Much was made in the buildup about the size of Northampton’s Australia wing Taqele Naiyaravoro but even approaching 20st he was no heavier than the four defeats the Saints endured against Saracens last season in the league and European Champions Cup.
They leaked 237 points and 33 tries then and while the champions recorded another bonus-point victory, this was very different. Northampton were leading with nine minutes to go, fuelled by a powerful maul and the kicking of Dan Biggar, but Saracens have become adept at finding wriggle room in the tightest of corners, unruffled, unhurried and insured with self-belief.
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The lead changed hands for the fifth and final time when David Strettle profited from quick passing to make an outside break to the line and the wing added a second four minutes later to steal a bonus point. It was typical Saracens, not blinking as they stared at defeat in a match they looked to have won either side of half-time having scored 20 unanswered points after Saints had mined an early 10-0 lead.
All except the final three of Northampton’s points were scored when Saracens had a forward in the sin-bin. They struggled to contain the home side’s driving maul which was all the more effective for the ability of Biggar to kick penalties on the halfway line to within five metres of the tryline.
Saracens infringed at seven mauls. Their hooker Jamie George was the first to see yellow for the serial offending and while Northampton did not score from the set of lineouts they enjoyed in a five-minute spell of pressure, they used a scrum in front of the posts 20 metres out to fool the most switched on of defences.
Biggar lined up directly behind the set piece with the full-back Ahsee Tuala lurking close to him to leave defenders guessing about the direction of the attack. As the scrum wheeled, Northampton moved the ball quickly left, against the flow of the defence and the centre Piers Francis, in front of the England coach, Eddie Jones, fixed on an outside break, causing two tacklers to collide as he cut inside to score.
George was waiting to come back on when Billy Vunipola conceded a soft penalty that Biggar converted. Where Northampton looked to sap the strength of their opponents Saracens, prompted by Alex Goode, playing at fly-half in place of the injured Owen Farrell, who spent the match in the coaches’ box,worked the ball into space and were level at half-time through two Alex Lewington tries, taking the recruit from London Irish’s tally to five in three matches.
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In contrast, Northampton struggled to get their wings involved. Naiyaravoro would not have seen much less of the ball had he still been in Australia: he received it twice in the opening half and his second touch prompted a thunderous encounter in front of the main stand that will probably need surveyors to check this week.
The wing had eased through Liam Williams without feeling the full-back’s challenge before he saw Billy Vunipola in front of him. The England No 8 is not used to deferring to anyone when it comes to a trial of strength. He led with his right shoulder, thumping into an object that had by now gathered momentum. He had all the impact of a flying insect on the front of a Formula One car in full flow. Naiyaravoro was not the slightest deflected from his line of running, painting a rueful smile on the face of Vunipola as he checked various parts of his body.
Vunipola’s yellow card 13 minutes into the second half tilted a match Saracens looked to have secured through a try and two kicks by their scrum-half Ben Spencer, who had created Lewington’s first by kicking into space. Five penalties and a lineout led to a try by Dylan Hartley, making his first start for Saints since the defeat in Europe to Saracens last January.
Goode restored his side’s lead with a penalty and did so again after Ben Franks had scored Northampton’s third try. When Richard Wigglesworth kicked out at Jamie Gibson after being caught late following a box-kick, Biggar made it 27-26 to Saints.
“A lot of teams panic in that situation but we were very composed,” said Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby. “It was a game we probably won three or four times.”