Saracens serve Premiership notice with six-try victory against Northampton

Yesterday at 12:17 PM

• Saracens 39-24 Northampton
• Fergus Burke leads the way for home side with two tries

It was a cold, bleak midwinter afternoon in north London but the race to be crowned as England's top club side in 2025 is hotting up. Saracens also have key upcoming games against the Premiership pace-setters Bath and Bristol over the next fortnight and this emphatic win over last season's champions underlined their ambitions to finish top of the tree in six months' time.

If it helped that Northampton, 24-0 down at half-time, were initially miles off the pace there was no doubting the hosts' superior power, aggression and defensive line speed off the back of a couple of encouraging Champions Cup results. Their aerial game also heaped pressure on Saints' rearguard and the upshot was six tries and third place in the table heading into Christmas.