Smith has final say for Saints

By BRENDAN GALLAGHER

Northampton Saints….. 22pts

Tries: Odendaal 19

Conversions: Smith 20

Penalties: Smith 28, 31, 40, 62, 70

Saracens ………………………20pts

Tries: Lewington 54, Cinti 78

Conversions: Daly 55, 79

Penalties: Daly 5, 16

Northampton Saints, having run teams ragged in glorious fashion all season, scrummaged and muscled their way to their first Premiership final since 2014 but a resilient Saracens contested the issue until the final whistle.

This was semi-final for the ages, raucous, edgy but without violent excess, immensely physical, occasionally error prone but mostly highly skilled

Confronted by an aggressive well drilled Saracens defence – shades of Paul Gustard’s old wolf pack defence – Saints silky attack which had yielded 145 tries in all rugby this season was shackled for large periods of the game but impressively they found another way to win this high pressure contest.

Seven times they forced a penalty at scrum time which either gave Fin Smith the opportunity to kick for goal or to punt for valuable field position. In tight games such statistics matter while they also prospered at the breakdown and it was also an evening for getting the basics right. With Courtney Lawes dominating the restarts and Tommy Freeman excellent under the highball Saints has most areas covered.

Ultimately the less experienced Saints pack covered themselves in glory and, in front of Steve Borthwick, Curtis Langdon, Alex Coles and Tom Pearson will have done their England prospects no harm.

Test rugby is much more like this thunderous fare than the all singing all dancing rugby Saints can produce against lesser opponents.

There was also the poignancy as the game drew to a close of a handful of departing Sarries legends – Owen Farrell, the Vunipola brothers and the prolific Alex Lewington – going down with all guns blazing while their new generation, led by young Pumas Juan Martin Gonzalez and Lucio Cinti – hinted at another dynasty just around the corner.

Meanwhile, pulling at Saints heartstrings, was the final ever appearance at the Gardens of veteran prop Alex Waller – 377 first team appearances with one more to come at Twickenham – while the stalwart Lewis Ludlam and phenomenal Lawes are now heading to France in the autumn of their careers.

It was also a farewell home appearance for young lock Alex Moon who is heading for Bayonne at the precise moment when England were beginning to get interested.

In a game that started at full throttle and never eased up it was Saracens who made early inroads with a brace of well struck penalties by Elliot Daly who was kicking ahead of Farrell who picked up a leg knock in midweek and only played after a late fitness test in the warm-up. He was far from 100 per cent but nothing was going to stop him playing in what proved to be his final game for Saracens

Saints though began to find more fluency just before the 20-minute mark with one of their trademark multi phases attacks which was initiated by George Furbank and South African Burger Odendaal. Fast forward a few more phases and Saints were still in motion when Pearson, enjoying a big game so soon after long term injury, spun out of contact to keep the move going left to right. The ever-present Furbank appeared once more and this time threaded a sumptuous pass to Odendaal as the eager Nick Tompkins stepped fractionally out of the defensive line.

Odendaal powered home for a converted try with the promise of more Saints tries to follow. Not so, it was in fact their only try of the evening as the Saracens defence went straight back to work. Over our dead bodies was their attitude, as it has been throughout their glory years which have garnered six Premiership and three European titles.

Northampton though are now savvy enough to appreciate what was going on and in the absence of their usual flurry of spectacular scores realised they recognised the need to patiently build their lead through other means.

This came in three-point increments as Smith nudged over two penalties for off feet at the ruck and then on the stroke of half time landed a cracker from 45m way out on the left to give Saints a nine point lead going down the tunnel.

Saints appeared the more likely side in the opening exchanges of the second half but then Farrell intervened during their first dangerous attack following the break with a beautifully judged kick down the blindside on the left for that ever reliable scorer of tries Lewington to steam in for yet another in his long and productive career. Daly converted from wide out and it was most certainly game on again.

On the hour it briefly seemed that Saints, just three points up, had regained the initiative with a stonking ‘try’ from Alex Mitchell, which he himself had begun with a brilliant inside ball before collecting a return pass but Gonzalez, as quick a forward in world rugby over a long distance, was corner flagging and just about got back to make a miraculous cover tackle with the TMO calling it correctly.

Saracens were still in the game but Saints didn’t panic and again went back to their pack to force the errors. Smith landed two more penalties and at 22-13 with two minutes left they appeared safe, at which point never say die Sarries worked Cinti into the corner and Daly again added the extras.

A two-point game with less than a minute left. Saints needed a cool head, cue Lawes who with the help of Temo Mayanavanua and Emmanuel Iyogun, hunted down Theo Dan as the hooker launched a Hail Mary final attack and then held him up, ultimately in triumph.

Referee Christophe Ridley, who enjoyed a fine game, called a maul and then a turnover. Northampton were through and a very special era at Saracens was suddenly over.