If these two were to meet in the semi-final in three weeks, we can safely say the shape of the contest will be different. Northampton claimed maximum points with this win over mighty Saracens to move into the fourth and final playoff spot with two rounds to go, but they do not have the look of champions about them.
This was Saracens’ second team and as if that were not qualification enough, the visitors played most of the match down to 14 after an early red card for Duncan Taylor.
Under those circumstances, Northampton were hardly impressive. Indeed, Saracens finished the stronger, claiming a bonus point of their own with two tries in the last 10 minutes. Still, if Saints can win at Newcastle on Friday night, their last game of the regular season, they will have every chance of finishing in the top four.
“As always, it was pretty mixed,” said Phil Dowson, Northampton’s director of rugby. “But sometimes you can’t have the brilliance without some of the calamity. It’s about trying to reduce that.”
Saracens, we know, will be hosting someone in the playoffs, almost certainly whoever comes fourth. A few might grumble – London Irish in particular – that they were not at full strength here. Irish, ousted from fourth after Northampton’s win, sit out this week, but their next match is at the league leaders’ next Sunday. Will they, too, be facing a second XV?
Louis Lynagh made a successful comeback from knee surgery to celebrate his first appearance of the season with a try to help Harlequins secure a 48-20 victory over Newcastle. The son of the great Australia fly-half, Michael, has been sidelined for nine months.
Quins were forced to battle hard for a bonus-point victory that lifts them to sixth after Freddie Lockwood’s 66th-minute try, made possible by the genius of Mateo Carreras, threatened an upset. But nerves were steadied when Alex Dombrandt went over for his second try. Joe Marchant made his final appearance at The Stoop before joining Stade Francais next season, scoring a try.
For all their dominance of the opening quarter, Quins were unable to register a point. Dombrandt and André Esterhuizen made telling runs before a scrum penalty ignited a spell of relentless pressure on the home line in which a Danny Care try was ruled out for obstruction by the prone Wilco Louw, who was then helped from the pitch with what appeared a significant injury. He is likely to have played his last game for Quins before returning to South Africa.
The hosts were stunned when Newcastle scrambled free from their own line, the wings Carreras and Adam Radwan combining for the Argentina international to score under the posts. Brett Connon’s conversion and penalty gave the Falcons a 10-0 lead but Quins’ attack began to align with Esterhuizen capitalising on a big hole in defence to touch down.
Sensing blood, the two-time Premiership champions renewed the attack in first-half overtime and exploited the blindside with Lyangh scoring with ease in the right corner.
The lead changed hands once more through Connon’s pinpoint kicking but gaps were now appearing in the visiting defence, allowing Marcus Smith to come to the fore. Quins’ third try was all too easy as Josh Bassett strolled over and once Esterhuizen had bumped off two tackles, the bonus point was secure.
Newcastle were not helped by having Callum Chick sent to the sin-bin for collapsing a maul, but with their openside back on the field they found renewed purpose. When their try came it started deep in their own half, Carreras’s slaloming run leaving tacklers chasing shadows and, though he was stopped short, Lockwood was on hand to finish.
But the uprising ended when Dombrandt crossed for a second time with late tries from Dino Lamb, Marchant and Fin Baxter distorting the final scoreline. PA Media
But we cannot complain about welfare one minute and grumble about players being rested the next. Northampton benefited from a dose of luck here, the way the fixtures have fallen, but they benefited from an even bigger one once the match was under way.
Taylor became the latest scapegoat for rugby’s brain-injury crisis in the eighth minute. Saracens were a try up by then, embarrassing their fully loaded hosts with a nicely worked move off a lineout with Olly Hartley, one of a host of impressive youngsters, worked through a gap in midfield. Alex Lewington was on hand and sent a kick to the corner where Rotimi Segun gathered and finished in style.
So far so interesting. Then came the latest death knell to a match’s integrity. Taylor was upright when he clashed heads with Fin Smith, but then there are upright tacklers right, left and centre in every game. Taylor is one of the great defensive centres of the past 10 years.
To all the angry pundits and lawmakers in their armchairs – maybe elite rugby is harder than it looks. If a player of his calibre is susceptible to the accidental clash of heads, they all are. And they will never stop happening. Nor will the red cards.
It was a mixed blessing for the 15,000 present. Surely now the points were in the bag for the home team, no matter that a Manu Vunipola penalty stretched Saracens’ lead to 10 before Northampton responded. But this was not going to be the sort of straight fight they might have enjoyed, even allowing for the under-strength line-up of the visitors.
Northampton went about the duck shoot in ho-hum fashion, but Alex Moon finally opened their account at the end of the first quarter, worked over after a penalty was kicked to the corner. Three minutes later, James Ramm exploited some confusion in Saracens’ wide defence – right where Taylor would have been – to break and pave the way for a Lewis Ludlam try, which earned Northampton the lead.
A few minutes from the interval, Ramm cleaned up the latest breakdown in Saints’ handling to send Tommy Freeman to the corner for the home team’s third. Rory Hutchinson scored the fourth three minutes into the second half after more fine work by Ramm down the right. Another try a few minutes later, by Smith in the corner, more or less sealed the match.
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This being Northampton – and thus hardly a study in consistency – there were a few more twists to endure. Vunipola scored Saracens’ second try just shy of the hour, but a yellow card for Segun reduced them to 13. Fraser Dingwall capitalised with Northampton’s sixth.
Then came those two tries from the visitors, the first scored by Theo Dan while they were still down to 13. The bonus point earned by Segun’s try at the death all but guarantees Saracens top spot. Northampton have a bit still to do for fourth. Then we would do this all over again – but in name only.
