Leicester Tigers have won their third Aviva Premiership title in five years with a 37-17 victory over Northampton Saints at Twickenham Stadium.
Richard Cockerill's side overcame the disappointment of losing the last two finals as they ran in four tries against a Northampton team who had captain Dylan Hartley sent off at the end of the first half.
© Clive Gee / PA Photos
Leicester landed an early blow when Toby Flood kicked over a penalty in the fifth minute and they extended their advantage moments later when Flood added the extras to Niall Morris's try.
The Saints got on the board with 16 minutes played as Stephen Myler touched down in the corner. However, Myler missed with the conversion as his effort sailed wide of the posts.
Flood was forced off midway through the first half when he was on the receiving end of a robust tackle from Courtney Lawes and his absence saw Ben Youngs miss a penalty for the Tigers soon after.
While Youngs failed to add three points with the boot, George Ford made no mistake on 33 minutes to give Leicester a 13-5 advantage.
© Tim Ireland / PA Photos
An entertaining 40 minutes ended in controversial fashion as Dylan Hartley was sent off by the referee for alleged foul and abusive language.
That allowed Ford to kick over his second penalty as the Tigers went in 16-5 ahead at the break.
Despite being a man down, Northampton started the second half strongly and scored a second try on 44 minutes as Ben Foden showed a quick turn of pace to touch down.
Myler missed the resulting conversion and the Saints were made to pay five minutes later when Graham Kitchener found a gap to go over for a try.
It was then Ford's turn to miss out on the conversion for his side, but he more than made amends when he added the extras to his own score on the hour as Leicester went 24-10 in front.
Lee Dickson's try was converted by Myler minutes later to keep Northampton in touch, but the match was put to bed in the final 10 minutes as Manu Tuilagi and Vereniki Goneva both went over before Ford kicked over a final penalty.
Jack Prescott
