Premiership Rugby Cup results: George Makepeace-Cubitt stars as Northampton Saints earn derby win over Leicester Tigers

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Northampton Saints earned a 31-12 victory over bitter rivals Leicester Tigers in the Premiership Rugby Cup. The Saints now sit second in Pool B on five points, alongside Coventry. The Tigers join Nottingham Rugby on zero points. Elsewhere, Exeter Chiefs earned a 68-7 victory over Cornish Pirates, Sale beat Doncaster 43-37 and Coventry defeated Nottingham 34-15.

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George Makepeace-Cubitt was the star of the show as Northampton Saints claimed an impressive bonus-point victory over bitter rivals Leicester Tigers in Pool B of the Premiership Rugby Cup on Friday evening.

Malelili Satala opened the scoring for the Tigers in the East Midlands derby, only for the Saints’ Henry Pollock to level proceedings and James Ramm to give the Northampton outfit a 14-7 lead.

Tom Litchfield then claimed a try before the break to give the Saints a 19-7 advantage at the break.

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The second half saw the Saints continue their dominance, with early tries courtesy of George Hendy and Ewan Baker, only for the Tigers' Will Wand to round off the scoring.

The Saints sit second in Pool B, level on five points with Coventry, while Nottingham Rugby and the Tigers both have zero points with a -19 points difference.

The Tigers opened the scoring, with Solomone Kata doing well to offload to Satala close to the posts. Jamie Shillcock then successfully converted to give the away side a 7-0 lead.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

Northampton were quick to level the scores, however, as Makepeace-Cubitt’s optimistic cross-field kick bounced kindly and was pounced upon by Pollock who gathered and scored. Makepeace-Cubitt kicked to make it 7-7.

After Leicester scrum-half Tom Whiteley was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, the Saints made the extra man count. Pollock drew in defenders with a terrific carry from the scrum, before Makepeace-Cubitt sent Ramm over the line, with the subsequent kick converted.

The Saints added another try before the break, as Charlie Savala stepped for fun before releasing Litchfield for a try on the left.

Northampton continued their relentless try-scoring in the second half, as Hendy collected a pass from Pollock and easily stepped past the last defender to score a bonus-point try. Makepeace-Cubitt kicked to make the score 26-7 to the Saints.

A move which featured great handling between Tarek Haffar, Makepeace-Cubitt, Savala and Hendy was then finished off by Baker to stretch the lead to 31-7, with the conversion subsequently missed.

Yet it was the Tigers who had the final say, as Wand finished off a rapid attack to make the score a more respectable 31-12. Shillcock hits the post with his conversion attempt.

Hendy produces fabulous footwork to finish for Saints

Video credit: TNT Sports

Exeter Chiefs, Sale and Coventry all win

Elsewhere in Pool B, Coventry beat Nottingham 34-15 at the Lady Bay Sports Ground, with the winning side scoring through Charlie Robson, Matt Johnson, Ryan Hutler, Jordon Poole, David Opoku and Will Lane.

In Pool E, Exeter Chiefs earned an enormous 68-7 victory over Cornish Pirates, with the tries coming courtesy of Will Rigg (two), Paul Brown-Bampoe (three), Josh Hodge (two), Dan Frost, Harvey Skinner and Jack Innard. Bruce Houston scored for the Pirates.

Sale overturned a 27-17 half-time deficit to edge past Doncaster 43-37 and go top of Pool A on five points. Doncaster are second with two points.

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