It ended with the Lions captain in forlorn negotiation with the referee. Australians may be encouraged that Maro Itoje was unable to work his magic to save Saracens’ match, to save their season.
They desperately needed the win – in a way that Northampton did not – but they were staring down the barrel of the most dramatic of last-minute defeats, 28-24, courtesy of Tarek Haffar’s second try. There were two passes in the buildup, both of which looked forward, but by the arcane procedures of the television match official protocols the decision-making was constrained by the referee’s initial instinct, which was that the try was good.
