Saracens punish the sinning Saints
THE Saracens machine rolls on. In a game full of niggle and unpleasantness, the reigning Aviva Premiership champions fought off Northampton’s challenge to record their third win of the season and their first at Allianz Park.
Northampton will rue an almost total disciplinary meltdown in the second half — including the decisive sin-binning of prop Alex Waller for lifting Jamie George above the horizontal — as Jim Mallinder’s men conceded 12 penalties after the break.
Saracens needed little invitation, scoring two tries with Waller off the field to effectively and efficiently close out a game they were briefly in danger of letting slip.
At 12-9 down after 51 minutes when Saints fly-half Stephen Myler kicked his fourth penalty of the game, Saracens knew they were in a battle.
The men in black have lost just six times in four years since moving to Allianz Park and Saints have been responsible for three of those defeats.
But when Waller reacted to a legitimate ruck charge by George to lift the Saracens replacement and dump him on the floor, referee Greg Garner had little option but to send him to the sin bin.
The only question lay over why it took Garner around 10 replays before making a call in a game that lasted a preposterous two hours and six minutes from start to finish.
Waller had already been involved in a number of niggly incidents, including one when he whacked his fist towards Chris Ashton’s face, provoking the Saracens winger to apparently bite his arm.
Saints paid immediately for their prop’s recklessness when George scored a try from the line-out resulting directly from the penalty. Maro Itoje claimed a line-out, Billy Vunipola bound on before flicking a pass to George on the blindside to cross unopposed. Eight minutes later a driving maul close to the Northampton line was brought down by the visitors pack for Garner to award a penalty try on 66 minutes.
When Northampton’s replacement No8 Sam Dickinson was sent to the sin bin for a breakdown infringement four minutes later, the game was over.
‘They are tough enough to beat when you have 15 men but when you are down to 14 for 20 minutes you are really up against it,’ said Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder. ‘I thought we did really well for 55 minutes or so. We put them under pressure and defended with the passion and intensity we needed to.
‘We just couldn’t look after the ball in their third. Then a moment of madness from Alex Waller started our downfall. It was a tough physical match. We had the ball and he sort of got charged into. He took it too far.’
It was a bitter pill for Northampton, whose miserable day was complete when centre Luther Burrell was knocked unconscious as his head clashed with Brad Barritt’s hip.
Burrell was led from the field after several minutes of on-field treatment, clearly distressed and unsteady on his feet. After the match he was taken away in an ambulance after being given oxygen in the dressing room.
Saints will take some comfort from their impressive first-half display but ultimately they could not sustain their challenge on a Saracens team playing with confidence and relentless intensity.
The Vunipola brothers were again immense while new signing Alex Lozowski kicked 16 points in another assured display from the former Wasps No10, playing in place of the injured Owen Farrell.
‘I thought they got the better of us physically in the first half but it was pleasing we got the better of them in the second half,’ said Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall.