Saracens down Saints to book LV Cup final place

Saracens booked a place in the Anglo Welsh LV= Cup Final by beating Northampton Saints 24-20 at Allianz Park on Saturday.

Northampton, who named a strong forward pack for the semi-final, were on top early as fly-half Sam Olver kicked two penalties in the first quarter.

But the home side then found their feet in attack as a nice late line off the blindside wing from David Strettle made it a 6-5 deficit on 22 minutes.

Olver hit back in the 27th minute when he slipped the Saracens net to hand Saints a 13 -5 cushion, which was how it stayed until the turnaround.

Saracens though came out of the dressing rooms with real intent and crossed inside a minute when Mike Ellery went over.

Ben Spencer slotted the conversion and then a 46th minute penalty as suddenly the hosts were in front, leading 15-13 in what was a fascinatingly poised match.

The home charge continued in the early stages of the second half as two further Spencer penalties put them into a 21-13 advantage on 55 minutes.

But the Saints finally regrouped by the 64th minute and managed to claw their way back into the action, scoring via a driving maul that Lee Dickson was marshalling from the tail.

Replacement fly-half Stephen Myler’s sweet conversion meant it was now 21-20 to the team wearing black.

Nils Mordt though settled the nerves with a late drop goal that ultimately meant Northampton’s task was too big, with Saracens progressing to the Franklin’s Gardens final next weekend.

Final Score Saracens 24 (5) Northampton Saints 20 (13)

Scorers

Saracens
Tries – Strettle, Ellery
Pen – Spencer 3
Con – Spencer
Drop –
Cards –

Northampton Saints
Tries – Olver , Dickson
Pen – Olver 2
Con – Olver,Myler
Drop –
Cards –

Match Officials
Referee :Dean Richards
Assistant Referees: Roy Maybank, Andrew Pearce
TMO: TBA

Teams

Saracens

15 Ben Ransom, 14 Mike Ellery, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Tim Streather, 11 David Strettle, 10 Nils Mordt, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Matt Hankin, 6 Nick De Jager, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Jared Saunders, 1 Rhys Gill

Replacements: 16 Scott Spurling, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Biyi Alo, 19 George Kruis, 20 Kelly Brown, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Thretton Palamo, 23 Catalin Fercu.

Northampton

15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 Tom Stephenson, 12 Dom Waldouck, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Sam Olver, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Sam Dickinson, 7 Phil Dowson (c), 6 Jon Fisher, 5 Tom Ryder, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Alex Corbisiero

Replacements: 16 Matti Williams, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Ben Nutley, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 James Wilson