By Jamie Speller
A last-gasp Saracens try gifted them all five points over their rivals Harlequins, to push themselves into the top four.
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They’ll still have to wait until Exeter play Leicester to see if they stay in there at the end of the gameweek, but five points have given the north London club a massive boost. It was also the last home game for many people at the club.
Theo McFarland, Ivan Van Zyl and Tom Willis are all set to leave the club at the end of the season, and it was also Mark McCall’s last home game during his 17-year reign as Saracens coach.
It was a nervy start for both teams in the first ten minutes, each side trying to feel the other out with a few phases. But the deadline was broken first by the home side, a dominant Saracens scrum pushing it all the way to the try line before England international Chandler Cunningham-South messed around with the ball on the floor, earning himself a yellow card, and Saracens a penalty try.
The north London club will be delighted to be the first on the scorecard, as the race for the final top 4 spot heats up between themselves, Exeter, and now Bristol after they beat Bath.
They thought they had another, as a Fergus Burke line-break sent Max Malins through, but he couldn’t keep hold of the ball to put it down. It was a positive passage of play for Saracens with the man advantage, however.
Eventually, they doubled their lead with Malins, a sublime showcase of hands left Noah Calouri in acres of space, a simple pass sending the full-back in. It was only the five points however, as Fergus Burke missed the conversion. Could that be costly?
It wasn’t to be for the rest of the half, as multiple attacking phases for either team had no end result, leaving Harlequins scoreless and Saracens 12 points up.
SARACENS 12-0 HARLEQUINS
Harlequins needed to come out strong if they were to get anything out of this game. Saracens, however, didn’t let their foot off the throttle even at halftime. There were no scores inside the first 10, but it was all the home side. It was still all in the balance come the hour mark, both teams wanting to win for completely different reasons.
That balance was broken by the visitors, as replacement Will Evans wormed his way through a gap in the Saracens defence, gifting Bryn Bradley a walk-in try. With it being converted, it left Quins just five points off with an intriguing 15 minutes left in this game.
Saracens knew they had to win this to stay in the race, and their experience stepped up. With just three minutes to go, a multi-phase Saracens attack eventually took centre Nick Tompkins over the line, roars ringing round the Stone-Ex as he went under the posts.
Harlequins weren’t going to go out without a fight, replying just a minute later through Cameron Anderson on his own on the wing.
And as the clock ticked over into the red, the wolfpack were hunting. A mistake off the kick-off gave the home side a lineout in a great position, and once everyone had joined in, they were hard to stop. Theo Dan crashed down in the corner to secure an extremely precious Saracens bonus-point try, and the celebrations could begin.
After the game, Harlequins coach Jason Gilmore said: “We didn’t convert as many as we should’ve, but very proud to fight back at points in the game.
Saracens head coach Mark McCall said: “It probably wasn’t our best performance, but we got the job done today.”
Speaking on the young players in the squad, McCall said: “They’re so exciting. “They could be together for 10 years, and I’m so excited for the club and them.”
SARACENS: 26
TRIES: 4 (Penalty try 8’, Malins 24’, Tompkins 77’, Dan 80’)
CONVERSIONS: 3 (Penalty try 8’, Farrell 77’, 80’)
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 0
RED CARDS: 0
15. Max Malins 14. Noah Calouri 13. Nick Tompkins 12. Olly Hartley 11. Tobias Elliot 10. Fergus Burke 9. Charlie Bracken 1. Eroni Mawi 2. Jamie George 3. Marcus Street 4. Maro Itoje © 5. Hugh Tizard 6. Nick Isiekwe 7. Ben Earl 8. Tom Willis
REPLACEMENTS
16. Theo Dan 17. Rhys Carre 18. Alec Carey 19. Theo McFarland 20. Nathan Michelow 21. Ivan Van Zyl 22. Owen Farrell 23. Jack Bracken
HARLEQUINS: 12
TRIES: 2 (Bradley 62’, Anderson 78’)
CONVERSIONS: 1 (Smith 63’)
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Cunningham-South 8’)
RED CARDS: 0
15. Jamie Benson 14. Cameron Anderson 13. Sean Kerr 12. Bryn Bradley 11. Cadan Murley 10. Marcus Smith 9. Will Porter 1. Will Hobson 2. Sam Riley 3. Pedro Delgado 4. Zach Carr 5. Elliot Williams 6. Chandler Cunningham-South 7. Jack Kenningham 8. Alex Dombrandt ©
REPLACEMENTS
16. Jack Musk 17. Boris Wenger 18. Ollie Streeter 19. Jonny Green 20. Seb Driscoll 21. Will Evans 22. Stu Townsend 23. Cassius Cleaves
5 TALKING POINTS: SARACENS 26-12 HARLEQUINS
Saracens of old
Saracens have always been known to be defensive first, with this fluid attacking line. It had gone away in recent years, but today sparked a bit of that back to life. Fergus Burke, Ben Earl and Nick Tompkins all displayed extraordinary hands to push Sarries up the pitch, and Mark McCall will be particularly pleased to have no tries against them in the first half.
Tobias Elliott POTM
With an injury scare for recent regular Rotimi Segin, Tobias Elliott was thrust into the starting line-up in this crucial game, and he took it without both hands. Numerous breaks through the Quins’ defensive line, excellent in the air, and deserved a try. A quick mention also for Max Malins, who did everything that Tobias Elliott did to a very high standard too. Elliott said: We’ve had our challenges over Quins the last couple of years, but it’s so great to get over the line today.”
Great send-off for Mark McCall
15 years is a long time to be at a club. You think that if someone’s been there for that long, then the club must’ve been successful, and that’s exactly what Saracens have been under Mark McCall. It will also be interesting to see who comes in for him, but that’s a conversation for a later time. He will be really pleased with what he saw from Saracens today, and people may use this game to sum up his time at the club as a whole.
Harlequins kept it close throughout
Despite the zero points scored in the first half, Harlequins still felt like they were in it. Jason Gilmore was pleased with what he saw from his players despite the loss, and they’ll look to beat Northampton next week to secure Champions Cup qualification.
A sad farewell
Lots of players are leaving Saracens at the end of the season, and the crowd gave them a superb send-off as they exited the field. Every single one of those leavers has affected Saracens in their own little way, and they’ll be a huge miss, I’m sure, for the North London club. Many other clubs, including Harlequins, will be happy to see the backs of Tom Willis, Theo McFarland and Ivan Van Zyl.
