Saints' fightback defies Itoje and provides perfect Champions Cup final sendoff
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.
Had he missed the passes in question? Or seen them and been confident they were sound? Either way, the TMO had to be surer than he could be that they were forward. And so, there went the match.
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'My gut feeling was that it was lap-of-the-gods stuff,' said Phil Dowson, Northampton's director of rugby. 'Maybe it was 50-50, but I'm delighted it went our way. If they hadn't given it, that second half would have still spoken volumes.'
Saracens are not quite out of the running for a place in the playoffs, but matters are no longer in their hands with one round remaining. How they were cruising, for an hour or so more or less obliterating in every department the actual champions of England in the latter's last home match of the season, their dress rehearsal for the Champions Cup final. In so doing, Saracens opened up a 24-7 lead, bonus point in the bag, with five minutes of the second half played.
Only one team seemed to 'want it' at that point. Talking of wanting it, in the final round of the Premiership in a fortnight, all those chasing the playoffs will be lining up against teams whose motivations may not be quite so clearcut. This bodes ill for Saracens, as the team furthest adrift, in sixth. It would take heightened levels of carelessness for any of those in the box seats to relinquish their status with a defeat to a team who have nothing to play for. Mind you, it is Bristol and Gloucester most immediately ahead of Saracens …
When everyone is pretty much as good as each other, motivation has a disproportionate influence on outcomes. Wanting it. What a match this was for studying those shifting sands of motivation, culminating in yet another astonishing denouement in a league that could almost grow blase about those, there are so many.
Both sides fielded full-strength teams, but Saracens needed to win, pure and simple. Northampton were lining up for one of those strange matches in the hinterland between competitions. Their interest in the defence of the Premiership title evaporated some time ago, but next Saturday they head to Cardiff for the biggest match in the European season. Avoiding injury must be at the forefront of the mind. Alas, Curtis Langdon, Alex Coles and James Ramm joined their list of injury doubts for the final.
They had four Lions in their lineup here, proud and sated by their selection. Saracens boasted three. Indeed, had you been of a mind to go Lion-watching, Northampton was the place to be in Britain. There were another seven starting in Dublin the same evening, when Leinster took on Glasgow, with three more again on the bench, but here was peak Lion in England.
Then there were those who had not quite made on the plane to Australia. Tom Willis, in particular, seemingly filthy about his exclusion. Saracens were the only team in it for that first hour, blasting the Saints away in the contact.
Saints' Lions are mostly of the cerebral, classy kind, less prone to the vicissitudes of wanting it or otherwise. Sure enough, Fin Smith stepped and chipped with sublime vision to set up Josh Kemeny for the game's first try. Thereafter, though, it was Saracens and their Lions. Itoje was wading around the park with special authority; Ben Earl was scattering those in green. And Elliot Daly's break and pass on the run for Juan Martín González's try, Saracens' second, was a thing of wonder.
But, having secured that bonus-point fourth and seemingly the win, we watched the emphasis in motivation shift from the macro to the micro, the season to the match. Northampton were suddenly staring at a humiliation on their own turf, their last appearance on it of the season. They roused themselves there and then – and Saracens noticeably waned.
We are so used to outrageous comebacks nowadays that these motivation shifts seem a sort of law of nature. We can see them coming. A comfortable lead with half an hour to play is almost the worst place for a team to find themselves.
And so it unfolded. Tommy Freeman, purveyor of class and brains like few others, rose to the occasion with his mates, finding space that Saracens had denied when they were still ravenous. In the spring sunshine, the home team would not be denied. All of a sudden it was Saracens who seemed spiked by conflicting focuses.
The Lions captain tried, how he tried. The officials mulled the facts at the end with agonising doubt. Saracens watched the end of their season through parted fingers. But some rhythms transcend mere individuals, mere teams. The Premiership had another outrageous comeback in the offing. Of course it would be consummated.
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