Saracens defeated champions Leicester Tigers 26-20 at Vicarage Road in a rematch of last season’s Premiership final.

Leicester got the edge over Sarries in an epic final back in May but the tables were turned this time as the title holders fell to their third defeat of the season.

The Men in Black built a ten-point lead at half time through tries from Schalk Brits and Richard Wigglesworth. Leicester refused to cave in and a penalty try coupled with a fine sole effort from Lucas Amorosini kept them in the contest but Saracens deservedly secured their fourth consecutive win.

Brits and Wigglesworth were recalled to the side for the game against the Tigers. Nils Mordt switched to centre and Chris Wyles took over at full-back. The visitors rested England scrum-half Ben Youngs for the trip to Vicarage Road and were weakened by a host of injuries.

The Men in Black thought they had opened the scoring after ten minutes when Ernst Joubert offloaded to David Strettle who touched the ball down but it was ruled out for a forward pass.

Derick Hougaard’s first attempt at the posts went wide as his long-range drop goal narrowly missed the target. The hosts were handed their first penalty midway through the first half but fly half Hougaard was unable to kick over the effort from inside his own half.

Saracens enjoyed most of the territory in the opening stages and they were rewarded after 23 minutes with the first try. Chris Wyles charged towards the line and his pass landed perfectly for Brits to finish in the right-hand corner for his fourth try of the season. Hougaard’s conversion extended their lead over the Tigers.

Leicester were coming under plenty of pressure and they conceded another penalty which Hougaard easily booted over for the three points. The Tigers launched a rare attack but the move broke down when captain Tom Croft knocked the ball on.

Saracens conceded three consecutive penalties for scrum offences in front of their tryline and French referee Romain Poite decided to send prop Deon Carstens to the sinbin. The inevitable happened moments later when Poite ran to the posts and awarded Leicester a penalty try. Billy Twelvetrees added the conversion which took them within three points of Sarries.

The Men in Black punished the Tigers with the last action of the half as they put distance between the sides. Brits’ neat offload released Wigglesworth and the England hopeful’s pace took him away from the visitors as he scored his first try for the club. Hougaard’s conversion gave them a ten-point lead at the break.

Leicester needed a bright start to the second half and they got early points on the board through a penalty from Twelvetrees. But within a couple of minutes Saracens were handed a penalty which Hougaard planted firmly between the posts.

The Tigers conceded another penalty at the breakdown nine minutes into the second half and Hougaard fired over the kick to extend their lead to 23-10. The consistent fly half found the target once more with a drop goal widening the gap between the teams.

Leicester were struggling defensively and they got into a mess after an attack from the excellent Wyles and Wigglesworth which resulted in a yellow card to wing Horacio Agulla.

Andy Saull made his first appearance of the season after a broken hand kept him out of the opening month. The England Saxons flanker replaced Kelly Brown midway through the second half.

Twelvetrees drilled over another penalty for the visitors but they badly needed a try if they wanted to come away with anything from the match. But their problems only worsened when Ed Slater was sent to the sinbin which left them briefly with 13 men.

Brits took a knock and was forced off but this enabled young hooker Jamie George to come on for his Premiership debut with 14 minutes remaining.

The Tigers added their second try which kept them in with a chance of completing a memorable fightback. Full-back Amorosini picked up the ball and his clever kick dumbfounded the home defence and allowed him to race clear and touch it down over the line. Twelvetrees’ conversion took them to within six points of Sarries.

Former Tiger Hougaard had the chance to kill off the match but his penalty attempt drifted wide. He was handed another opportunity to deny the Tigers a bonus point but surprisingly again missed the target in the final action of an entertaining clash.

Saracens: Wyles, Strettle (Powell, HT), Ratuvou, Mordt (Barritt, 61), Tagicakibau, Hougaard, Wigglesworth; Carstens, Brits, du Plessis (Nieto, 46), Borthwick, Vyvyan (Botha, 58), Brown (Saull, 58), Burger, Joubert

Leicester Tigers: Amorosini, Hamilton, Hipkiss, Smith (Robinson, 66), Agulla, Twelvetrees, Grindal; Stankovich, Hawkins, Cole, Slater, Skivington, Croft, Newby, Pienaar (Woods, 53)

Scoring: 5-0, 7-0, 10-0, 10-5, 10-7, 15-7, 17-7 HT 17-10, 20-10, 23-10, 26-10, 26-13, 26-18, 26-20

Referee: Romain Poite

Attendance: 7,517