Match Report: Saracens 39 – 24 Northampton Saints

Northampton were defeated 39-24 by third-placed Saracens in Round 8 of the Gallagher Premiership. 

Saracens were clinical in the game’s opening half, scoring four tries to seal themselves the try bonus point before the break – with a brace for Fergus Burke sandwiching scores from Rhys Carre and Theo Dan.

Saints did claw their way back to a try bonus point of their own in the second half, sending Tommy Freeman, Tom Pearson, Ollie Sleightholme and Archie McParland over after the break. But Saracens closed the door on a Northampton comeback, and added their fifth and sixth scores through Jamie George and Ben Earl to seal the win. 

FIRST HALF:

Saracens thought they’d scored the first points of the afternoon when Nick Tompkins got on the end of Ivan van Zyl’s grubber in behind Saints’ line, but the TMO adjudged the Saracens centre to have been in front of the kicker and chalked the home side’s early effort off. 

The Saracens scrum-half did make another grubber stick just after though, hacking through for Burke to chase and gather to score – with the fly-half converting his own score to give Saracens an early 7-0 lead. 

A period of pressure gave Saracens territory in Saints’ 22, and though Tom Willis thought he was over the whitewash, another trip to the TMO struck the score off for a Van Zyl knock-on in the build-up. 

But the home side did eventually get their second, with more sustained pressure in Saints’ 22 seeing prop Carre stretch over from close range. 

Burke’s conversion came off the left upright, but Saracens were soon over for a third when hooker Dan broke away at the back of a maul and rumbled over the whitewash.

And Saracens would wrap up the bonus-point score to lead 24-0 at the break, with Brandon Jackson darting down the left wing before another well-weighted Van Zyl chip found fly-half Burke for his second. 

SECOND HALF:

Saints hit first after the turn around, with a superb solo-effort from Freeman seeing the winger bounce his way through Saracens’ defence before racing in for Northampton’s first points of the afternoon. 

The men in Black, Green and Gold found themselves with a man advantage just after, as Maro Itoje was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Tom Lockett; and Saints made the home side pay, with a period of sustained pressure putting them deep in Saracens’ 22 before Pearson rumbled over. 

But Saracens hit back with a quick brace of tries, sending first replacement hooker George over from a driving maul before Lucio Cinti disrupted Saints’ attack to put flanker Earl clear for Saracens’ sixth score. 

Northampton did claw back a third try, building the phases in Saracens’ 22 before a gap opened up for Sleightholme to dive over on the left. And the bonus-point try came not long after when George Hendy broke free on the halfway line and galloped downfield before offloading to a sprinting McParland on his shoulder. 

The men in Black, Green and Gold did stay in the fight to try to secure a second bonus point but handling errors cost Northampton and the scoreline would remain 39-24 in Saracens’ favour. 

Saints head back to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens after Christmas, to face Newcastle Falcons in a sold-out clash for Round 9 of the Gallagher Premiership. 

LINE-UPS:

SARACENS: 15 Williams, 14 Elliott, 13 Cinti, 12 Tompkins, 11 Jackson, 10 Burke, 9 Van Zyl; 1 Carre, 2 Dan, 3 Balmain, 4 Itoje (c), 5 McFarland, 6 Gonzalez, 7 Earl, 8 Willis.
Replacements: 16 George, 17 Brantingham, 18 Clarey, 19 Wilson, 20 Knight, 21 Simpson, 22 Lozowski, 23 Hall.

SAINTS: 15 Hendy, 14 Freeman, 13 Litchfield, 12 Hutchinson, 11 Ramm, 10 Smith, 9 Mitchell; 1 Iyogun, 2 C Langdon, 3 Davison, 4 Lockett, 5 Munga, 6 Coles (c), 7 Pearson, 8 Augustus. 
Replacements: 16 N Langdon, 17 Haffar, 18 Millar Mills, 19 Mayanavanua, 20 Pollock, 21 McParland, 22 Dingwall, 23 Sleightholme.