Saracens rally to beat Leicester in 12-try thriller at Welford Road

Saracens rallied to beat Leicester in a 12-try match at Welford Road on 27 September 2026, winning a nail‑biting opening‑weekend Premiership fixture. The visitors held on despite Nick Isiekwe’s 20‑minute red card and a series of in‑game setbacks.

Brendan Venter began his return to the Saracens hotseat with the victory, a result that felt particularly significant given he had 16 years ago been slapped with a lengthy ban for making inappropriate and provocative gestures at the Tigers faithful. Venter retook the reins from Mark McCall and has largely avoided media duties, a pattern that continued before and after this match. The game pitted fourth against fifth from last season and rounded off a record‑breaking opening weekend that produced 52 tries.

Saracens opened the scoring inside two minutes when Juan Martín González powered over after sustained pressure, following involvement from new signings Tomos Williams and Alfie Barbeary and capitalising on Billy Searle’s failed interception. Inside 10 minutes Saracens went further ahead when Williams and Fergus Burke combined to put Tobias Elliott away on the right.

Leicester struck back before the half‑hour with Solomone Kata finishing from a loose ball and Gabriel Hamer‑Webb touching down after a sharp pass from Freddie Steward and a dart from Jack van Poortvliet. Saracens suffered an early blow when Olly Hartley left the field with a nasty‑looking arm injury, and Elliott’s temporary withdrawal shortly after the half‑hour required Ben Earl to fill in at centre.

Earl’s cameo helped set up Saracens’ third try, created by a flowing move involving Burke, Max Malins and Elliot Daly. Elliott returned after half‑time, prompting Earl to shift into the pack with Barbeary making way, and Leicester then scored down Elliott’s wing for Hamer‑Webb’s second after good work from Aaron Wainwright. Earl then finished powerfully from close range to restore Saracens’ margin, but Hamer‑Webb produced the pick of his tries — his third — following a break from Steward and a sharp Wainwright pass.

Leicester took the lead for the first time when Adam Radwan finished in the 54th minute after Solomone Kata’s break and Van Poortvliet’s dink. Isiekwe was shown a 20‑minute red card for a high tackle on Steward in the buildup to that move. Rotimi Segun’s first try arrived after Daly’s crossfield kick, and James Thompson’s close‑range score briefly put Leicester ahead again before Tarek Haffar was sin‑binned.

Segun finished on the left with seven minutes to play after slick handling through the Saracens backs, and Fergus Burke’s five conversions to Billy Searle’s four proved decisive. Joe Shaw, standing in as head coach, said: "You get hit with the 20-minute red at a place like this, if you want to be in the top four you have got to be able to keep your cool. We came for the win, to put a marker down on what our forward pack have been trying to do in the pre-season."

The manner of Saracens’ victory, overcoming an early injury to Olly Hartley, a temporary positional reshuffle and a 20‑minute red card, suggests they will be in the mix this season.