Saracens and Saints set fair for semis

By ROGER PANTING

Saracens ……….42pts

Tries: Tompkins 41, Lewington 45, McFarland 50, 60; Goode 68

Conversions: Farrell 41, 45, 60, 68

Penalties: Farrell 2, 13, 39

Northampton ..38pts

Tries: Freeman 38, Hutchinson 57, James 71, 77; Proctor 80

Conversions: 38, 57, 71 77, 80

Penalties: Biggar 35

A GAME of 10 tries concluded with both teams going home happy and contented.

Saracens collected the win to secure a home semifinal while Northampton ended up with two losing bonus-points which gives them a favourites' chance of finishing in the last play-off spot.

It certainly was a nerveracking afternoon if you were a Saints fan for they had to endure watching their side being battered in the first quarter, then losing two forwards to the sin-bin to trail 28-10 before rallying to score three tries in the last nine minutes.

Northampton DoR Chris Boyd said: “Time will tell whether those two bonus points will be crucial but we showed great grit and resilience to stick in there in the first half. If we hadn't we could have easily been 20 points down. Sarries came out fighting early in that second half and we didn't respond well.

“We decided that our only chance was to free it up and it paid dividends as it's a pretty good achievement to come away with those points. We are just concentrating on the Newcastle but we know the semi-finals won't be played in anything like the last 15 minutes as it will be much more of a grind.”

Northampton captain Dan Biggar added: “No disrespect to Newcastle (Northampton play the Falcons on June 4) but if we had been handed a home fixture against them to secure a play-off then we would have snatched one's hand off. We are in good form and scoring five tries will give us confidence.”

In the first quarter, Saints looked in danger of being overrun with Saracens placing them under considerable pressure but somehow they kept their line intact.

All the hosts had to show for their efforts were two penalties from Owen Farrell but that looked sure to change when Northampton suffered two setbacks.

First Alex Coles was yellow-carded for preventing Alex Goode dashing away from a mark before Lewis Ludlam followed the lock into the bin for a high challenge. Surely Saints had to crack but remarkably it was they who collected the only points during the sin-bin period when Biggar kicked a penalty.

The two forwards returned in time to stun the home crowd when Saints scored the first try. Tommy Freeman ran an excellent line to collect Mike Haywood's well-timed pass before racing through a static defence. Biggar converted before Farrell kicked his third penalty to leave Saracens trailing 10-9 at the interval.

Then came Saracens' change of gear with 19 unanswered points in eight minutes to turn he game firmly their way.

First Tompkins split the defence with a clean break and when the ball was recycled the centre was on hand to score. Then the dangerous Rotimi Segun burst away on a thrilling 40 metre run and when he was hauled down, a long pass from Farrell enabled Goode to provide Alex Lewington with an easy run-in. Theo McFarland soon added a third when he charged down a clearance from Alex Mitchell before collecting the rebound to score.

Saints were shellshocked but regrouped to score their second try from Rory Hutchinson before McFarland scored the try of the game when he intercepted Mitchell's pass to outpace the cover on a 50 metre run.

The game became increasingly open with Goode a try-scorer before Saints staged their rally to score converted tries in quick succession. Replacement Tom James, scored two of them before Matt Proctor had the final say.

Up and over: Theo McFarland scores an acrobatic try for Saracens

Last word: Matt Proctor dives in to score Northampton's fifth try