Following Saturday’s late, late 21-17 PREM Rugby win for Northampton Saints over Saracens at the Tottenham Stadium, we pick out our winners and losers.
Winners
Sam Vesty
We have always liked the creative Northampton head coach but like him even more after he this week accused Steve Borthwick’s bungling England of lacking identity. That bolshy boast could have heaped pressure on Vesty to ensure his team delivered a performance full of brio and imagination, but there wasn’t much anxiety about the way his charges initially went about their business.
From the opening play, when Rory Hutchinson cleverly kicked ahead after the kick-off receipt went loose, you knew you were in for a treat, and we then had Tom Litchfield stepping inside to open the scoring on seven minutes, following a show of slick handling after some bruising carrying and breakdown clearing. It was polished play and while there was a 65-minute gap in between the two super tries scored by Archie McParland, a delay in which the loss of Fin Smith after a first-half HIA, the way Vesty’s Saints continued to bet the house on themselves was impressive. It was ultimately rewarded with the win.
Rhys Carre
The Saracens loosehead broke the internet earlier this month with the emphatic way he left Ireland speedster Robert Baloucoune for dead and then accelerated away like a 100-metre sprinter to score for Wales in the Six Nations. He was up to his tricks again here with Saracens, who were in dire need of some inspiration after coming within a penalised crossing of trailing 0-21 in as many minutes.
Down 0-14, the way he bashed Hutchinson when deciding to be direct and physical was the pep to the step the Londoners needed. There was also a first-half one-handed offload during another gallop, and then a couple of scrum penalty wins when heaving against Luke Green. Nearly three years on from his gut-gate dismissal from Welsh training by Warren Gatland, the 28-year-old was playing for fun and excelling in his 51 minutes. It was brilliant to see.
Archie McParland
Alex Mitchell’s hamstring injury during the Six Nations with England should have negatively impacted Northampton, but the truth is they have a ready-made replacement in McParland and he revelled in this glamour fixture. His service was crisp and while things got difficult for his team during the second half, his head didn’t drop in the slightest and he went on to account for their decisive try.
His smart line of support running had already been showcased in the 13th minute with his timely sprint with Smith on the break. That created a two-on-one on last-man Elliot Daly and Smith’s pass was perfect to guarantee the score. It was similar with two minutes remaining, McParland sensing a chance was on with the ball reaching Litchfield, and it was no surprise to see him appear in support and take the pass to score. A super contribution.
PREM Rugby
The league in England gets its fair share of criticism, especially with its ‘closed shop’ abandonment of relegation. However, the idea of clubs following Harlequins’ rewarding tactic of moving some matches to a vastly greater capacity stadium has cottoned on and Saturday was a sparkling showcase for what can be achieved by smart marketing.
Having welcomed more than 24,000 to Villa Park for Gloucester-Leicester and then over 45,000 to the Principality for Bristol-Harlequins, the Saturday PREM Rugby cake was lavishly decorated by approximately 60,000 packing in at Tottenham for Saracens-Northampton. With that type of interest, the clubs should become bolder and visit these bigger stadiums more often. It’s brilliant for business and fantastic for growing the sport.
Tobias Elliott
The only sliver of encouragement that Saracens could take from their annihilation at Bath last weekend was that their unheralded winger scored two tries – and he was at it again at Tottenham, impressing at a time in the first half where so many of his teammates were looking ropey. With the Londoners two converted tries down, they needed a transfusion and the No.14 provided it.
There was nothing on when a pass from Daly bounced on the grass. He took it running back across the pitch in the direction in which the ball arrived before arching in between George Furbank and Hutchinson and having enough to leave James Ramm unable to make up the ground. It was his 10th try in 19 PREM games – a healthy strike rate in any rugby fan’s language – and he also enjoyed a big second-half moment as it was his 71st-minute break that helped to force the penalty that Burke kicked for the 17-14 lead.
