Premiership: Saracens 45-39 Northampton Saints - Sarries rally to win thriller

Sean Maitland scored two first-half tries for Saracens as the Premiership leaders made it nine wins from nine

Table-topping Saracens produced a stunning comeback to extend their perfect Premiership record and beat Northampton Saints 45-39 in a thriller.

Sarries were 39-17 behind after an hour at the StoneX Stadium, with Saints centre Fraser Dingwall scoring a hat-trick of tries.

Sean Maitland scored twice in the first half for Saracens, who never gave up.

And with Saints playing a man down, tries in the final six minutes from Ben Earl and Elliot Daly ensured victory.

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Saints were irresistible for the majority of this Premiership classic, but two costly sin-binnings of Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and Tom James for high tackles in the final half-hour proved decisive.

Saints went third as a result of their two bonus points but have played more games than the sides around them and have now lost five of their nine league games.

Sarries have won all nine and are just three behind Newcastle's record start in 1997-98 when they won their first 12 matches on their way to winning the title, by a point, from Saracens.

Alex Goode slotted an early penalty to put the hosts ahead but it was to be 75 minutes until they next led as Saints' Mike Haywood crashed over after a lineout and powerful maul.

Saints' blistering start continued as Dingwall collected a neat pass from Rory Hutchinson and smashed through the line past Daly to increase the lead.

Sarries reduced the deficit with a lightning break down the left with James Flynn feeding Daly, who timed his pass to perfection to send Maitland down the line to dot down in the corner.

After Sarries skipper Earl had seen a try chalked off for an illegal tackle by Maitland, Fin Smith extended Saints' lead to 17-10 with a long-range penalty.

Smith then turned provider with a dropped-shoulder and burst down the middle before a perfect offload sent Dingwall through for his second try, with the fly-half's conversion and another penalty making it 27-10.

However, Sarries cut their deficit to 10 points at the break as Maitland jinked his way to the line on the stroke of half-time, and Goode converted.

Dingwall barged through to complete his hat-trick six minutes after the restart and Courtnall Skosan went over for the fifth Saints try after some sloppy Sarries defending on the touchline, with Smith kicking them into a 22-point lead.

But the tide began to turn when Saints' Australian lock Salakaia-Loto was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle and the Saints defence was breached twice in his absence.

First a break down the blindside led to Maitland sending replacement Gareth Simpson over on the hour before Josh Hallett collected a kick ahead and slid over the line.

The gap was down to eight points when Saints returned to their full complement, but they were forced to see the game out playing a man short again after another yellow card for replacement scrum-half James on 72 minutes.

And they were punished as first Earl and then Daly raced through to score under the posts and complete a stunning turnaround.

After a break for Premiership Cup and European action, plus the cancellation of the league fixtures with Wasps and Worcester, Sarries are next in Premiership action against London Irish on 23 December. Northampton head to Gloucester for their next Premiership game on 3 December.

Saracens head coach Joe Shaw said:

"The key feature is that you never ever stop fighting or believing as, even with four minutes left, we still believed.

"Behind the posts after 56 minutes and 22 points down, we stressed there's still so much time to play and as a result we go and score 28 unanswered points.

"Yes, we were unlucky with injuries and a few tough calls but you have to accept them as part of life and move on and stay focused on your game-plan."

Saracens skipper Ben Earl said:

"Everything seemed to be against us and to get the win was a testament to our resilience and team spirit. We rolled with the punches in the middle 40 of the game and then managed to dig ourselves out in the last 20."

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson said:

"It's very hard to sum up without using expletives as we were very good and then very poor. It's as disappointing as I've been since I've been coaching, especially when we manage to lose all the momentum we had in that game.

"We are not dealing with yellow cards as well as other sides and it's costing us wins as rightly, safety is a major factor in modern rugby.

"So far this season, we have been inconsistent and therefore not good enough but I'm not disheartened as we are playing some good stuff."

Saints centre Fraser Dingwall told BBC Radio Northampton:

"It's very tough to take - largely because the scoreline reflected the game. For the first 55 (minutes) we had full control, we felt good, even their points we would say were fairly cheap. To give away a strong lead in the last 30 minutes is very frustrating.

"The yellow cards had a big impact. The first one came at the worst time possible, just as we'd scored. Credit to Sarries, they are a very good team.

"It's the first time I've scored this season, to then get three, my first hat-trick ever, and to lose… it's heartbreak for me."

Saracens: Malins; Lewington, Daly, Lozowski, Maitland; Goode, Van Zyl; Hislop, Dan, Riccioni, Hunter-Hill, Kitchener, Christie, Earl, Wray.

Replacements: Lewis, Flynn, Clarey, Stonham, Tizard, Simpson, Hallett, Howe.

Northampton Saints: Furbank; Freeman, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Skosan; Smith, Mitchell; Waller, Haywood, Hill, Salakaia-Loto, Moon, Scott-Young, Graham, Augustus.

Replacements: Smith, Iyogun, Painter, Nansen, Sylvester, James, Proctor, Ramm.

Sin-bin: Salakaia-Loto (54), James (71)

Referee: Andrew Jackson.