SAINTS ARE BISH , BASH BOSCHED

Marcelo’s late try keeps Sarries in the hunt

MARCELO BOSCH grabbed a sensational last-minute try as Saracens’ stunning comeback dented Saints’ hopes of a European Champions Cup place for next season.

Sarries, who rested a number of players ahead of Saturday’s European Champions Cup semi-final against Munster, trailed 25-12 with 10 minutes left.

But tries from Bosch and Chris Ashton, plus a penalty and clinching conversion from Alex Lozowski, broke Saints’ hearts.

And while Dylan Hartley won his Lions battle with Jamie George, his Saints’ team-mates couldn’t hang on for victory.

Hartley played 66 minutes and got the better of opposite number George, who is competing with him for a British & Irish hooking spot ahead of the squad announcement on Wednesday. Saints led 25-12 when Hartley went off.

George was already off the pitch, having lasted 54 minutes.

Hartley spent longer on the pitch than he did during any Six Nations match – when he was replaced by George each time. And boss Jim Mallinder reckons he has got better as the season has gone on and Lions D-Day approaches.

Mallinder said: “Dylan had a really good game, he did his basics well.

“He threw in really well, carried, tackled, so I was really pleased. He was injured early in the season and worked really hard to get himself fit for the Six Nations. He’s improving every week.” The game was blown open when Saracens emptied their bench and threw on Billy Vunipola, Chris Ashton, Schalk Brits and Michael Rhodes.

Big Billy was in storming form and a strop – he had one lecture from ref Matt Carley for backchat – but he hauled Sarries over the line. Vunipola had a hand in tries for Ashton and fed Bosch for the game-breaker to leave Saracens chasing a home Premiership semi-final.

First up they have got an epic date in Dublin on Saturday in the Champions Cup semi-final and boss Mark McCall reckons yesterday’s run-out was spot on for Vunipola and the rest of the big guns he rested.

Sarries were missing Brad Barritt, Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell and the rest but still did the business, with Vunipola the difference.

McCall said: “That is exactly what we want from Billy. With a six-day turnaround, we didn’t want to expose him to a full 80 minutes, but 25 for him was perfect.

“Some of these big things that were wrong today, we will need to work hard on and get right next week.”