Nine-try Saracens inflict Northampton Saints' heaviest home defeat as European champions send out statement

Nine tries at Twickenham, eight at Franklin’s Gardens. On the evidence this season, it’s going to take a monumental effort from any team to prevent Saracens from winning the European Champions Cup for a record-equalling third consecutive time, and it’s certainly not going to be Northampton Saints.

43 days after Saracens opened the season with a 55-24 victory over Northampton, the reigning European champions recorded an emphatic 57-13 thrashing at Franklin’s Gardens, the heaviest home defeat in Saints’ history surpassing the 54-12 loss to Wasps 17 years ago, which saw the bonus point wrapped up before the break and seven different names on the try-scorers list.

Liam Williams, the Wales and British and Irish Lions wing that has glided into this Saracens side, was the only man to cross the whitewash twice, while Northampton’s lone try came through Mikey Haywood three minutes from time, a consolation score that showed Saracens had already turned their attentions to next weekend’s visit of the Ospreys.

When these two sides met on the opening weekend of the Premiership season at Twickenham, Saints were quickly exposed by a ruthless Saracens. Since that “embarrassing” display, as Saints captain Dylan Hartley put it, Northampton have bounced back with wins over Leicester, Bath, London Irish and Harlequins to rise up to third in the Premiership table and head into the European season on a wave of momentum.

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They may have believed that luck was on their side, too, as after just four minutes, the returning Owen Farrell – fully fit after a calf strain kept him out of last week’s win over Wasps – uncharacteristically pushed a simple penalty wide. It allowed the home side to seize the lead when England lock George Kruis was guilty of a high tackle on Saints scrum-half Cobus Reinach, with his half-back partner Stephen Myler slotting the resulting penalty from 30 metres out.

But that would prove the turning point for Lady Luck, as she firmly sided on the visitor’s side during a ruthless 30-minute display that produced four tries and a bonus point before the break.

Last season’s Champions Cup-retaining season saw wing Chris Ashton surge clear as the record try-scorer in Europe before the former Saints wing left Sarries to head for Toulon and the sunny climes of southern France. In his place this season is the equally talented Liam Williams, drafted in from Pro12 champions Scarlets fresh off the heels of an impressive British and Irish Lions tour, and the Welshman showed no signs of letting up his form. Strong runs from prop Vincent Koch and centre Marcelo Bosch provided space on the left for Saracens to attack, and Farrell whipped a smart miss-pass beyond Alex Goode to Chris Wyles, who committed the defence before feeding Williams. Still with work to do, the wing danced inside the shoulder of Luther Burrell to go over unopposed in the 11th minute with Farrell landing the conversion.

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Now that Saracens were into the lead, they were in no mood to hang about and if the opening try could be credited to the backs, the second was built in the pack. Jamie George, the hooker who was giving his latest audition to Eddie Jones in front of the England head coach here at Franklin’s Gardens in his quest to oust opposite number Dylan Hartley, bagged three tries last weekend, two of which came from the Saracens catch-and-drive.

However, it was the rather unlikely figure of Brad Barritt who proved the major beneficiary this time around, as when he and Bosch joined the driving maul, the England centre received the ball to score, Farrell again converting for a 17-3 lead.

With the half-hour mark approaching, Saints did their best to hit back and ensure that they remained in the contest. The fightback came directly from their towering Welsh wing George North as he made a surging break when receiving an inside offload from Burrell. North danced his way past two defenders, but a recovering Barritt tackled the wing and returned to his feet – just – to snatch the ball before the support could arrive. That wasn’t the end of it though, as North failed to get back up after injuring his left knee, and despite gallantly continuing after treatment, the very next play saw him collapse to the turf. Tom Collins replaced the Wales back, who is very likely to be a doubt for Wales’ upcoming autumn internationals next month.

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Sarries were in no mood to show any sympathy though, and a minute later they had their third score. After 13 phases of impressive work, the ball was worked right through Goode and Itoje, with former looping round to receive the offload. Goode fired the ball out to Barritt who elected to flick it on immediately to Williams, and the wing’s footwork saw him step inside and reach one-handed for the third try. Farrell, keen to avoid any TMO review, snapped off a drop-goal conversion from the right touchline that failed to hit the target, but the lead was out to 19 points and despite a second Myler penalty in response, Sarries had sights set on building it even further.

That was only after a flare-up between England teammates Farrell and Teimana Harrison when the former dump tackled Ben Foden. The two returned to their feet still locked in each other’s grasp, with Farrell thrusting his forearm into Harrison’s chin for good measure. Referee Pascal Gauzere reviewed the scrap, and awarded a penalty in Saints’ favour for the forearm reaction, though the tackle was judged to be legal and save Farrell from any further action.

With the half winding down, Saracens attacked once more with another five-metre driving maul, and after lock David Ribbans was sent to the sin-bin for collapsing, a familiar face went over for the fourth try in Callum Clark, with the ex-Saints flanker securing the bonus-point as Farrell converted to end the half 29-6 in the reigning champions’ favour.

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It took fewer than two minutes for the fifth try to follow, with a smart show-and-go from Farrell enabling him to glide between Northampton props Alex Waller and Kieran Brookes. He fed Itoje as the pair urged into the 22, and he in turn passed inside to Jackson Wray, only for Foden to haul the No 8 down five metres short. Wigglesworth recycled the ball, and his short pass to a rampaging Koch to charge over.

Saints had a chance to cross the whitewash themselves soon after thanks to a smart chip-and-chase from Collins, but Burrell’s attempt to ground the ball led to a knock-on after a TMO review. As the two coaches unloaded their replacements, the match started to breakdown somewhat, but Saracens soon found their stride again to continue the rout.

Firstly, strong drives from Itoje and Nick Isiekwe – the latest in a seemingly endless belt of talented young locks emerging at Saracens – set up Mako Vunipola to drive over and score next to the posts, before replacement Alex lozowski finished the try of the game. With a scrum just outside the Saints 22, a first-phase move straight from the St Albans training ground saw Lozowski run a dummy switch inside Farrell, with the fly-half popping the ball instead to Williams who surged through the space created. As he passed Lozowski, the wing fed him the ball to go over the line unopposed, with Farrell’s conversion bringing up the half-century against Saints for the second time in the space of six weeks.

Saints at least did cross the whitewash, with replacement hooker Mikey Haywood barging over and grounding the ball on the line, but Saracens had the last laugh as scrum-half Ben Spencer – on for Wigglesworth – smartly dived between Saints legs to pat down the ball when it was on the Northampton try line as Nic Groom dallied. It summed up the day for both sides.

Teams

Northampton Saints: Tuala; North (Collins, 28), Burrell, Francis, Foden; Myler (Mallinder, 60), Reinach (Groom, 49); Waller (Van Wyk, 69), Hartley (Haywwod, 58), Brookes (Ford-Robinson, 52); Paterson (Ratuniyarawa, 55), Ribbans (Wood, 49); Lawes, Gibson, Harrison.

Saracens: Goode; Williams, Bosch (Taylor, 33), Barritt (Lozowski, 60), Wyles; Farrell, Wigglesworth (Spencer, 67); Vunipola (Barrington, 65), George (Brits, 52), Koch (Figallo, 52); Isiekwe (Day, 69), Kruis; Itoje, Clark (Burger, 58), Wray.

Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)