Saracens dent Saints’ play-off hopes
Mark McCall’s Saracens damaged Northampton’s play-off chances in a fiery match that proves they will have an influence on the league this season.
Saints could never come to terms with losing fly-half Dan Biggar early on and Saracens made them pay.
There were four yellow cards, two for each team, and six tries as Northampton suffered their fourth league defeat on the spin.
They overcame the loss of three senior players, Alex Goode, captain Jackson Wray and centre Duncan Taylor to head knocks in the first half, but backrower Ben Earl and centre Nick Tompkins stepped up to the plate.
It was former international scrumhalf Richard Wigglesworth who ran the show, at the age of 36, showing his mastery of the box kick, working well with fly-half Manu Vunipola, who put in another composed performance.
McCall, the Saracens’ director of rugby, and his coaching staff were animated in their box as their side dug in to win after trailing 12-0 after six minutes and 15-8 at half-time.
“To be 12-0 down, it was great to see their response and how they back each other and fought for each other through the game,” McCall said.
“I thought Richard Wigglesworth was incredible particularly when we lost the other players. Ben Earl was really keen to play and he knew we were in a bit of a pickle in terms of injuries. Ben had an outstanding game and Nick was outstanding as well.”
Before the match, Northampton were hit with news that prop Alex Waller is out for the rest of the season with a ruptured Achilles.
It all started well for the hosts with two tries in the first six minutes. Centre Fraser Dingwall was put through by full-back Harry Mallinder for the first and Mallinder made the most of Biggar’s inside ball for the second.
Saints were cruising, but when Biggar limped off they started to lose their shape.
Saracens wing Rotimi Segun had scored, by then, with a neat finish before Saracens lost the trio of older heads.
Hooker Jack Singleton was shoved over from a driving line-out, Tompkins cut a good line to sprint in from the 22 and Earl picked off Cobus Reinach’s pass and ran 65 metres to score.
Saints were down to 13 men when lock Lewis Bean and wing Taqele Naiyaravoro were sent to the sin-bin just after the break and they were off the pitch when Singleton and Tompkins scored to give Saracens a 22-15 lead.
Earl’s run in on 55 minutes was followed by a yellow card for Goode’s replacement, Matt Gallagher, and wing Alex Lewington saw yellow for a high tackle on 75 minutes as Northampton rallied.
But all they could muster was another penalty from the excellent Mallinder who is hitting some good form, after a long lay-off, which gave them a losing bonus point. But this was not title-winning form.
“We had more than enough chances to win that game,” Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd said. “12-0 up and we fluffed a try then we got a couple of yellow cards and gave up two soft tries, one from an intercept and one from our own overthrow. We are the masters of our own destiny.
“We are still in the hunt, but we are suffering from the fact we have 12 or 14 players either injured or suspended and it is hurting our squad.”