Saracens produce their finest European performance to defeat Leinster in epic encounter

• Leinster 17 Saracens 25

This will go down in the history of the Champions Cup as one of the truly great contests and certainly the finest performance produced by Saracens.

Mark McCall’s side have enjoyed many red letter days in Europe, having been crowned champions in three of the last four years, and yet given the context and quality of their opposition, this was a victory to eclipse them all.

It was not just a reflection to all that Saracens have gone through over the last year – the shame, the sanctions, relegation and player exodus that followed as a consequence of their salary cap breaches, but also the magnitude of finding the wherewithal and resilience to defeat a side of the quality of Leinster.

Now Saracens, who face the domestic humiliation of relegation to the Championship next season, march on in Europe, facing either Racing 92 or Clermont Aurvergne in France next weekend for a place in next month’s final.

Defending their title no longer looks such a long shot now.

Leo Cullen’s side had gone into the contest on the back of 25 successive victories, stretching back to their Champions Cup final defeat by Saracens last year, and were heavily backed to end the Premiership’s side European hegemony.

And yet it was Saracens who emerged as worthy winners, first taking the game by the scuff of the neck with a first-half performance of such outstanding quality that McCall’s side went into the interval with a 22-3 lead; and then the grit and endeavour to resist a thrilling Leinster revival.

The knowledge that defeat would have ended Saracens’ involvement in competitive top flight matches for a year, could have imbued a sense of panic in such a pressure-cooker but instead it brought out their best.

Alex Goode, the able stand-in for the suspended Owen Farrell,  scored 19 points, finishing a superb try in the first half and kicking four penalties, while Elliot Daly also made a key scoring contribution with two long-range penalties.

But the victory was founded on a monumental performance by the Saracens pack, where Michael Rhodes claimed the man-of-the-match, Maro Itoje served up an 80-minute display of such ferocious quality and commitment to underscore his credentials to be Lions captain for the South Africa tour next year, and Vincent Koch terrorised the Leinster scrum.

Mako Vunipola, despite so little rugby, just kept running and running, while Jackson Wray was a destructive force at the breakdown.

That setpiece dominance yielded a remarkable seven penalties, while half the Saracens pack each made over 10 tackles each, while veterans such as Richard Wigglesworth and Brad Barritt, playing to extend their Saracens’ careers, epitomised their band-of-brothers’ spirit.

“It was the prospect of having another week together,” said Barritt, who so often had given Saracens the midfield platform to attack from. “We know after this season there will be a slightly different looking squad and we owed it to ourselves to have a big game.

“We’ve showed a huge amount of character playing in games that don’t mean anything. Today was about fighting for something tangible. We owed it to ourselves to represent the Saracens badge and I couldn’t be more proud of my team.

"This team has been built through hard work, adversity and resilience and I think that Saracens spirit shone through.

"With and without the ball we won the contacts. The prospect of having another week together was the biggest thing, we were fighting for something tangible."

That the game was played without supporters in the Aviva Stadium only added to the extraordinary circumstances, with each tackle, turnover and penalty won provoking screams of delight from the back room staff and replacements from each side.

It was Saracens who were screaming the loudest at the end, and no wonder.

Wigglesworth provided the control, the 37-year old stepping up in the absence of the suspended Owen Farrell to inflict an aerial bombardment on Leinster’s back three, with James Lowe the main target while his forwards suffocated their opponents’ hopes of producing their vaunted multi-phase attack that that took them to a third successive Pro 14 title with victory over Ulster last weekend.

Leinster, not helped by playing into the stiff breeze in the first half, with a distinct autumnal chill in the air, simply could not fire a shot in the face of one of the most complete 40-minute performances that Saracens have produced this year.

The definitive moment came in the 37^th minute, when Goode was able get on the end of a brilliant off-load by Duncan Taylor for a try that opened up a 19-point gap between the sides.

Leinster are too good a side not to have attempted to claw their way back into the contest and at one stage they managed to rekindle memories of their heroic comeback against Northampton in the 2011 final when they overturned a 16-point deficit to take the trophy.

Tries by Andrew Porter and Jordan Lamour forced Saracens to go to the well once more, and while Rhodes was perhaps fortunate not to receive a yellow card for a high tackle on Sexton, appropriately it was the English club’s scrum that settled the contest, with Goode landing his fourth penalty in the final minute.

"This group of players never cease to amaze us given everything that has happened to produce a performance of that quality, says a lot about them,” said McCall.

“We showed solidarity to see us through. It was about winning as many little victories as we could and put them in positions that they have not been accustomed to.

“This is what we have dreamt about. It has been such a difficult, testing, challenging year for everybody. The playing group has been magnificent in the way that they have stayed united all the way through.”

Match details

Leinster: J Larmour; Keenan, G Ringrose, R Henshaw (R O’Loughlin 51), J Lowe; J Sexton (R Byrne 65), L McGrath (J Gibson-Park 61) ; C Healy (E Bryne 56), S Cronin (R Kelleher 42), A Porter (M Bent 73), D Toner (R Baird 42), J Ryan; C Doris, W Connors (J Van der Flier 52), J Conan.

Saracens: E Daly; A Lewington, D Taylor, B Barritt (D Morris 80), S Maitland; A Goode, R Wigglesworth (A Davies 68); M Vunipola (R Barrington 68), J George, V Koch; M Itoje, T Swinson (C Hunter-Hill 61); M Rhodes (C Clark 72), J Wray, (T Woolstencroft 80) B Vunipola.

Scoring sequence: 0-3 Goode pen; 3-3, Sexton pen; 3-6, Goode pen, 3-9 Goode pen;  3-12, Daly pen, 3-15, Daly pen; 3-20, Goode try, 3-22, Goode con; 8-22, Porter try, 10-22, Sexton con; 15-22, Larmour try, 17-22, Sexton con; 17-25, Goode pen

Ref: P Gauzère (FFR)