Fin Smith edges Northampton to victory over Saracens to

Premiership semi-final: Northampton 22-20 SaracensSmith scores 17 points to end champions’ title defence

The champions are gone; the league leaders march on. It was a choke tackle at the end that finally finished Saracens off, initiated by none other than Courtney Lawes, playing his final match at Franklin’s Gardens. With it Northampton thwarted a last-gasp comeback by one of the country’s champion teams, so many of whom were also playing their last game.

So the English game says farewell, for now at least, to some of its most decorated players. Owen Farrell heads off to France without that last gong, so too the Vunipola brothers. The Saints defence was unyielding throughout, subjected to all Saracens could throw at them. Two interventions of the highest class by Farrell earned the visitors two second-half tries, the second by Lucio Cinti with just the one minute on the clock. But Saracens’ hunt for the kick of any kind that would have snatched an outrageous win even by their standards was snuffed out by the home defence.