Saracens hold off Saints in frantic finale

DESPITE the scandals that have rocked rugby this summer, the game’s popularity shows no sign of waning on the evidence of the past two weekends.

Almost 45,000 spectators turned up to watch Saracens’ 19-16 Guinness Premiership win over Northampton on Saturday at Wembley. The crowd, coupled with the gate at last weekend’s Twickenham double header, meant over 111,000 fans have watched Saracens in two games, while more people attended the Wembley experiment than watched the Tri-Nations decider between New Zealand and South Africa.

The match itself was instantly forgettable apart from a frantic finale that saw Saints prop Soane Tonga’uiha controversially denied a late match-winning try by the TMO.