MATCH REPORT | Saracens Men 36-24 Harlequins
Saracens Men outlasted Harlequins, in a free-flowing, high-octane affair, in front of a bumper crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
On a sun-soaked afternoon, where Sarries secured a home semi-final berth, both sides displayed their attacking prowess, as Sarries combined stunning attack with brutal defence.
For all the pre-match fireworks, there was something of a flat feeling in the ground, as Alex Dombrandt barrelled over in the corner less than two minutes into the contest.
The early score provoked an instant response from Sarries, with Billy Vunipola’s thunderous charge earning a penalty on halfway, which Owen Farrell plugged into the corner. From there, Sarries hammered away at the line and eventually broke through as Ben Earl’s superb offload found Alex Lozowski, who scored under the sticks. Farrell made no mistake with the conversion and notched his 100th Premiership point of the season in the process to draw the scores level.
Five minutes later, Saracens took their first lead of the contest with a beautifully crafted score. The men in black showcased liquid attack from the back of the lineout with Farrell’s delicate tip pass allowing Lozowski to create the initial hole in the defence. The centre’s magnificent offload from the floor found Ivan van Zyl who then shifted it on for Nick Tompkins to stroll over untouched.
The unrelenting Sarries pressure continued with Farrell pulling the strings and notching a penalty, with Harlequins’ Danny Care sent to the bin for slapping the ball out of Ivan Van Zyl’s hands.
Quins continued to press and probe but Sarries were steadfast in defence.
The ruthless defence continued and allowed Sarries to launch an attacking raid off the back of it with half-time approaching. Slick hands off the back of a turnover led to a Max Malins break, with Ben Earl’s charge moments later giving Sarries a solid platform.
With the Harlequins defence backpedalling, the ball was shifted wide to Sean Maitland, who provided the final pass for Andy Christie to dive over in the corner.
Quins came out swinging after the break and Sarries’ error from the kick-off gave the visitors a prime attacking position. After Andre Esterhuizen was initially held up over the line under penalty advantage, Smith’s well-timed miss pass allowed Cadan Murley to crash over in the corner. Smith added the extras to reduce the deficit to eight.
A territorial kicking battle then ensued before a Quins error led to a Sarries counterattack. A build-up of phases moved Mark McCall’s men just five metres out, but Murley’s monstrous tackle on Malins forced a turnover to provide Quins with a temporary reprieve.
As the hour mark approached, Sarries began to turn the screw again. Malins’ regathered his own deft grubber kick to spark the attack and as the ball was moved wide two phases later, Christie neatly offloaded for Maitland to give Sarries their bonus-point try.
However, Harlequins refused to lie down and responded instantly, as Murley crossed for his second. After the Quins pack hammered away from short range, the space opened out wide and slick hands found the winger who expertly dotted down in the corner, to leave the game in the balance.
Sarries soon quashed all hopes of a Harlequins comeback though, scoring their fifth try of the game through Maro Itoje. After Luke Northmore was sent to the bin for high contact on Farrell, Itoje burrowed over from short range from the resulting lineout. Farrell landed the conversion and gave Sarries a 17-point lead with 15 minutes to go.
However, once again Quins were determined not to roll over. Despite Malins’ sensational try-saving tackle on Nick David, Harlequins got their bonus-point try moments later as Marchant soared through the air to expertly collect Care’s crossfield kick.
A shot of momentum was provided from the Saracens bench to close out the contest, as they continued the theme of ceaseless defence, forcing multiple Quins errors before Tompkins kicked the ball out to end proceedings and send the 55,000 strong crowd home happy.
Report by Cameron Stephens
