By Simon Robinson
February 6 2005

Saints went down 20 - 21 at the Gardens today to a well briefed and hardened Saracens side. Both teams were affected heavily by international callups and injury, so much so that both sides had debut back rowers on the bench.

This result, along with victories for Worcester and Harlequins, leaves Saints bottom of the Premiership with seven matches remaining.

It looked so good for the Saints early on, a Drahm penalty and a debut try for Paul Diggin (making his FG debut), also converted by Drahm, giving Saints a 10 - 0 lead. Saracens battled back, with a Glen Jackson penalty getting them on the board. Sarries then pushed Saints hard with half time looming, and a succession of penalties for the visitors eventually lead to a penalty try. 10 - 10 at half time.

Corne Krige celebrated the birth of his new baby in style ten minutes into the second half, forcing his way over and Drahm's extras saw Saints restored to the lead at 17 - 10. Another Jackson penalty saw the lead trimmed to 17 - 13 before Saracens centre Dan Harris sneaked into the corner for a try - Saracens had the lead at 17 - 18.

A Drahm penalty with 10 minutes left seemed to have the Saints safe at 20 - 18, however Jackson replied with a 50 metre effort just before the end to put the visitors 20 - 21 up. Drahm attempted a similar kick for Saints, but saw it bounce agonisingly off the underside of the crossbar to leave the Saints out for the count.

Enough of the game, what of the action? Refereeing decisions again seemed to swing it away from Saints, however credit has to be given to the Saracens forwards who hammered Saints pack at almost every opportunity.

There were some positives to come out of the match - the lineout seems now to work with Boome back on the pitch, great home debuts for Diggin, Neil Starling and second half replacement Number Eight Iona Sipa, as well as cracking support from the crowd. However, with Saints now having a mountain to climb to get off the foot of the table, we'll need a lot more where that came from.