Tom Collins shows his promise as Northampton hit back against Leicester

We should not really be surprised, but anyone who knew only the Northampton that were torn limb from limb at Twickenham the weekend before would have been. The Saints are now quite used to bouncing back from harrowing experiences such as that, and this they duly did in front of their faithful, against their bitterest. The full catharsis of a bonus-point fourth try eluded them but this was a comprehensive dismantling of Leicester, their first win over the Tigers in eight attempts.

“We had to respond like that,” said Jim Mallinder, Northampton’s director of rugby. “There’s no other way. It’s a reminder for the rest of the season. In this game you’ve got to get that intensity right. Last week we didn’t really do it. This week you could tell from the first minute that we were up for it.”

Where last week men of some stature in the rugby world had seemed as lost as boys, here they bestrode the Franklin’s Gardens turf with an authority more befitting. Courtney Lawes looked the Lion he is, liberated from the engine room for a romp off the flank; Dylan Hartley looked the record-breaking England captain he is. Luther Burrell had his best game in a long time, the physical presence in attack and defence we had always hoped he would be. But for all the big names and expensive signings, one man who looks ready to fulfil the promise of recent seasons is Tom Collins, the nippy left winger, who proved the game breaker here, just as he had been the Saints’ sole positive last week.

That was not the first weekend that Northampton have had to spend ruminating on a hideous humiliation. After a while, the concern is that the bracing sting of them might start to dull, but this had been the first of the new season – the first match, full stop – so the reaction was vigorous. If the 50-point defeat against Saracens had not been enough to raise the blood, the visit of Leicester was always likely to complete the transformation.

From the off Northampton were unrecognisable from the listless rabble of last week. There was snap, if not always precision, in everything they did. Collins’ outside break set Saints on a glorious counterattack after around 10 minutes, further developed by the galloping Michael Paterson, and Saints had a foothold in the Leicester 22. They used it well. George North had a charge down the left, and when Northampton swung the ball right Kieran Brookes slipped a lovely pass to Burrell, who crashed over to much rejoicing.

Leicester lost Tom Youngs, their captain, on the half-hour, which did little to help an already-malfunctioning lineout. It was as if they knew they would be hurtling to a second defeat out of two. As he left he endured the indignity of watching Hartley, his opposite number, squeeze round the side of a ruck for Northampton’s second try.

George Ford exchanged penalties with Harry Mallinder either side of the break, but multiples of three do not cut it against a side who have rediscovered their try-scoring touch. It was Collins who, once again, showed the way. He had been Saints’ lone flame during the hell of the weekend before, and now, joined by more this, he was positively on fire. One break early in the second half had the Franklin’s Gardens crowd on their feet, and with 10 minutes to go he had them jumping.

He serviced a ruck a little outside the Leicester 22, feeding Nic Groom. When the scrum-half returned the favour with an inside ball, he was away, coming off his left foot brilliantly to beat Telusa Veainu, no less, for Northampton’s third.

All that remained was the quest for a full house of points to purge the pain of Twickenham. They could not manage it. Indeed, a brilliant solo score by Jonny May in the last minute was consolation of sorts for Leicester after a dispiriting week of their own. But the day belonged entirely to their hosts.