Henry Pollock
Tom Pearson was awarded the official player of the match medal but, as constructive as he was, he was eclipsed in our eyes by his fellow blond-haired Saints back-rower. It was a big evening for the youngster, this high-profile match coming a day after it was announced that he had hooked up with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom, but away from the glitz and the flash, he put in a real shift for his team here. There were moments of frustration, such as the crossing that resulted in his 19th-minute try getting chalked off and then the fumbling of a McParland pass early in the second half that would surely have produced a try to build on their 14-7 interval lead.
As it was, he got stuck in, making hard yards, putting his head over the ball to do things like stealing from Daly on the floor in the 27th minute and also denying Hugh Tizard a 49th-minute try. Of course, when it came to the winning score from McParland, he was in amongst the celebrations. Fair play to him on this occasion, given the way the game had unfolded.
Maro Itoje
It’s been a rotten 2026 so far for the England skipper, but the Arsenal fan found refuge at the home of their arch football rivals Tottenham, Itoje producing a resilient performance that backboned his team’s fightback from a perilous-looking situation to being in the lead coming down the finishing straight.
It was in the 20th minute when he first came to notice, taking the fight to the Saints after Saracens had just earned the reprieve of the third try they conceded in the opening quarter getting scrubbed off due to an infringement. His defiance only increased from there, and a 30th-minute penalty turnover win only added to the sense of superiority that bled through in his play, eventually resulting in his team taking a 72nd-minute lead and looking poised for a much-needed victory.
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Losers
Saracens
Mark McCall said in the aftermath that his team had produced “a performance to be proud of”. They certainly did that, his players rallying round after last weekend’s outcry where he outlined post the hammering in Bath that he needed operators who were “up for the fight”. Their collective response was impressive as they could have easily collapsed when two early tries down and Northampton threatening to run away with it.
However, given their situation on the table and bearing in mind that play-off rivals Leicester had picked off Gloucester earlier on Saturday, this was a match where Saracens had to nail the win but they ultimately didn’t have the necessary composure and connection and defence to safeguard their hard-fought lead. That was a real pity given the level of effort put in before that, but there is no room for sentiment in the play-off race where they are now 13 points behind Exeter in the fourth and last qualifying place with six matches remaining.
Fin Smith
It doesn’t sit right that the Saints’ out-half is listed in this category, but his enforced 30th-minute exit robbed him of going on and building on what up to that point had been a terrific display. With him gone, the reshuffle that materialised resulted in Northampton not having the range of potency they had shown with Smith pulling the strings. Forget conservatism; he wants to play when it is on and we had revelled in seeing a sparkling example of this on 13 minutes.
There was no sense watching from on high that there was space to be exploited but after taking a pass near halfway from Curtis Langdon, he shaped to pass and this moving of Saracens shoulders encouraged him to straighten and go for broke. In the blink of an eye, he was hurtling towards the 22 in a two-on-one against Daly and the pass was perfect to invite the gleeful McParland to score after he ran his Mitchell-type support line. His top play was missed after he exited. It was unfortunate as he was set to go on and have a stellar influence on the outcome.
Owen Farrell
Marquee matches such as this at Tottenham have always been the type of occasion that the Saracens veteran has risen to, but it said a lot that with 10 minutes remaining and the score deadlocked at 10-10, his boss McCall felt it best that the team didn’t need him.
Results that are in jeopardy used to be the situation where Farrell could be most depended on to deliver. However, after a grind of an evening, he was called ashore and it was Burke who put the Londoners ahead two minutes later with a penalty kick. He wasn’t the only oldie that can’t be happy; full-back Daly also had his moments of uncertainty during his 100th appearance for the club in a week where he agreed a contract extension.
Theo McFarland
There was a time when the Samoan was an irresistible force and his influence on bruising battles used to be felt. However, no more than some other Saracens players, that old flow where things came easy in his game isn’t happening as freely.
The defensive work rate here of the likes of Andy Onyeama-Christie, Itoje and Tizard very much left him in the shade and there were some turnovers he can’t be comfortable with in what became a game of inches. He is still a talented player but his averageness was reflective of the way that Saracens are struggling to convincingly piece it all together and thrive like they used to.
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