| Saracens (13) 45 |
| Tries: Goode, Maitland, Dan, Mawi 2 Cons: Farrell 4 Pens: Farrell 4 |
| London Irish (10) 21 |
| Tries: Rogerson, Willemse Con: Jackson Pens: Jackson 3 |
Saracens fought back to beat London Irish 45-21 to ensure they will finish the season top of the Premiership.
Defeat ended the Exiles' top-four hopes and confirmed Leicester and Northampton's places in the play-offs alongside Sarries and Sale.
Irish raced into a 10-0 lead, but Alex Goode's try on the stroke of half-time put the hosts 13-10 ahead.
Paddy Jackson's boot cut the gap to 20-16 after Sean Maitland crossed, but Theo Dan and Eroni Mawi (2) sealed it.
Mike Willemse went over for a consolation try in the final knockings, but a second defeat in eight matches leaves the Exiles seven points adrift of Northampton with one match left, while the leaders are now an unassailable nine points clear of Sale.
Saracens have won all 10 of their Premiership matches at home this season, but will host one more game at the StoneX Stadium this campaign - a play-off semi-final against fourth-placed Saints.
Having rested several internationals in their defeat at Saints last time out - their third reverse in five - Sarries fielded a strong XV including returning England pair Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell.
Yet Irish, who had won eight of their previous 10 in the Premiership, bossed the opening quarter and led 10-0 when Matt Rogerson crashed over from close range following Jackson's early penalty kick.
After an error-strewn start, Saracens began to take a grip on the match and two Farrell penalty kicks cut the gap, while the TMO also ruled out a try when Max Malins was judged to have spilled the ball forward before grounding.
Irish looked set to take a deserved lead into the break when Rory Jennings launched a clearing kick to touch with just eight seconds left.
However, a quick Sarries line-out from their own 10m line caught out the Exiles defence as Ben Earl scorched down the short side and fed Goode for the run in.
Irish lost Rob Simmons to a fifth yellow card of the season within a minute of the second half after a high tackle on Dan, and Sarries capitalised immediately, recycling the ball quickly and whipping the ball left to give Maitland an easy try.
Yet after that Irish managed the absence of Simmons superbly, and Jackson slotted two more penalty kicks to make it 20-16 as the lock returned.
The visitors continued to battle hard to keep their top-four hopes alive, but Saracens eased away again as Dan went over after a routine line-out catch and drive.
Replacement prop Mawi made his presence felt on his 50th Sarries appearance after coming on for Mako Vunipola with 15 minutes left.
The Fijian dived over for the bonus-point score after the hosts nicked an Irish line-out, and moments later he barged past two tacklers to cross from close range, allowing Farrell to take his personal tally with the boot to 20 points.
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall told BBC Radio London:
"There was something to like about those first 20 minutes because everything went wrong, and we were very calm and composed in the way we dealt with it and I like the way we scrapped ourselves back into the game.
"We've finished top of the league in the regular season, which means nothing in lots of ways, but means something in terms of consistency. It's been a really good squad effort to have achieved that.
"Everyone's rested up and raring to go and we've got three weeks to work on the things we need to work on. We need to use that time wisely.
"Today was really important for us because we needed that to go into the semi-final with. It was important that we played well, not for anything else, but for ourselves."
London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney told BBC Radio London:
"We started and played the way we knew we could, but there was probably a few momentum shifts around that time and Saracens have the experience not to get ruffled.
"There's pivotal moments in every game and they managed to get more of those pivotal moments than we did.
"Today's one of those days when you get a bang in the nose and how we respond to that is all important.
"We came into the second-last game of the season with five teams vying for the top four. Unfortunately we didn't make it, but we need to get more and more of these experiences to learn from."
Saracens: Goode, Malins, Lozowski, Tompkins, Maitland, Farrell (c), van Zyl; M Vunipola, Dan, Riccioni, Itoje, Hunter-Hill, Isiekwe, Earl, Wray.
Replacements: Lewis, Mawi, Judge, Tizard, Knight, de Haas, Hartley, Harris.
London Irish: Loader, Cinti, B Janse van Rensburg, Jennings, Hassell-Collins, Jackson, White; Fischetti, Creevy, Hoskins, Ratuniyarawa, Simmons, Rogerson (c), Pearson, Fa'aso'o.
Replacements: Willemse, Haffar, Chawatama, Munga, Gonzalez, Cunningham-South, O'Sullivan, Arundell.
Sin-bin: Simmons (41).
Referee: Adam Leal.
Source: BBC Rugby Union News