FARRELL PILES ON THE AGONY
England star runs show as Sarries destroy Saints to launch treble tilt
OWEN FARRELL blocked out the boos of irate home fans to orchestrate Saracens’ second demolition of the Saints this season and deliver an ominous statement to the rest of Europe.
The Champions Cup holders mean business. This Pool Two opener showed that Mark McCall’s imperious side have the drive and ability to conquer the continent for a third year.
Farrell claimed the role of pantomime villain for a tip-tackle on Ben Foden which led to a fight with his England team- mate Teimana Harrison. But the hostility of the locals did nothing to unsettle the Lions playmaker. Far from it. With Farrell — who kicked 17 points — directing proceedings and man of the match Liam Williams running amok, Saracens scored eight tries to condemn Northampton to a record home defeat. The rest have been warned.
Eddie Jones was on hand to assess several of his leading lights, but the much-anticipated headto-head between England captain Dylan Hartley and his talented understudy Jamie George turned out to be a low-key sideshow.
The national coach is unlikely to have seen anything to convince him that an imminent leadership change is required, although George emerged with more credit in the dominant team.
Six weeks ago Saracens had subjected the same rivals to similar pain with a 55-24 Premiership win at Twickenham. Northampton responded to that ordeal with four consecutive league victories, but they face a massive task to try to pick themselves up now.
The contest was over by halftime, when Saracens already had their four-try bonus point. There was an authority and intensity to their play which the hosts simply could not live with.
Their carrying, support play and distribution were all of the highest order. Northampton were unable to contain them, despite the herculean defensive efforts of Courtney Lawes in particular.
Williams, the Welsh Lion who joined Saracens in the summer, scored two tries. The first saw him burst past Cobus Reinach from a long pass by Chris Wyles to strike on the left flank. Then he picked up the ball from a tap- on by Marcelo Bosch and swerved over in the right corner, despite Jamie Gibson’s last-ditch tackle.
Saracens’ other two first-half tries came from lineout drives. The first was finished off by Brad Barritt and the second saw flanker Calum Clark touch down against the club he left at the end of last season. As if they weren’t suffering enough punishment, there was more trouble for Northampton just before the half-hour as George North appeared to fall painfully on his left knee. He was treated but after trying to play on, the Lion collapsed in agony and was helped off in a forlorn state.
The Saints needed to show some fight and they did that, quite literally, when Harrison clashed with Farrell who had just picked Foden up and dumped him on his back. Harrison smashed the fly-half to the ground, the pair tussled and Farrell thrust an arm into the face of the Saints No 8. The crowd howled with rage but neither man was sent to the sin-bin.
Ignoring the catcalls from the stands, Saracens’ No 10 carried on tormenting the home side.
Two minutes after the re- start he carved through in midfield, Maro Itoje was up quickly in support and Vincent Koch blasted through the last defenders to score by the posts. There was some respite for Northampton until the final quarter, when their resistance crumbled again. Mako Vunipola claimed his side’s sixth try after a route- one attack by the visitors’ big carriers. Next, Williams came in-field from a scrum and released Alex Lozowski. Then after the hollowest of consolation tries at the other end by Mike Haywood, Ben Spencer darted round a ruck to catch the hosts off-guard.
Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder said: ‘It’s a massive blow. We thought we’d learned lessons but clearly we haven’t. We face Clermont next week, but we’ll still be fighting.’
McCall was suitably pleased, saying: ‘It was definitely our best performance of the season. We fought with everything we had and played some really good stuff in the first half.
‘It was a big game and none of us thought it was going to end up how it ended up.’
But McCall did express misgivings about Farrell’s clash with Harrison, adding: ‘His reaction worried me a little bit.’