Tuesday 15 April 2014 13:32, UK
Saracens face an anxious wait to discover the extent of the foot injury that forced Owen Farrell off during the 28-24 Aviva Premiership victory over Northampton.
The win meant that Sarries virtually assured themselves of top spot and a home semi-final but Farrell damaged his right foot at Allianz Park and failed to appear for the second half.
Director of rugby Mark McCall will be anxious to have the fly-half fully fit for the play-offs and Heineken Cup semi-final but does not yet know how long, if at all, he will have to cope without him.
"It's too early to say about Owen. It's a foot injury and you never know with foot injuries. Owen doesn't remember when it happened. We'll have news later in the week. He couldn't kick with it," McCall said.
Saracens coasted into a 28-10 lead with tries from David Strettle, Kelly Brown and Marcelo Bosch, but Saints fought back with a late flurry of points after Luther Burrell and George North crossed in the final 10 minutes.
It's too early to say about Owen. It's a foot injury and you never know with foot injuries.
McCall added: "It was tight at the end but I wouldn't want to ignore the first 70 minutes. We were really good and hard to handle at times.
"I was chuffed with how we played and I think that's up there with how well we've played all season.
"What I enjoyed was the intent we had in everything we did. Intent to attack, intent carrying, intent at chasing kicks and intent in defence. We'll ignore the last 10 minutes because before that we were brilliant."
Second-placed Northampton are 10 points adrift of Saracens and their lead over Leicester, who occupy third, is only three points.
The loss at Allianz Park was their third successive Premiership defeat, but director of rugby Jim Mallinder is not overly concerned about the poor run.
"Saracens dominated the game for 70 minutes. We didn't get many opportunities," Mallinder said.
"We're disappointed because the accuracy of our game wasn't quite there, but we showed character to come back. We're not playing as well as we did before and during the Six Nations.
"But we're not too concerned because Saracens are a good side and we know we played into their hands a bit."
Mallinder revealed that hooker Dylan Hartley is expected to return from his shoulder injury before the end of the season, while prop Alex Corbisiero's comeback from a knee problem is pencilled in for May 2 against Bath.
