Jeremy Guscott: A moment of brilliance from George North could swing it

There is a certain kind of justice that the top two teams from the nine month league campaign have made it to the final and the Aviva Premiership must be applauded as a whole for putting the emphasis back on attacking rugby – and very, very good attacking rugby.
For the last few years, spectators and pundits alike have been talking about the continual Law changes and how stagnant the game had become due to the water-tight defences and lack of imaginative, attacking play. And Saracens were the main culprits.
Like the South African side that won the 2007 World Cup and defeated the Lions in 2009, Sarries built their success on the back of an effective gameplan of kick, chase and defend.
But this year the try count in the Premiership has been extremely high and the two teams that have led that way are Saracens and Northampton. They both have gone at it and scored a great number of tries, many of them sublime. Saints have 72, Sarries 68 and they are quite some margin ahead of the rest.
It's intriguing also, that for all the Wolfpack talk regarding the Sarries defence, it is Saints who have conceded fewer tries.
It has been a sea change of a season for Saracens to change their attack to such a degree.
Sarries analysed where they had been for the past few seasons and focused their attention on the areas that needed improving to take them from being a good side to the cusp of a great side that can wins cups, regularly.
I think that when they won the Premiership in 2011, their style was the right one for the time, and the players they had, to bring success. And it was hard to argue with the consistent results it brought. However, to win top competitions consistently you have to have a bit of X-factor and the ability to change the game plan.
That style is a factor of consistency but it doesn't offer you enough to win the big games against big opposition. Saracens know that to win matches they need to score tries and it wasn't for lack of imagination against Toulon yesterday.
To be able to score freely, teams need big, powerful packs – like the two on display at Twickenham next week.
Sides these days are not going to be blown away by playing just running rugby. The nuts and bolts of the set-piece need to be perfect – and it should be, given the amount of time put in to those set-pieces. Courtney Lawes has stood up to be counted as a lineout leader this year, while Sarries captain Steve Borthwick is one of the best in the business.
Both Saints and Sarries are blessed to have big, strong technically-gifted packs with players of huge influence. For instance, Jacques Burger has been making a huge name for himself. Having a player like that is as good as having a winger who scores a lot of tries. George North is a superstar and can score from anywhere – but Burger has the tools to prevent that if he stops him at source.
Schalk Brits is another phenomenon, and along with Chris Ashton, will be so pleased about the transformation Sarries have undergone this season.
A lot of the credit must also go to Owen Farrell, who has made some small but crucial changes to his game that have helped enable Sarries to score the tries they have.  His distribution has improved and he has become more of a connecting link man.
His confidence has grown, too, after a good Six Nations when he made some decisive half-breaks. He's cool under pressure, which is his trademark, but is incredibly competitive. Fly-halves by nature should be emotional people because of how much they are involved in the game. They have so many decisions to make they are going to be a bit up and down.
He reads the game well and his tactical brain is developing.  He needs to keep his emotions in check and deliver again.
His opposite number, Stephen Myler, has enjoyed a great season, relishing his consistent selection. He's right up there with the goal-kicking stats at 82 per cent, as he proved against Bath on Friday, so Sarries will be wary of giving away any soft penalties at the breakdown.
Lee Dickson looks back to his best again with the heat coming from Kahn Fotuali'i this season, both of whom have been great the last few months.
Man for man, Saints back line has more of an X-factor than Sarries – Luther Burrell is having the season of all seasons, and his match-up with Brad Barritt will be a spicy confrontation. But the standout back on display is George North. He is a consummate professional and I don't see a weakness to his game. He's aggressive in defence, good under the high ball, he's quick, powerful and can offload. The guy is world class.
He is a great addition to Saints and his ability to come infield looking for work to help out his tiring forwards could be crucial.
Although a moment of brilliance from North as we saw with the Lions last summer may be a decisive factor, my gut feeling is it will be a tight affair and could well come down to the kickers and which of the No.10s can keep his composure on the biggest stage.
Myler is on fire right now and having seen this weekend's action pan out, I back Saints to build on their momentum now and go on to claim their first title.