1
Saints left chasing shadows as Saracens turn it on at home
By PA
Saracens moved up to third in the Gallagher Premiership table with a convincing 39-24 win over reigning champions Northampton at a sold-out StoneX Stadium.
ADVERTISEMENT
Saints defeated the north Londoners three times last season, but there was never any likelihood of extending that run as an abject first-half effort left them with an impossible task.
It was Northampton’s fifth loss in eight league games this season and they now find themselves 19 points behind joint leaders Bath and Bristol.
Fergus Burke scored two tries for Saracens, with Rhys Carre, Theo Dan, Ben Earl and Jamie George also crossing. Burke added three conversions and a penalty for a 19-point tally.
Tommy Freeman, Tom Pearson, Archie McParland and Ollie Sleightholme scored for Saints, two of which Fin Smith converted.
On his 200th appearance for the club, Nick Tompkins led out Saracens, who were dealt a pre-match blow when Elliot Daly withdrew with a hamstring problem.
Tompkins looked set for an early celebration when he crossed the line after only eight minutes, but the try was ruled out for an offside in the build-up.
ADVERTISEMENT
It mattered little as within three minutes, Saracens were ahead when Burke collected a kick ahead from Tobias Elliott to touch down.
That was the only score of a competitive first quarter but soon afterwards, the home side had another try disallowed. Number eight Tom Willis had forced his way over, but TMO replays showed an earlier knock-on by Ivan van Zyl.
Saracens maintained the pressure and were rewarded when Wales prop Carre proved unstoppable from close range and then fellow front-rower Dan brushed aside some weak tackling from Saints to score his side’s third try.
Three minutes before the interval, the hosts secured their bonus-point when Northampton failed to deal with a chip ahead from Van Zyl, with Burke collecting the loose ball to race over unopposed.
ADVERTISEMENT
Burke converted to give Saracens a 24-0 at half-time, despite playing into the wind, as Saints failed to score in the opening period of a Premiership fixture for the first time in nearly a year.
Three minutes after the restart, Saints finally got on the scoreboard when Freeman ran strongly to brush aside a weak tackle from Liam Williams and score.
The visitors were further buoyed by a yellow card for Maro Itoje for an illegal tackle on Northampton lock Tom Lockett, who was injured and had to be replaced.
The Saints capitalised when Pearson drove over, but they suffered a further injury blow when Emmanuel Iyogun was helped off with a leg injury.
Itoje returned from the sin bin to see George and Earl score tries in quick succession to stem any hopes of a Saints’ comeback.
A better second-half effort from Saints was rewarded with late tries from Sleightholme and McParland to earn them a losing bonus-point, but the hosts had the final say with a penalty from Burke.
Rugby’s best of the best, ranked by experts. Check out our list of the Top 100 Men's Rugby Players and let us know what you think!
