By Connor Johnson
Having only lost one match all season in the league and looking to be the team to beat in the Prem, Northampton went into their match against Saracens as heavy favourites.
Join RUCK’s Instagram broadcast channel and get the latest rugby news straight to your phone.
That would be evident from the outset, as early Saints pressure led to the first try of the game from Tom Litchfield just six minutes in, quick hands from Smith and Furbank allowed the centre time to pick his spot and side-step his man before racing to the line under the posts. Smith would make the chip shot conversion.
One would become two very quickly as Saracens unable to clear the ball into touch from a Saints penalty, allowed them a free run at the defence.
Fin Smith saw a gap, and threw a slick dummy selling multiple Sarries defenders, leaving him and Archie McParland two-on-one before the England fly half laying it on a plate for his half back partner to slide in under the sticks to get Northampton’s second. Smith like his first attempt was good in front of the posts.
The away side thought they had a third through Henry Pollock but would be ruled out due to an obstruction involving multiple Saracens defenders, the early signs looked ominous for the home side if the Saints continued in this mood.
But after not having a sniff for the opening 20 minutes, Saracens finally had a chance to get meaningful Northampton territory and made the most of it.
Multiple massive collisions led to Sarries getting a lineout seven metres out, and after Farrell and Daly linked up, they found Tobias Elliott who would be too strong for Furbank and Hutchinson, diving into the corner untouched. Farrell would reduce the Northampton lead to seven making the tough conversion.
Saracens grew into the first half as it went on, with Northampton not looking as dominant as they did earlier, possibly hindered by Fin Smith not returning after failing his head injury assessment 30 minutes in.
The second half started as the first one ended with Saracens being the dominant side, after discipline errors from Northampton.
They had anther chance to flood the Saints 22 and would get their second try as Theo Dan emerged from the back of the driving maul to catch the Northampton defenders off guard just getting the ball down in time before it evading his grasps. Farrell would add another two to his tally and level the scores at 14-14.
With the home side having the momentum they pushed to lead for the first time and almost did, Rotimi Segun lost his footing when looking destined for the line, and Hugh Tizard doing his best juggling act but unable to get two firm hands on the ball.
But when he eventually did, Pollock was there to deny the front rower and stop from giving Saracens the lead.
After the frantic start to the second half and as the game began to wear on, the majority of both sides’ play happened in the middle proportion of the pitch, fighting for territory and trying to not make any costly errors.
In a second half not filed with much attacking quality, Saints thought they had their lead back after a cross field kick found JJ van der Mescht who bulldozed Elliot Daly out the way and held off three Saracens defenders but was held up when going over the tryline.
Saracens would take the lead with a little under seven minutes to go, Furgus Burke holding his nerve and slotting a penalty after …
Saints would find a way with just over three minutes to go to retake the lead, Litchfield running and holding a brilliant line between two Saracens defenders to split them and offloading smartly to McParland who did the somewhat easy part of scoring the try under the sticks for his second of the day.
Hutchinson would add an extra two to the Northampton lead with not much time left for Saracens to respond.
Saracens: 17
Tries: Elliott 21’, Dan 44’
Conversions: Farrell 22’, 45’
Penalties: Burke 73’
Yellow Cards:
Red Cards:
Starting XV: 15. Elliot Daly 14. Tobias Elliott 13. Lucio Sinti 12. Nick Tompkins 11. Rotimi Segun 10. Owen Farrell 9. Charlie Bracken 1. Rhys Carre 2. Theo Dan 3. Marcus Street 4. Maro Itoje 5. Hugh Tizard 6. Theo McFarland 7. Andy Onyeama-Christie 8. Tom Willis
Replacements: 16. Jamie George 17. Eroni Mawi 18. Marco Riccioni 19. Nick Isiekwe 20. Nathan Michelow 21. Ivan van Zyl 22. Furgus Burke 23. Max Malins
Northampton Saints: 21
Tries: Litchfield 6’, McParland 77′
Conversions: Smith 7’, 13’, Hutchinson 78’
Penalties:
Yellow Cards:
Red Cards:
Starting XV: 15. George Furbank 14. Tommy Freeman 13. Tom Litchfield 12. Rory Hutchinson 11. James Ramm 10. Fin Smith 9. Archie McParland 1. Emmanuel Iyogun 2. Curtis Langdon 3. Luke Green 4. Tom Lockett 5. Ed Prowse 6. Josh Kemeny 7. Tom Pearson 8. Henry Pollock
Replacements: 16. Craig Wright 17. Danilo Fischetti 18. Trevor Davison 19. JJ van der Mescht 20. Chunya Munga 21. Callum Chick 22. Jonny Weimann 23. Fraser Dingwall
