Litchfield’s hat-trick of tries fires Northampton Saints into English Premiership final

League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Northampton Saints’ Tom Litchfield.Sport In Pictures/Alamy Live News marching on Litchfield’s hat-trick of tries fires Northampton Saints into English Premiership final George Furbank, Tommy Freeman and Archie McParland also scored tries in a 45-31 victory over

Leicester Tigers. 10.52pm, 12 Jun 2026 Share options Northampton Saints 45 Leicester Tigers 31 TOM LITCHFIELD STARRED as Northampton powered into the English Prem final with a 45-31 win against Leicester at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday. Litchfield scored a first-half hat-trick of tries, George Furbank crossed twice and Tommy Freeman and Archie McParland also touched down for Saints. Leicester’s Ollie Hassell-Collins crossed over twice in a pulsating play-off semi-final, but Northampton showed that finishing the regular season in first place was no fluke. Furbank raced

over for the second time with six minutes left to ensure Northampton got the victory their thrilling attacking play deserved. Fly-half Fin Smith was Northampton’s man of the match with an influential display including five successful conversions. Advertisement “A lot of relief with how this season has gone. If we hadn’t have got there, I think we would have felt like we had let ourselves down,” he said. Bath play Exeter in the second semi-final on Saturday, with Northampton lying in wait in the final

at Twickenham on 20 June. “Massive relief. You spend all season getting your processes right, and once we got going, I think we found our rhythm,” Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson said. “We tried to enjoy it but you just want to make sure the group go out in the right way.” Leicester faced an earlier onslaught, with Henry Pollock heavily involved as Litchfield used his athleticism to glide over after just 87 seconds. Leicester hit back to take the lead through Hanro Liebenberg

and Freddie Steward tries. But Saints rallied when Litchfield struck again before Smith darted forwards and chipped ahead of Freeman to touch down. Hassell-Collins finished a Billy Searle kick-pass before Litchfield completed his hat-trick by muscling over from close range. Furbank picked his moment to strike off Rory Hutchinson’s slick passing early in the second half, but Leicester refused to throw in the towel, and they created the space for Orlando Bailey to cross. Saints were on top and in the 66th minute they were

over again with McParland rounding of an electric attack. Hassell-Collins touched down to keep the Tigers in the hunt, but Furbank landed the knockout blow when he sprinted across the whitewash in the closing stages. – © AFP 2026 Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Litchfield’s hat-trick of tries fires Northampton Saints into English Premiership final”. Recipient’s Email Feedback on “Litchfield’s hat-trick of tries fires Northampton Saints into English Premiership final”.

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Tom Litchfield, Northampton Saints, Leicester Tigers, English Premiership, play-off semi-final, Franklin’s Gardens, Twickenham, Fin Smith, George Furbank, Tommy Freeman, Archie McParland, Ollie Hassell-Collins