Saracens beat Harlequins to boost play-off hopes
Nick Tompkins scored Saracens' third try in their victory over Harlequins
- Published
The Prem
Saracens (12) 26
Tries: penalty try, Malins, Tompkins, Dan Cons: Farrell 2
Harlequins (0) 12
Tries: Bradley, Anderson Cons: Smith
Saracens beat Harlequins to boost their Prem play-off hopes and give departing director of rugby Mark McCall a winning farewell at the StoneX Stadium.
Theo Dan went over from a line-out in the 81st minute to give Saracens a maximum five points to help them climb two points above Exeter Chiefs into fourth place.
Saracens raced into a 12-0 lead through a penalty try and a Max Malins score before Bryn Bradley went over in the final quarter to set up a nervy finale.
Nick Tompkins and Cameron Anderson exchanged tries before Dan crossed for the all-important fourth Saracens score to claim a bonus point.
It was the perfect send-off for the hugely successful McCall, who has won three European Champions Cups and six Prem titles during his 15 years in charge.
Saracens have won five successive wins and face Exeter in a shoot-out for a play-off place at Sandy Park on Saturday.
Their pack showed its strength after seven minutes, pushing over from a five-metre scrum for a penalty try with Harlequins' Chandler Cunningham-Smith sin-binned for being offside.
Harlequins defended stoutly and Cadan Murley celebrated his 150th appearance for the club by making a try-saving tackle on Malins before Sean Kerr denied Tobias Elliott.
Saracens could not be stopped, however, and Tom Willis had to go backwards before shifting play out to the right, and the ball eventually found its way to Malins, who went over in the 24th minute to make it 12-0.
The home side could not shake Harlequins off and the visitors finally scored in the 62nd minute when Will Evans made the break before finding Bryn Bradley to cross near the posts for a try, which was by converted by Marcus Smith.
Saracens responded through Tompkins, who crossed over four minutes from time after great work by Olly Hartley.
Harlequins refused to lie down and Anderson went over two minutes later in the right corner after a fine passing move along the backline.
McCall needed a fourth try in the tight play-off fight and it came in stoppage time when Dan powered over and Owen Farrell, whose wife gave birth to a son overnight, kicked the conversion.
Saracens: Malins; Caluori, Tompkins, Hartley, Elliott; Burke, C Bracken; Mawi, George, Street, Itoje (c), Tizard, Isiekwe, Earl, Willis.
Replacements: Dan, Carre, Clarey, McFarland, Michelow, Van Zyl, Farrell, J Bracken.
Harlequins: Benson; Anderson, Kerr, Bradley, Murley; Smith, Porter; Hobson, Riley, Delgado, Carr, Williams, Cunningham-South, Kenningham, Dombrandt (c).
Replacements: Musk, Wenger, Streeter, Green, Driscoll, Evans, Townsend, Cleaves.
Sin-bin: Cunningham-South (7).
Referee: Luke Pearce
