Saracens 26 Northampton 12: Borthwick calls correctly to sink Saints

It was difficult to know who was getting worn down the quickest; the crowd, for keeping the faith when both teams were clattering down blind alleys, or Northampton, who gradually had the life squeezed out of them. In the final quarter Saracens scored two tries from scrums with their opponents depleted by first one man, then two in the sin-bin.

Huge credit in this flurry of crucial activity went to Saracens' captain, Steve Borthwick, for backing himself and his pack rather than accept a kick at goal when Ben Foden received a yellow card after 64 minutes and Dylan Hartley went the same way six minutes later. From the first scrum – Northampton led 12-9 at the time – Glen Jackson, the Saracens fly-half, crabbed right, looped round Kevin Sorrell and put Rodd Penney in at the right corner. From the second, with Northampton having rejigged their front and back rows, Michael Owen had little trouble gliding from his No 8 station past Ben Lewitt and Scott Gray to the line. Two conversions by Jackson and a 78th-minute penalty by his replacement, Gordon Ross, made Sarries comfortable winners.

No student of the first few weeks of the season would be surprised that these penalties and yellow cards were for slowing the ball down at the ruck. Referees are ever more in the firing line. Yesterday's was Martin Fox, the part-time official lambasted togetherwith a citing commissioner in midweek by the Rugby Football Union's disciplinary chief, Jeff Blackett, for his handling of the James Haskell headbutt incident in Wasps' recent defeat by Worcester.

Two penalties by Stephen Myler to one by Jackson had Saints 6-3 up at the interval. Jackson had missed twice early on. The first half concluded with Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe pleading with Fox to consult the television match official; utterly in vain, as he was asking for a review of a forward pass from Lee Dickson to Chris Mayor, who split the Saracens cover and sent Joe Ansbro to the line. The TMO cannot wind the tape back that far.

On the subject of discipline, Northampton's director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, refused to elaborate on why the Ireland flanker Neil Best had been dropped ahead of Tuesday's citing hearing for alleged gouging of Haskell last weekend. Without Best and Chris Ashton, the prolific try-scorer who had had a tooth removed due to an abscess, Northampton established little flow.

"We don't want to be seen as flash and pretty, we want to be seen as a hard-working side," Mallinder said.

Vicarage Road is in dire need of work. A new block in one corner is half-finished. The East Stand is condemned and empty apart from, slightly perturbingly, the changing rooms and the press box. Little wonder Saracens, as Watford FC's tenants, are looking elsewhere, possibly to London's Olympic Stadium. It is believed Saracens' owner, Nigel Wray, has met Gerry Sutcliffe, the Minister for Sport, who – like everyone else connected with the Games – is mad-keen on leaving "a legacy". A rugby club may fit the bill post-2012, with athletics incorporated.

Both teams were out early for the second half. Maybe they were worried about the roof falling in. Chris Jack was missing, though. The target of most of Saracens' line-out throws sat watching with his left arm in a sling and his head coach, Eddie Jones, confirmed it was a problem with the sterno-clavicular joint. The former All Black will have a scan on Monday.

A penalty and superb drop goal by Myler, interwoven with two more Jackson penalties, kept Saints in front but Borthwick's decision-making did for them in the end. "It was good tactical judgment," said Jones, and rightly so.

Saracens: R Haughton (C Wyles, 51); R Penney, K Sorrell, APowell, K Ratuvou; G Jackson (G Ross, 73), N de Kock; M Aguero (C Johnston, 79), F Ongaro (M Cairns, 67), Johnston (C Visagie, 67), S Borthwick (capt), H Vyvyan (K Chesney, 73), C Jack (B Skirving, 40), M Owen, A Saull.

Northampton: S Myler; B Reihana (capt), J Ansbro, J Downey (C Mayor, 11), S Lamont; C Spencer, L Dickson (B Foden, 51); S Tonga'uhia (T Smith, 53), D Hartley, E Murray (B Stewart, 53), I Fernandez Lobbe (A Rae, 45), C Day (P Shields, 70), M Hopley (B Lewitt, 70), R Wilson, S Gray.

Referee: M Fox (Leicestershire).

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