Saints fightback hits Sarries play-off hope

SARACENS - so good for 50 minutes, so poor for the final half hour - saw their play-off hopes take a serious dent when they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at Franklin’s Gardens.

- By BRENDAN GALLAGHER

Travelling fans were fuming at what they claimed was a forward pass in Saints’ dramatic late winner — and perhaps with justification — but in truth Mark McCall’s team had been playing with fire for most of the second half when they lost focus and control.

On another day, they might have coughed up a penalty try when Alex Goode illegally tackled Fraser Dingwall in the air when the Saints skipper had the line at his mercy.

On another day, Ivan van Zyl, on the ground after slipping and therefore out of the game, might not have been allowed to reach in and disrupt Tom Seabrook as he sought to complete an unlikely score from a speculative kick ahead.

On another day, Alex Coles’ second-half try might have been upheld and not overturned, and on another day Juan Martin Gonzalez’s first-half try would most certainly have been called back for a pretty obvious forward pass from Elliot Daly.