How Northampton Saints have developed into problem-solving match-winners

We often hear players and coaches explain that big matches must be won more than once, such is the inevitability of momentum swings. Teams need to keep their nerve, and occasionally address issues on the hoof.

Both Premiership semi-finals reinforced as much this weekend, with Northampton Saints holding off Saracens on Friday evening. In doing so, Phil Dowson’s side overturned the opponents that had dismissed them at the corresponding stage 12 months previously. They also underlined a new-found resolve, founded on physical steel and mental agility, that has underpinned their season.

Mentality: patience and trust

Fraser Dingwall suggested afterwards that the first 20 minutes had represented “some of the most physical rugby I have been a part of”. “Sarries came out and chucked pretty much everything at us,” admitted the cerebral centre. “We weathered that, which gave us a bit of confidence that we knew we could take what they were going to give us and we hadn’t really fired a shot yet.”

Dingwall cited the Champions Cup semi-final loss to Leinster earlier this month, which helped Saints to appreciate their own worth. “It took us too long to realise that we were well capable of beating Leinster,” he said. “We probably turned up thinking ‘this is pretty much a full Ireland team’ and just sat back to see what they did rather than from the off going at them with our game.”

“Last year, we had the exact same tools,” Dingwall added. “I just don’t think we had the belief.” While their performance was not perfect, Saints demonstrated composure and resourcefulness.

Attack: Finding different avenues

Saracens did not surrender their crown easily. They scrapped hard and stifled Northampton’s rhythm, pressing off the line and pressurising the breakdown. This made it difficult for Saints to impart width. On the Northampton wings, Ollie Sleightholme and Tommy Freeman combined for a meagre 21 running metres, according to Stats Perform.

There was a glimpse of an archetypal Saints attack early on. This clip, from the opening minutes, demonstrates the sort of slick attack with which we associate Saints. Following a high ball from Fin Smith, recovered by Tommy Freeman, they adopt tidy phase shape. Smith is in behind a pod of three with two more forwards – Curtis Langdon and Alex Coles – in midfield. George Furbank is offering an outlet to the wide channels:

Alex Waller lifts a pull-back and Smith sends up Langdon. An offload to Coles gives Northampton impetus:

These scenes were not quite as common as they have been this campaign, and Saints only scored a single try. Saracens scrapped hard and stifled their hosts’ rhythm, even when Northampton appeared to have earned momentum. Here, Burger Odendaal cuts an angle from a scrum:

He crosses the gain line and narrows the defence, but Ivan van Zyl times his dart perfectly to tackle Alex Mitchell and force a fumble:

Saints had to use different tools to beat the defence. Their try arrived from a kick-return situation. As Lucio Cinti clears down the far touchline...

...watch Smith, Odendaal, Juarno Augustus and Freeman. All of them work desperately to get back behind the ball:

Mitchell gathers Cinti’s strike and feeds Furbank, who opens up the field further with a pass to Odendaal:

After Northampton work back towards the far touchline again, Mitchell eyes the fringes:

He arcs towards the near touchline as Owen Farrell pushes up, cutting down his options. Watch Curtis Langdon:

The hooker cuts underneath his scrum-half towards space close to the breakdown, bumping through bodies:

Only then do Saints spread it wider. Following Tom Pearson’s offload to Smith, Furbank hits the line. He watches Nick Tompkins push beyond the ball…

…and threads a beautifully timed pass to Odendaal:

A reverse angle illuminates just how small the window is for Furbank to find his target:

Watch the build-up in full here:

Saints continued to counteract the aggression of Saracens and create opportunities. This box-kick from Mitchell…

…is recovered by Freeman, and leads to three points:

In the second half, Smith slides through a left-footed grubber for Sleightholme:

Another method to nullify aggressive line-speed is zig-zagging phase play. Just prior to half-time, Langdon finds Dingwall with a throw over the top of the line-out. Mitchell finds Odendaal behind the run of Augustus…

…and Saints keep moving in the same direction off the next phase:

They bounce back in-field next, with Pearson carrying…

…before Mitchell probes in the opposite direction. Smith and Landgon combine, with Mitchell getting a second touch from an offload before Saracens commit a breakdown offence:

Later, on the back of more zig-zagging, Dingwall puts Mitchell clear after cutting back against the grain, as Langdon had done much earlier:

Mitchell’s no-look flick is gorgeous…

…and he would have scored but for some heroics from Juan Martín González.

Watch in slow motion how Mitchell teases González away from the ruck before putting Dingwall into the pocket of space that the defender has vacated:

Although Dingwall was disappointed with the attacking display, blaming a degree of rust, Saints reacted impressively to the problems posed by the defence.

Set piece: An 80-minute effort

The sight of Maro Itoje leaving the field with 12 minutes remaining, as Saracens trailed 19-13, was both highly unusual and a compliment to the Northampton scrum:

Mark McCall evidently felt as though he needed a sturdier lock, and brought on Hugh Tizard for additional ballast. It did not matter. Saints milked another scrum penalty in the 70th minute, which Smith kicked for a decisive lead:

When the stakes are high, an effective set piece requires four props and muscle in the second row. On the loosehead side of the front row, Saints have started Alex Waller and introduced Emmanuel Iyogun late on. The latter, who has not found it easy to maintain mass in the past, now sits at around 120kg and has kicked on superbly over the second half of this season.

Trevor Davison is playing superbly at tighthead with Elliot Millar Mills, a Scotland debutant during the Six Nations who troubled Leinster from the bench, going from strength to strength. Alex Coles and the departing Alex Moon are obviously good shovers in the engine room. Saracens competed hard in the air at the line-out, yet only managed one steal and were bullied by a powerful maul in the 59th minute:

In areas they were previously considered flaky, Northampton seem strong.

Defence: Playing the referee

A robust hit from Smith on Tompkins five minutes from half-time, before Juarno Augustus snaffled an interception, summed up the defensive resilience of Saints. Saracens run a cute break-out play from a maul with Jamie George feeding Van Zyl behind Ben Earl...

...yet Smith repels Tompkins powerfully, with the help of Augustus. Tompkins offloads to Van Zyl and Smith completes a second tackle in as many seconds. Augustus then nabs possession:

Coles topped the tackle count by some distance, completing 18 according to Stats Perform. Mitchell was bustling and committed, too. He begins this line-out in the five-metre channel…

…and covers across to stop González after Owen Farrell’s kick-pass moments later. Watch how Mitchell untangles himself to tackle Ben Earl immediately, with Courtney Lawes arriving to jackal:

It was vital that Northampton reacted to the interpretations of Christophe Ridley, who was not rewarding jackallers unless they were technically perfect. Both Lawes and Tom Pearson were collared at the breakdown for failing to support their bodyweight.

Here, in the build-up to Alex Lewington’s try for Saracens, Lawes contests on two consecutive phases without success. Tompkins just about defies him here…

…and Ridley does not reward him here:

Fittingly, though, the game finished with a coup for Lee Radford’s defence. The rugby league convert has encouraged his players to hold up carriers with grapple tackles that slow attacks. With Saracens’ last roll of the dice, Theo Dan embarks on a carry from his own 22. Odendaal, Lawes and Temo Manayavanua are opposite the dynamic hooker...

...and engulf him before any support players can arrive:

Ridley whistles for the turnover, and Northampton are bound for Twickenham.

Bath are loaded with quality and will pose more problems in the Premiership final. It just seems as though Saints have become a team equipped to roll with the punches and throw flurries of their own.