Saracens kept their double hopes alive by coming from 15 points adrift with just a quarter of an hour left to sweep aside London Irish yesterday. Their fourth get-out-of-jail victory in a row puts them three points ahead of Newcastle with one game left. Newcastle have three matches to play, but the title cannot now be decided until after Saracens tackle the first leg of their double in Saturday's Tetley's Bitter Cup final against Wasps.
Saracens deliberately rested selected players and nearly paid the price when they trailed 21-6 with just 16 minutes left.
Saracens had made the crucial substitution of Ben Sturnham just before Irish achieved their final score with a try from Niall Hogan in the 50th minute, Niall Woods converting.
Sturnham was hugely influential in Saracens's turnaround. After five penalties on London Irish's line, a penalty try was the next step, but Philippe Sella put wing Brendon Daniel in for the try that made it 21-11. Sturnham then crashed over after appearing out of position on the wing, supplying the score that gave Saracens real belief that they could grab the points. Gavin Johnson collected two routine penalty kicks in the 66th and 73rd minutes to put his team that crucial single point ahead and in the 78th minute, Daniel sealed Saracens's relief with a try from halfway after a dropped pass. Johnson converted.
Saracens are great survivors, yet no team has had them so down-and-out as gutsy London Irish, who were within sight of a sixth win in nine matches under Dick Best.
London Irish scored all their points between the 12th and the 50th minutes with Niall Woods landing a couple of penalties, scoring a try and converting Niall Hogan's try which established the 21-6 gap. But the defeat condemns them to a play-off against Rotherham, if play-offs are confirmed by the English RFU later this week.
Saracens: Johnson; Singer, Sella, Sorrell, Daniel; Lee, Olsen; Olver, Chuter, P Wallace; Johns, Grewcock; Bennett, Diprose, Rocque. Replacements: Botterman, Sturnham, Powell, Constable, Grau, R Wallace.
London Irish: O'Shea; Bishop, Venter, McCall, Woods; Humphreys, Hogan; Fitzpatrick, Kellam, Halpin; Harvey, O'Kelly; Spicer, Feaunati Dawson. Replacements: Burns, Redmond, Bird, Campbell, Mooney, Morahan.
Referee: S Lander (Liverpool)
