Leicester Tigers took a pointed swipe at Henry Pollock in their official match report after the England star found himself at the centre of a 30-man brawl with Northampton Saints. The Tigers described the Northampton back-rower as "a child in Saints kit" after tempers boiled over at half-time during Saturday's East Midlands derby at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Brawl at half-time
In a pointed passage recounting the extraordinary scenes, Leicester wrote: "A full 30-man brawl was started by a child in Saints kit and continued as he practised tying his laces on the walk up the tunnel." The remark was a clear reference to Pollock, who became embroiled in a heated confrontation with Leicester captain Ollie Chessum as players from both sides became involved in the melee.
The incident continued as the teams made their way towards the changing rooms, with Pollock appearing to continually stop on the steps and tie his bootlaces before Chessum shoved him further up the stairs and towards the tunnel.
Leicester's second-half dominance
It provided a remarkable end to a largely scrappy first half, with Northampton leading 7-3 at the break. But the flashpoint was followed by a dominant second-half display from Leicester, who scored 25 unanswered points to secure a 28-7 victory.
The Tigers' match report made little attempt to disguise their view of the confrontation, with the description of Pollock adding another layer to a fixture already charged with rivalry and emotion.
Dowson reflects on defeat
Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson admitted the game had got away from his side "around the set-piece" and "around the discipline". He added: "We gave them opportunities in our 22 and fundamentally we didn't fire enough back at them."
"We gave penalties away in the first half as well, but I thought our reaction to them was a lot stronger in the first half and it's hard to really place where that dissipated. I thought we were in it as a scrap. Obviously, they had some set-piece dominance that hurt us and that put them into our 22 and gave them a ton of energy."
"In the first half I wasn't surprised to see us react in the way we did. In the second half we didn't seem to have that same buzz about us."
