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Saracens beat Northampton to reach Aviva Premiership final Saracens beat Northampton to reach Aviva Premiership final
(about 2 hours later)
Saracens emerged triumphant from a heavyweight showdown at Franklin’s Gardens to advance into next Saturday’s Aviva Premiership final with a 29-24 victory over Northampton. Semi-finals are rarely beauty contests and this was as unsightly as they come, but Saracens are sitting pretty after squeezing into the play-offs thanks in no small measure to Northampton fielding a virtual reserve team at Leicester on the final day and losing. There were four tries, three from driving mauls and one after a kick chase, on an afternoon when the best chance backs had of getting the ball in their hands was to catch a punt, but it was compelling in a gruesome way and the champions ended the defence of their trophy against the team they pipped in last year’s final.
A thunderous first half finished 13-13 and, inevitably, the remainder of the match was reduced to a war of attrition between the rival forwards and goal-kickers. Much was made of the rarity of away victories in the Premiership semi-finals in the buildup but Northampton and Saracens have met at this stage three times and the home team has yet to win. The Saints, like Sarries in the last two years, found that finishing at the top of the table is little more than a statistic, one which has a habit of appearing to lie. The hosts were chasing the game from the start and it was at the point they appeared to have taken control early in the second half that the difference between the sides became apparent.
Three of the four tries were the product of lineout drives, while the fourth was claimed from a kick-chase. Clean breaks were rarely seen from either side in an impossibly-tight semi-final. Saracens arrived not sure of their starting line-up because of a flu bug that had passed around the squad throughout the week and had caused the hooker Schalk Brits to be detained in hospital for two nights. Northampton, already without George North and Ben Foden, lost two full-backs in the first-half, Ahsee Tuala and James Wilson, along the prop Alex Corbisiero, who might be disconcerted that his shoulder injury was described by the club’s director of rugby Jim Mallinder as “not serious.” Those were the words used when he left the field early against Bath in September and did not play again for three months.
The Saracens hooker Jamie George and Northampton flanker Tom Wood were shoved over for tries after the interval, as the dominant forces in English club rugby delivered another belligerent chapter in their rivalry. Northampton would have struggled to contain Saracens even at full strength. The visitors burned with intent from the opening moments, led by the warrior Jacques Burger, who showed the same disregard for his own body that he had for medical opinion two years ago that said it was time for him to consider another career, and the younger Maro Itoje. It was all about getting the edge, which Saracens looked to do after winning the toss and opting to play up the slope in the first half, something the Saints like to do in front of their own supporters.
Edging it in Saracens’ favour was the accuracy of Owen Farrell, who finished with a 19-point haul consisting of five penalties and two conversions to avenge his team’s loss in last season’s Premiership final. There were no frills from Saracens even though what turned out to be a rare handling movement in their own half, born of desperation rather than intent and bungled before David Strettle turned loss into gain, set up their first try after two minutes. When Duncan Taylor, standing on his own 10-metre line, passed the ball under his legs and watched it go over Strettle’s head, the only option for the wing seemed to be to hasten it into touch, but he kicked it downfield, where Taylor found himself in a sprint with Lee Dickson: Tuala was being treated having been inadvertently been kicked in the shoulder by Billy Vunipola. Taylor won and flipped the ball to Strettle.
Saracens became only the fifth away team in 21 play-off semi-finals to progress to the Twickenham showpiece. While Saints were disrupted by injuries to the full-backs Ahsee Tuala and James Wilson as well as the prop Alex Corbisiero, they looked lethargic at times. Northampton’s response was indignant. They won a series of penalties which they kicked into touch in Saracens’ 22. They created driving mauls which led first to Mako Vunipola being sent to the sin-bin for dragging one to the floor and then to a penalty try when Owen Farrell adopted an equally unacceptable approach in front of the referee Greg Garner.
Opportunism enabled Saracens to plunder the opening try just two minutes into the game in a move that started with Duncan Taylor’s flicked pass between his legs. Northampton had no other gain from Vunipola’s absence, not least because of Burger, who was at his most uncompromising, twice bringing Jamie Elliott to a juddering halt, but the flanker’s ferocity cost his side a lead at the interval. Sarries, leading through two Farrell penalties either side of one by Stephen Myler, were playing out time in the Northampton half when Burger hauled Courtney Lawes to the ground, grabbed him around the neck and did not let go. Another penalty, another lineout in the Sarries’ 22 and another driving maul. This one stalled three times and the ball was moved into the midfield where Burger stopped the onrushing Ken Pisi, not the smallest player on the field, at the point of impact.
David Strettle gathered and, spotting that Tuala was down injured, punted upfield. Taylor, who was the first to arrive, beat Lee Dickson on the ground and then fed the onrushing Strettle the scoring pass. Burger was penalised, having failed to roll away. It would have had been hard to do so after Alistair Hargreaves landed on him but there was no attempt haul himself away as if, like Pisi, he needed a time out. He was quick to get on his feet when he thought Lee Dickson had thrown the ball at Hargreaves, pushing the scrum-half in the face and engaging him in debate, a case of Burger flipping.
Northampton’s patience and forward power enabled them to draw level as repeated advances on the whitewash finished with Mako Vunipola in the sin-bin for collapsing the maul and Greg Garner, the referee, awarding a penalty try. Myler turned the penalty in front of the posts into three points and repeated the feat shortly after the restart to put his side ahead for the first time. It was the defining point in the match for Saracens who, for all their organisation, resolution and aggression too often turned exuberance into indiscipline. The penalty count was at that stage 12-4 against them, and while defending driving mauls is hazardous because the rules do not offer a legal way out, twice kicking the ball out of the scrum-half’s hands and manhandling opponents off the ball allowed Northampton to keep the door ajar.
The pressure continued as Saracens were driven back at the scrum and Dickson, Dylan Hartley and Samu Manoa carried with intent before scrambling defence prevented Saints from scoring a second try. They were back in front within four minutes, driving a maul of their own for Jamie George to finish off and while Tom Wood did the same for Northampton after 58 minutes, they were trying to shift an immovable object. Farrell kicked two late penalties, forcing Myler to go for goal with 30 seconds and leave the Saints with the task of scoring a converted try from the restart to win. They went through 12 phases without making any ground before giving away a penalty on a day when it was Saracens who looked at home.
When Vunipola returned, last season’s beaten Premiership finalists had weathered the storm and, once the omnipresent Bill Vunipola won a penalty, Farrell kicked his team back into the lead.
Myler and Farrell swapped penalties, but the second quarter belonged to resurgent Saracens, with back rows Maro Itoje and Billy Vunipola leading the charge.
Four minutes into first-half injury-time, however, Myler levelled again from in front of the posts with man of the match Jacques Burger repeatedly involved at key moments.
First he conceded a penalty for tackling Courtney Lawes around the throat, then he drilled Ken Pisi into the turf before finally shoving Dickson in the throat, sparking a melee that ended with Myler landing three points.
Saints used their driving maul to give Myler another shot at goal that the fly-half successfully completed, but Saracens’ response was to surge forward from an attacking lineout and drive over, with George emerging from the heap of bodies with the ball.
Farrell converted and landed a third penalty as daylight opened up between the rivals, but in the 58th minute the pendulum swung yet again when the champions advanced from a lineout once more with Wood barrelling over.
The tension continued right until the final whistle as Myler booted a late penalty to give Saints hope of snatching victory if they could break through from an injury-time assault, but Saracens’ defence was outstanding.