Match Report: Northampton Saints 28 – 24 Saracens

Tarek Haffar’s dramatic try at the death saw Northampton Saints overturn a 17-point deficit to sign off their final home match of the 2024/25 season at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens with a thrilling victory over Saracens.

The North London visitors looked well set to secure the victory they needed to keep their top-four hopes alive as Tom Willis, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Alex Goode and Rotimi Segun all crossed the line after Josh Kemeny had opened the scoring for Saints.

But the final third belonged to the men in Black, Green and Gold. With many starting players having left the field of play with next week’s Investec Champions Cup in mind, the replacements played their role in a spectacular finale as Haffar grabbed his first, followed by a penalty try before the loosehead prop landed the match-winning score with the clock in the red.

FIRST HALF

The game’s opening points came as Trevor Davison survived a Maro Itoje hit to keep his side on the front foot, play appeared to break down before Fin Smith put boot to ball with a cute short-range grubber that skipped along the surface until lock Kememy scooped it up and used every inch of his giant frame to ground, with the try’s architect adding the conversion.

Saracens hit back minutes later when Davison was penalised for a high tackle and the penalty was drilled into the 22. Elliot Daly cut a neat line through the midfield to go within metres of the line, where patience then paid off with Willis burrowing over beneath a mass of bodies. 

Fergus Burke pulled the conversion attempt wide but his side did take the lead approaching the end of the first quarter as Daly burst through enemy lines once more before teasing a pass out in front of Gonzalez to breeze over close to the right corner flag, with the extras this time being added for good measure. 

Having received a bump to his shoulder earlier in the contest, hooker Curtis Langdon was withdrawn giving Craig Wright an extended run in just his fifth Premiership appearance. 

A Tom Lockett lineout steal diffused another attack five metres from his own line, but the second row was back under the posts with his teammates four minutes before the break when Ivan van Zyl broke through from a blindside ruck, feeding Tobias Elliott to put Goode in under the posts.

Burke’s extras opened the gap to 12 points as James Ramm made way for Tom Seabrook four minutes before the break, with Tommy Freeman moving to fullback.

SECOND HALF

Saracens had a bonus point in the bag four minutes after the restart when lineout ball was secured and the backs fired with another slick first-phase play as Elliott put Segun through to beat Alex Mitchell into the left corner to leap over successfully.

The response was seemingly swift as Kemeny and Emmanuel Iyogun both made big inroads before Mitchell found Alex Coles to reach over and finish – only for a lengthy TMO check to rule the lock had knocked on in the act of grounding. 

Jake Garside, Haffar and Angus Scott-Young arrived in place of Fin Smith, Iyogun and Kemeny with 25 minutes remaining, and it was Haffar who made an immediate impact as he bludgeoned his way over after Mitchell quickly-tapped a penalty deep inside the attacking 22. Smith’s conversion closed the gap to ten points. 

That was nearly followed by another score when Rory Hutchinson’s probing kick into backfield was misjudged by van Zyl on his own line, only for Seabrook to just miss out on picking his pocket with the line at his mercy.

With ten minutes remaining, a grandstand finish was ensured with a double dose of drama. A penalty try seemed inevitable when Fraser Dingwall was taken out in the air, only for the officials to decide otherwise. However, from their very next attack, a powerful rolling maul crumpled before the line and this time Luke Pearce raced under the posts to award seven points and give Andy Onyeama-Christie a yellow card. 

Unfortunately, there would be no numerical advantage for Saints as Coles hobbled off with no replacements available to take his place. 

With substitute scrum-half Jonny Weimann pulling the strings, the hosts kept their patience and executed one final attacking flourish as Dingwall freed up his arms in the tackle to allow Litchfield to advance and offload for Haffar to finish and spark wild scenes of celebration at cinch Stadium.

A lengthy TMO check followed but the try stood as Saints prepared for the challenge of Bordeaux-Begles at the Principality Stadium with a momentum boosting victory in front of their own supporters.

LINE-UPS:

SAINTS: 15 Ramm, 14 Freeman, 13 Dingwall (c), 12 Hutchinson, 11 Litchfield, 10 Smith, 9 Mitchell; 1 Iyogun, 2 Langdon, 3 Davison, 4  Mayanavanua, 5 Lockett, 6 Coles, 7 Kemeny, 8 Pollock.
Replacements: 16 Wright, 17 Haffar, 18 Millar Mills, 19 Prowse, 20 Scott-Young, 21 Weimann, 22 Garside, 23 Seabrook.

SARACENS: 15 Goode, 14 Elliott, 13 Daly, 12Tompkins, 11 Segun, 10 Burke, 9 van Zyl; 1 Mawi, 2George, 3 Riccioni, 4 Itoje (c), 5 Isiekwe, 6 Gonzalez, 7 Earl, 8 Willis.
Replacements: 16 Dan, 17 Brantingham, 18 Clarey, 19 Tizard, 20 McFarland, 21 Onyeama-Christie, 22 Bracken, 23 Hall.