Saracens come from behind to beat Northampton 21-27

Northampton Saints 21-27 Saracens, Franklin's Gardens
Scorecard

Saracens scored three second half tries as they came from behind to beat Northampton Saints 21-27 in their Gallagher Premiership encounter at Franklin's Gardens.

This is Saracens' eighth win from 12 games but will still face automatic relegation due to breach in salary cap while Northampton Saints are at third place.

The Saints got off to a tremendous start as Fraser Dingwall and Harry Mallinder scored back to back tries in the third and sixth minutes respectively while Dan Biggar kicked the conversion on the second occasion to make it 12-0.

The response from the Sarries came in the ninth minute when Rotimi Segun touched down. Manu Vunipola missed the conversion but kicked a penalty goal in the 16th minute to reduce the deficit to four points.

Just as the first quarter was about to end, Northampton's Wales international Dan Biggar was helped off the field with a knee injury and Mallinder with his 25th minute penalty goal ensured the teams finished the opening half with a 15-8 scoreline.

The Saints started the second half in a worst possible manner as Lewis Bean and Taqele Naiyaravoro were sin-binned in the 43rd and 44th minutes respectively and Mark McCall's men made full use of the numerical advantage with Jack Singleton (46') and Nick Tompkins (49') scoring tries to make the scoreline 15-22.

Mallinder with his second three-pointer in the 55th minute reduced the arrears for the hosts, Ben Earl's try in the 58th minute made the scoreline 18-27. The Saints were with a chance as Mallinder with another penalty goal reduced the gap to six points but Saracens managed to hold on to it despite Alex Lewington's yellow-card in the 76th minute.