You can play all the fancy rugby you want, you can be recent champions leading the table with only a few matches to play, but certain elemental truths still apply. One of them is that if you find yourself overpowered up front away from home in a sold-out East Midlands derby, you will be blown away. Northampton could have secured a place in the playoffs here if they had won with a bonus point, but they did not even come close. Amid a ferocious atmosphere, records tumbled as Leicester claimed the bonus-point win to move within one point of Bath, who play Exeter on Sunday, and five shy of Saints. They scored more points than they ever have in this fixture; there were more cards than ever too. Maybe not more aggro than ever, but there was plenty. Leicester lost their fly-half, Billy Searle, in the week, possibly for the rest of the season, but they were bolstered by the return of George Martin up front. It looked from some way out like a contest between Leicester’s pack and Northampton’s backs.…