Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall described his side’s 28-24 Gallagher Premiership defeat away to Northampton as “a painful experience” after they surrendered a 17-point lead and their play-off hopes were dented.
Early in the second half, Saracens led 22-7 but from nowhere Saints conjured a remarkable rally despite having substituted newly-selected British and Irish Lions, Fin Smith and Alex Mitchell.
The result leaves Saracens sixth in the table and securing a play-off spot is no longer in their hands as a victory by fourth-placed Bristol next weekend will ensure the West Country side finish above them.
McCall said: “It was a painful experience and a hugely disappointing ending as we were all over the place in the final 20 minutes.
“In the first half, we played with intensity and exactly as we had planned to have the better of full-strength European Cup finalists, but after that we were really poor.”
Tom Willis, Juan-Martin Gonzalez, Alex Goode and Rotimi Segun crossed over for Saracens, with Fergus Burke converting twice.
Tarek Haffar scored a brace of tries for the hosts, with Josh Kemeny also on the try-scoring sheet. There was also a penalty try award, with Rory Hutchinson kicking two conversions and Fin Smith adding one.
McCall was disappointed in his side’s lack of consistency, adding: “The performance today fully encapsulates our mixed-bag season as the gap between our best and worst is far too wide.
“We didn’t deserve to win and just have to suck it up.”
The winning try scored by Haffar in the final minute came from a flowing move but there were clear suspicions of two forward passes.
As a result, there were lengthy TMO reviews but the try was allowed to stand despite the protestations of their skipper Maro Itoje.
McCall said: “Everybody knows if it doesn’t look right and it probably didn’t but I haven’t studied any replays in detail.”
It was a memorable way for Saints to sign off their final home game of the season as they beat their opponents for the fifth consecutive time at the Cinch Stadium and have only lost two games at the venue since October 2023.
However, it was not all positive for Northampton as – ahead of next Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup final against Bordeaux – they lost Curtis Langdon and James Ramm to injury.
Director of rugby Phil Dowson said: “We were drab and lacklustre in the first half but the bench took it to a different physical level.
“The forward pass calls in the final play were in the lap of the gods. It was a 50-50 call but luckily it went our way.
“However, even if it hadn’t, our second-half performance spoke volumes about our group as we dominated the second half in terms of possession and territory.
“On the injury front, Curtis has a stinger on his shoulder, which he has had before. Alex Coles has a knee problem and James Ramm had a bang on his shin. All could be doubts for next week but it’s too early to assess.”