54 Monday January 3 2022 | the times
SportGallagher Premiership
5
Danny Care celebrated his 35th birth-
day in style as he scampered over for a
try that capped a second-half revival
from Harlequins.
The former England scrum half was
his usual bundle of energy at the heels
of a pack that struggled for the first
hour. Then he rewarded their strong
work at a driving lineout by exploding
into the right corner for the try that
gave his side the lead after 65 minutes.
“The forwards will probably say he
stole the try from them, but he’s fifth on
the all-time Premiership scoring charts
and just keeps on going,” Tabai Matson,
the Harlequins coach, said. “He’s got a
few more good years left in him yet.
“To get a result here is phenomenal
and to do it with a couple of yellow
cards shows grit and determination.”Chris Boyd was asked after things had
turned ugly for Northampton Saints at
Franklin’s Gardens whether, when the
score was 6-6 at half time, he had feared
what would happen next. “Why would
I fear that was coming?” he replied,
although Northampton’s director of
rugby probably knew the answer as well
as anyone in the ground. We had all
seen this film before.
Saracens delivered a classic, belliger-
ent away performance, sailing close to
the wind as they soaked up the best
Northampton could muster for 40 min-
utes, much of it entrenched deep in their
own territory, before turning the screw
in the second half with tries from Alex
Lozowski, who finished with 20 points,
Tom Woolstencroft and Maro Itoje.
Boyd has carried an air of dissatisfac-
tion about his side’s performances all
season, despite Northampton reaching
Christmas in third place in the Gallagh-
er Premiership. These past two week-
ends go a long way towards explaining
his mood, with Northampton falling to
successive defeats by Harlequins and
Saracens, two title contenders. From
third they have slipped to sixth, conced-
ing 71 points in the process.
Things look brighter for Saracens.
Jamie George returned from a knee
injury suffered playing for England in
the autumn to captain the team and lead
that goalline resistance. Up in the
stands, bellowing support, was Owen
Farrell, who is being tentatively
pencilled in for a return from ankle
surgery when Saracens play London
Irish in the European Challenge Cup on
January 23.
The game hinged on a series of five-
metre scrums as Northampton, trailing
6-3 but with an edge in the set piece,
took on Saracens in a sustained battle of
might and muscle. They were eking out
penalties, opting each time for another
scrum rather than a shot at goal.
Boyd backed the decision-making,
arguing that to leave with three points
would have been tantamount to sur-
render. But, by hook or by crook, Sara-
cens kept out Northampton. They in-
curred warnings for repeated offsides,
for a no-arms tackle on Ollie Sleight-
holme from Billy Vunipola and repeat-
ed scrum infringements, but no yellow
card was shown, to Boyd’s frustration.
Eventually, after 33 minutes, Sara-
cens won a scrum penalty to lift the
siege and Boyd’s mood darkened. He
was certain the decision should have
gone the other way. Given Saracens
were on a warning, that would have
meant them going down to 14 men. “He
didn’t have enough nuts did he?” Boyd
said, referring to the referee. “It was a
clear hinge. There was only one side
under pressure in those scrums.
“We could have taken three points
George and
Itoje display
defiance in
heat of battle
there but we spent a long time down
there — to come away with three points
would have been a victory to them.”
Northampton did level matters
before the interval with a longer-range
penalty from Dan Biggar but Saracens
drew immense strength from the way
they had battled on their goalline, with
George and Itoje credited for their
defiance and leadership.
“We obviously lost the kicking battle
in the first half which allowed North-
ampton to dominate the territorial
battle and they were down in our 22 a
lot,” Mark McCall, the Saracens direct-
or of rugby, said. “I thought we showed
a lot of fight, grit and resolve.”
Northampton lost Piers Francis, who
was injured eight minutes into his
return to the side, but they dealt with
the reshuffle well and their approach
play was effective and accurate, with
George Furbank and Sleightholme
driving deep into Saracens territory.
But Northampton just could not hole
their putts. The score was 3-3 when
Biggar tried to take a quick penalty
close to the Saracens goalline (won by
his forwards in the maul) but the refer-
ee called him back. The fly half
switched focus, kicked for touch and
Northampton lost the lineout.
A careless penalty from Rory
Hutchinson allowed Lozowski to land a
second shot at goal moments after miss-
ing a simple effort. It was his one slip of
a day that only deepened the mystery of
his continued England omission.
Three minutes after the interval,
Saracens showed a ruthlessness that
Northampton lacked with an offload
from Alex Goode releasing Lozowski
for the opening try and from there the
script unfolded as it has done countless
times before: Saracens began to win the
kicking duel, allowing them to march
down the field.
Conor Carey, Northampton’s
replacement prop, was sin-binned for
successive penalties, which meant the
game finished with uncontested
scrums.
