Farrell’s Saracens was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent’s quick free kick after 22 minutes. The Harlequins, however, were gaining the first physical exchanges, especially around the maul. Maro Itoje was twice penalized for an early compromise, but the Saracens were accidentally left out.
A mix in the middle of the field seemed like the perfect opportunity for everyone to catch their breath. Instead, the Harlequins took advantage of it as an opportunity to reach the next blow. A great push from the front row of the Quins, led by Will Collier, pulled Saracens ’back row out of the equation giving Marcus Smith the match he longed for. His right-footed pass left Farrell in the air and passed Aled Davies before passing to Danny Care, who made a silent gesture in support of the Saracens.
If the first quarter was of Harlequins, the next period was the time to dominate the Saracens. With a lot of pressure inside the Harlequins 22 with great input from Billy and Mako Vunipola, Earl showed why he was selected as a Premiership player of the season with a strong career that surpassed both Will Evans and Joe Marler. .
Farrell missed the conversion and then deflected with a drop goal. The feeling of being at war increased when he was busted by Quins Walker’s prostitute, bleeding from behind his ear, with Joe Marchant grabbing the loose ball to score. Instead, the TV match official cleared the test and knocked Walker down for the head-on collision.
The Saracens immediately set to work taking advantage of the man, the Vunipolas drove hard and Maro Itoje fell a few inches. Farrell had an overlap of three against one outside of him, but took the option to go through Smith and unload Nick Nickkins to make sure Saracens had a half-lead.
Given that in the semifinals last year they were 28-0 adrift, the Harlequins shouldn’t have found a 15-13 disadvantage too intimidating, but they started the second half as badly as possible. Dombrandt failed to restart, Billy Vunipola lured Quins with a great run, allowing Alex Goode to serve Earl on his second line after Care stepped off the line and slipped.