Owen Farrell’s Saracens overcame an orange powder protest and the best Sale could throw at them to march back to the top of the English game.
Four years after their last Premiership title they returned to the summit on an afternoon in which Twickenham became the latest sporting stage to be invaded by Just Stop Oil.
Star of the show was Farrell, captain of the Londoners as well England, who lifted the trophy then walked off the pitch and into a glowing tribute from his boss.
“Owen is playing the best rugby of his life at the moment,” said Mark McCall. “His leadership has gone to a whole new level."
This was a day Saracens feared they would not see after being kicked out of the top flight for multiple salary cap breaches in 2020.
Farrell kept the squad together, played through the Championship to the detriment of his England form, then took a pay cut to keep the club alive through the pandemic.
While Worcester and Wasps have since gone bust, with London Irish set to follow, Sarries lived to fight another day. Yesterday, finally, bore the fruits of their labour.
It still took a bit of doing, what with Mako Vunipola lost before kick off, Jamie George after 10 minutes and Sale leading inside the last half hour.
Then there was the moment two demonstrators, a GP from Bristol and a construction worker from Essex, disrupted play with their technicolour stunt.
Lesser teams might have lost concentration. Farrell simply shrugged it off with “What the bloody hell's going on here?!”
As puffs of orange cloud hung in the air and the crowd turned on the pitch invaders, play restarted and Saracens were quickly on the scoreboard - Max Malins taken out illegally by Tom Curry and ref Luke Pearce awarding the penalty try.
Sale hit back with Akker van der Merwe burrowing over from close range but Farrell brilliantly drew Manu Tuilagi out of the line for Malins to pour through and dot down.
Having waited 17 years to get to Twickenham, Sale were not about to roll over and their first attack after the restart saw Curry break, van der Merwe chip and Tom Roebuck pick Elliot Daly’s pocket for the try.
The England wing look mortified and felt no better when Bevan Rodd came off the bench to put Sharks ahead for the first time on 52 minutes.
He then missed a penalty shot at goal from halfway yet rather than shrink was on hand just past the hour mark to score the try which put Sarries ahead for the final time.
It will haunt Sale for some time, the moment Joe Carpenter’s kick was charged down by Duncan Taylor to leave Sharks fatally exposed out wide.
For the first time in an exhausting, utterly absorbing contest, one side held a decisive edge. Sale shoulders dropped, Saracens went for the kill and Ivan van Zyl plunged over to seal the deal.
SARACENS: A Goode 8; M Malins 8, A Lozowski 7 (D Taylor 62, 7), N Tompkins 7, S Maitland 7 (E Daly 20, 7); O Farrell (capt) 9, I Van Zyl 8 (A Davies 73, 6); E Mawi 7 (R Hislop 50, 5), J George 6 (T Dan 10, 7), M Riccioni 7 (C Judge 72, 6), M Itoje 7, H Tizard 7 (C Hunter-Hill 61, 6), N Isiekwe 7, B Earl 7, J Wray 8 (Mawi 79, 6).
Tries: Penalty, Malins, Daly, van Zyl. Cons: Farrell 2. Pens: Farrell 3.
SALE: J Carpenter 6; T Roebuck 8 (T O’Flaherty 50, 6), R du Preez 7, M Tuilagi 6 (S James 68), A Reed 7; G Ford 7, G Warr 7 (R Quirke 50, 7); S McIntyre 7 (B Rodd 45, 7), A van der Merwe 8 (E Ashman 45, 6), N Schonert 7 (C Oosthuizen 45, 6), J-L du Preez 7, J Hill 7, T Curry 7, S Dugdale 7, J Ross (capt) 7.
Tries: Van der Merwe, Roebuck, Rudd. Cons: Ford 2. Pens: Ford 2.