Saracens were frustrated not to have
been awarded a penalty try when Carey
was dismissed but their complaints
were made academic moments later
when Woolstencroft touched down at
the back of a motoring maul.
Itoje added a third from close range,
triggering the stands to empty long
before the credits rolled.0
2Alex Lowe Rugby correspondent
1
Northampton
Saracens
6
30
Care toasts birthday with vital try
All the early shots were fired by the
home pack, who threw down the gaunt-
let at the scrum and picked up two pen-
alties in the first three engagements.
Gloucester were physically dominant
but Harlequins were resilient and
patient.
In many ways the first half was a
game of two quarters, the first won by
Gloucester and the second edged by the
visitors. It meant that things were all
square at the break.
Gloucester were ten points to the
good after 24 minutes. Adam Hastings
opened the scoring with a penalty from
40 metres midway through the half.
The referee then sent Tom Lawday to
the sin-bin for trying to slow down the
ball at a ruck, Hastings kicked to the
corner and Ruan Ackermann peeled
around the back of the lineout and
drove over for a try on his 100th game
for the club. Marcus Smith kicked a
penalty and then Jack Kenningham
sent Luke Northmore through for a try.
Quins lost Northmore for ten min-
utes for a deliberate knock-on but
started the second half with the wind in
their favour. Twice they had tries disal-lowed and Smith also hit the upright
with a penalty. But then came Care’s try,
with a touchline conversion and penal-
ty from Smith. Not even a driving line-
out try at the death from the home pack
could narrow the grin on Matson’s face.
By contrast, the Gloucester head
coach, George Skivington, was left to
rue a missed chance. “It’s really disap-
pointing, we’ve got to learn from it and
get better,” he said.0
2Rob Cole1
Gloucester
Harlequins
17
20
Scorers: Gloucester: Tries R Ackermann (25), S
Socino (77). Cons A Hastings (26), L Evans (78).
Pen A Hastings (10). Harlequins: Tries L
Northmore (35), D Care (65). Cons M Smith (36,
66). Pens M Smith (32, 68).
Gloucester L Evans; L Rees-Zammit, C Harris, B
Twelvetrees (T Seabrook 68), O Thorley; A
Hastings (K Moyle 60), B Meehan (C Chapman
52); V Rapava-Ruskin (J Ford-Robinson 41), J
Singleton (S Socino 52), F Balmain (K Gotovtsev
68), F Clarke, M Alemanno (A Davidson 68), J
Reid (J Clement 66), L Ludlow (captain), R
Ackermann
Harlequins T Green; L Lynagh, L Northmore (H
Jones 70), A Esterhuizen, J Marchant; M Smith, D
Care (L Gjattema 77); S Garcia Botta (J Els 68), J
Walker (J Musk 68), W Collier (S Kerrod 59), M
Symons (D Lamb 60), H Tizard, T Lawday, J
Kenningham, A Dombrandt (captain, L Wallace
76). Sin-bin Lawday (24), Northmore (39).
Referee Tom Foley. Attendance 16,115.Scorers: Northampton: Pens: Biggar (7, 37).
Saracens: Tries: Lozowski (43), Woolstencroft
(72), Itoje (76). Cons: Lozowski 3. Pens: Lozowski
(5, 24, 58).
Northampton Saints G Furbank; O Sleightholme
(A Tuala 21-32, 73), R Hutchinson, P Francis
(F Dingwall 8), C Skosan; D Biggar, A Mitchell
(T James 72); A Waller (E Iyogun 58), S Matavesi
(J Fish 69), P Hill (C Carey 63; sin-bin 71), A Coles
(D Ribbans 44), A Ratuniyarawa (A Waller 78),
C Lawes, L Ludlam, J Augustus (T Wood 56).
Saracens M Malins (M Vunipola 75), S Maitland
(R Segun 62), A Lozowski, N Tompkins, E Daly;
A Goode, I Van Zyl (R de Haas 68), Mako Vunipola
(E Mawi 69), J George (T Woolstencroft 62),
H Beaton (G Milasinovich 55), M Itoje,
N Isiekwe, T McFarland (C Hunter-Hill 66), B Earl,
B Vunipola (J Wray 41).
Referee A Leal. Attendance 14,734.How they stand
P WD L F A B Pts
Leicester 11 11 0 0 338176 6 50
Saracens 11 8 1 2 396 200 7 41
Harlequins 11 70 4 308 245 10 38
Gloucester 11 6 1 4 296 266 8 34
Exeter 11 70 4 248 208 4 32
Northampton 11 60 5 310 296 6 30
London Irish 11 3 3 5 312314 9 27
Newcastle 11 5 1 5 174 236 2 24
Sale 11 4 1 6 221 225 4 24
Wasps 11 4 0 7 285 295 8 24
Worcester 11 3 1 7 223 403 6 20
Bristol 11 30 8 212 303 4 16
Bath 10 0 0 10 181 337 4 4