Only once in the past seven years has an away team won a Premiership semi-final and there was seldom much sign of Northampton bucking the trend in north London. Saracens are now into their seventh final in the last 10 seasons and in pole position to claim their first title since 2019.
The Saints could not be faulted for effort or spirit but they were up against opponents whose collective energy and defensive cohesion were significantly superior. Saracens were also impressively clinical early on, establishing a 21-3 lead inside the opening half hour and rarely allowing their grip to slacken thereafter. “I thought it was our strongest defensive performance for years,” said Mark McCall, their director of rugby. “It’s always been in the DNA of the club but that’s as good as we’ve been for a while. That laid the foundation for the victory and the performance. We got control of a very good attacking team.”
McCall also hailed a “masterful” display from his fly-half and captain, Owen Farrell, who is visibly relishing his rugby once more. If it was a slightly underwhelming contest from a neutral perspective, Saracens will prefer to reflect on a job professionally done. The wing Sean Maitland finished with two of his side’s five tries, Farrell kicked immaculately off the tee and the absence of Billy Vunipola made no obvious difference. If it was Saracens’ line speed and clever option-taking that ultimately set them apart, the consistently excellent Ben Earl had another predatory game and the scrum-half Ivan van Zyl was also a sharp presence.
On an unseasonably cool May afternoon very little went Northampton’s way from the outset. After the first box kick of the game George Furbank was clattered in the air by Maitland but a promising attacking position yielded nothing. Instead, when the ball was turned over the hosts staged a daring break from behind their own line that almost yielded a score.
Suitably encouraged, Saracens were soon back sniffing for more. Alex Goode’s lovely chip bounced up nicely for Maitland, leaving Furbank and Alex Mitchell stranded, and the Saints were suddenly 7-0 down – precisely the scenario they had wanted to avoid. Northampton were not receiving a lot of love from the referee, Karl Dickson, either and things were already starting to look ominous for the visitors.
It was no surprise when Saracens scored again, this time via a deft Farrell chip into the left corner that again bounced perfectly for a lurking Maitland. When Alex Waller was then penalised at a scrum and made the mistake of stopping to debate the decision with Dickson, Van Zyl’s quick tap-and-go caught everyone napping and further widened the gap on the scoreboard.
It was not what the England coach, Steve Borthwick, had been hoping to watch. How can he confidently pick teams for big knockout games of Test rugby when even supposedly intense Premiership playoff fixtures are one-way traffic? The Toulon-bound David Ribbans put himself about for Northampton and Lewis Ludlam was as wholehearted as ever but Saints still have a way to go before they can start dreaming of Twickenham glory.
On this occasion it took the league’s leading try scorers until the game’s 56th minute to cross the Sarries line through a jinking Alex Mitchell. A nicely executed loop around from Fin Smith helped create a second try, this time finished by James Ramm, but it was merely a temporary respite. A penalty try for pulling down a maul re-established home dominance and a diving Max Malins deepened the pain for Saints. “You’re not going to win many semi-finals conceding 38 points,” acknowledged Phil Dowson, Northampton’s director of rugby. “We were poor in the first half. We didn’t get our game on the pitch and their defence didn’t allow us to,”
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
Courtney Lawes, now 34 but still fundamental to his country’s World Cup plans, also walked away gingerly in the final quarter but, arguably, Northampton were doomed from the start. The away team has triumphed just six times in 38 semi-final attempts since the play-off format was introduced in 2002-03 and the only instance in the past seven seasons was Harlequins’ staggering comeback from 28-0 down at Bristol in 2021. Staging a semi-final ‘double header’ at a neutral venue, as they now do in the French Top 14, increasingly feels like an option worth trying.
