Premiership hits jackpot with two mouthwatering semi-finals

For a competition that can sometimes struggle for narrative the Premiership has hit the jackpot with the two semi-final fixtures next Saturday. Northampton’s often sublime, occasionally ridiculous victory against Newcastle ensured a trip to Welford Road to meet Leicester while Saracens and Harlequins, both beaten on Saturday, will as expected lock horns in north London. It does not take a marketing expert to bill next Saturday as Derby Day.

Two contrasting but equally fascinating fixtures are in store and, if Saracens and Harlequins do not share the history that Leicester and Northampton do, there is just as much antipathy, given the salary cap misdemeanours of Mark McCall’s side in recent years.

The defending champions do not try to hide their dislike for Saracens and, though it has been suggested that they struggle at the StoneX Stadium where the atmosphere does not lend itself to the helter skelter that Harlequins crave, there is a confidence coursing through Tabai Matson’s side that, when they click into gear, no one can live with them.

Saracens, by contrast, would relish giving the rest of the league a two-fingered salute by winning the Premiership in their first season back in the top flight. They will be seen as favourites in the eyes of many but they are still missing one or two cogs from the machine that made them nigh-on unbeatable in knockout matches not so long ago. Any side would miss someone of Will Skelton’s size and they have not found the control at scrum-half that Richard Wigglesworth or Ben Spencer used to provide.

Perhaps their biggest issue, however, is that they no longer have the leadership and the experience of Brad Barritt in midfield and there is a sense that Harlequins will have to exploit that