denied Geordan Murphy, who looked set to pounce on his own kick through the defence to cross.
After the break, Saints pushed straight from the restart but failed to cross the line and Ford scored another penalty from distance.
Saints went again but George Pisi’s brilliant jinking run ended up in a knock-on after he was tackled and then Scott Amstrong lost his footing when he looked through.
And perhaps the defining moment of the sold-out final came when Hamilton intercepted Myler’s pass and ran 75 yards to touch down, with Ford’s conversion making it 26-9.
This was the arch-rivals’ first ever meeting in a cup final in 132 years
The Tigers defence were magnificent throughout the second half and every time Saints looked destined to score, Leicester won the ball from a scrum or turned possession over near the line.
Vasily Artemyev knocked the ball on when he had a chance and then Soane Tonga’uiha found a gap but was barged out of play by fellow prop Logoviii Mulipola.
Leicester had Murphy yellow carded for conceding a series of penalties but their defence continued to hold firm, with Mafi tackling Armstrong in the corner.
With five minutes remaining, the Saints eventually got their try, with Day crossing in the corner after Pisi started the move.
But Ryan Lamb missed the conversion and Tigers never looked like throwing it away.