Theo Dan offered a reminder of his rare dynamism as Saracens punished Northampton Saints for a horrible first half and left the latter’s title defence on life support.

Unpredictability is the Premiership’s unique selling point these days. There have been five different champions in as many seasons and – from as far out as the weekend before Christmas – Saints will need an extraordinary resurgence to make the top four.

They will tuck into their turkey in eighth place, above only Newcastle Falcons and Exeter Chiefs. To crack the play-offs, Northampton will probably need eight victories in their remaining 10 Premiership matches. Saracens were far more accurate and energetic than them while this game was in the balance, with Fergus Burke bagging two tries in a haul of 19 points and Dan ripping around the field for the first 50 minutes before Jamie George replaced him.

England have invested in Dan considerably, granting him 15 caps as well as an enhanced elite player squad contract. Yet Luke Cowan-Dickie was drafted in as George’s bench deputy for the last three autumn internationals, seemingly over concerns about Dan’s scrummaging. Dan is sure to be in the Six Nations shake-up nonetheless. What he does offer is explosive athleticism, particularly when hurtling away from the tail of mauls, which helped Saracens plunder four tries before half-time.

Mark McCall’s men are now third, five points beneath Bath and Bristol Bears. Afterwards, both Dan and captain Maro Itoje highlighted that Saints had dealt Saracens three defeats last term – twice in the regular season and then once more at the semi-final stage.

“We spoke last year about how Saints out-enthused us, about how they were more physical than us,” Dan explained. “We said we had to bring it and not give them a sniff.’

A week after their tough, intrepid performance in Pretoria, Northampton returned to domestic action and produced a first period that was diametrically opposed to that Champions Cup win over the Bulls. It was pock-marked by handling errors, scrum penalties, flaky tackling and a failure to grasp the kicking exchanges, leaving them 24-0 down at half-time. Television cameras captured Phil Dowson, a figurehead who rarely deviates from a measured demeanour, reading the riot act. He had no other option. “The message wasn’t particularly festive,” admitted Dowson, who did not reach for his squad’s taxing return from South Africa as an excuse. “I felt it was more of an emotive message we needed.”

Even with late disruption, Elliot Daly withdrawing due to a tight hamstring that needed Liam Williams to shift to full-back and Brandon Jackson to start on the left wing, Saracens settled quicker. They thought they had gone ahead through Nick Tompkins, who was celebrating a 200th appearance, but the centre had chased Burke’s grubber from an offside position. Barely 60 seconds later, Ivan van Zyl sent Tobias Elliott down the short side of a maul and Burke could gather a chip.

Tom Willis had a second chalked off before Rhys Carre’s close-range shunt, in the wake of carry from Dan, extended the lead. Saints simply could not find any sort of foothold. Another scrum penalty invited Saracens into their 22 and Dan darted away from another drive, this time in the opposite direction. He disposed of James Ramm and dragged Curtis Langdon over the line for a superb finish.

Northampton would have been despondent with the bonus-point try. Jackson and Williams made ground close to the touchline and Van Zyl hooked a shallow chip over the top, a leaping Lucio Cinti batting back to release Burke. Saints’s wretched 40 minutes ended with a botched line-out five metres from the Saracens line.

Dowson’s stern pep talk provoked a reaction – and a revival. Four minutes into the second period, Tommy Freeman ghosted through from 30 metres out. Itoje was then extremely fortunate not to see red for a high tackle that clattered Tom Lockett. Tom Pearson capped an attack that had been driven by two of his own big runs, reducing the deficit further, and Northampton brought Henry Pollock, Fraser Dingwall and Ollie Sleightholme off the bench in a bid for impetus. It was a Saracens replacement, however, who struck next, George powering over – with a pirouette – from another maul.

Ben Earl promptly put the game beyond doubt, capitalising as Saracens swarmed up to force a turnover, but Saints stuffed a bonus point into their stocking with Sleightholme sneaking over out wide and George Hendy breaking to feed Archie McParland.

As strong as Bath and Bristol look, Saracens are loitering with intent. “We have a team full of extreme talent,” Itoje said. “We want to see how far we can go.”

Match details

Scoring sequence: 5-0 Burke try, 7-0 Burke conversion, 12-0 Carre try, 17-0 Dan try, 22-0 Burke, 24-0 Burke conversion, 24-5 Freeman try, 24-7 Smith conversion, 24-12 Pearson try, 29-12 George try, 34-12 Earl try, 36-12 Burke conversion, 36-17 Sleightholme, 36-22 McParland try, 36-24 Smith conversion, 39-24 Burke penalty.

Saracens: L Williams (A Hall 73); T Elliott, L Cinti, N Tompkins, B Jackson (A Lozowski 47), F Burke, I van Zyl; R Carre (P Brantingham 45), T Dan (J George 52), F Balmain (A Clarey 45), M Itoje, T McFarland (H Wilson 73), J Martín González, B Earl, T Willis (T Knight 68). Yellow card: Itoje, 46.

Northampton Saints: G Hendy; T Freeman, T Litchfield (F Dingwall, 52), R Hutchinson, J Ramm (O Sleightholme 56); F Smith, A Mitchell (A McParland 62); E Iyogun (T Haffar 51), C Langdon (N Langdon, 66), T Davison (E Millar-Mills 62), T Lockett (T Manayavanua 46), C Munga, A Coles, T Pearson, J Augustus (H Pollock 47).

Referee: A Leal.