Saracens 19-15 Leicester Tigers: High-flyer Noah Caluori is too hot to handle

Saracens ………………………19pts 

Tries: Hartley 3, Caluori 20, Mawi 48

Conversions: Burke 4, 49

Tries: Steward 10, Hassell-Collins 31

Conversion: Searle 11

Penalty: Searle 66

Noah Caluori produced another show-stopping score as Saracens kept their play-off hopes alive and derailed Leicester Tigers’ five-match winning streak in the Prem.

The 19-year-old made it 18 tries in nine league e games with a wonder touchdown in the first half and the hype train shows no sign of stopping.

Caluori blotted his copybook with a second-half yellow card for side entry at a maul, but he will learn from that.

But what you cannot teach is finishing ability and the youngster has it in spades.

The future bodes well

England boss Steve Borthwick had the youngster in camp last autumn, where he was tasked with playing the role of Joseph Suaalii ahead of the clash with the Wallabies.

After two appearances for the A team before Christmas, he is banging on the door for a senior cap.

He proved he is better than training ground fodder here with yet another try to help put Saracens on the road to a win that could be gold dust at the end of the season.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said: “It was pretty good and it doesn’t surprise me.

“He also caught one under the posts, which was incredible. He is doing really well and I am not sure I can say any more than I have said in the last couple of weeks.

“We have got a young group coming through who we are all very excited about. The future bodes well.”

Main man: Noah Caluori celebrates his try for Saracens
PICTURES: Getty Images

Caluori roadshow

The Caluori roadshow started on 20 minutes when he was given the ball by scrum-half Charlie Bracken and chipped ahead.

He ran off the pitch but gathered the ball when he got back onto the playing area and barged into Ollie Hassell-Collins, taking the Leicester man over the line with him to score.

It was impressive stuff, but Caluori has been doing it in almost every game he has played in what is his first season of professional rugby.

But it took more than just a moment of magic to get Saracens over the line and Ben Earl and Maro Itoje led the way.

Earl carried superbly and Itoje was a nuisance spoiling Leicester’s ball at maul time, while Nathan Michelow did not miss a beat when he came on as an early replacement for No.8 Tom Willis, who failed an HIA.

With so much on the line, the game was nervy with both sides guilty of coughing up possession and it was tied up 12-12 at half-time.

Sliding in: Ollie Hassell-Collins scores for Leicester Tigers

Noses in front

Saracens had got their noses in front through centre Olly Hartley on three minutes after the midfielder finished off a counter-attack following Jack van Poortvliet’s missed kick to touch.

Hartley was another who stood up in heavy traffic for Saracens alongside Nick Tompkins in midfield.

Tigers hit back when Freddie Steward was waved through by a home defence that seemed to have hit the snooze button before Caluori scored his showstopper.

Leicester had Izaia Perese in the bin then for playing the 9 after 14 minutes, but he was back by the time Hassell-Collins rounded off a move involving Orlando Bailey and Gabriel Ham-er-Webb to level things up.

Prop Eroni Mawi piled over for Saracens’ third try just after the break and the hosts stood firm.

Tigers threw everything at it for the final 20 minutes, but only had a Billy Searle penalty to show for it and ended up heading home with just a losing bonus point.