Saracens 31 Harlequins 17
Harlequins’ dreams of making the Premiership final ended after they surrendered a half-time lead in a dramatic match at Allianz Park.
Ugo Monye and Mike Brown touched down in the first half to put Quins 17-11 ahead at the break.
But they conceded 20 unanswered points in the second period as a dominant Saracens, who finished top of the table and are in the Heineken Cup final next week, scored through Brad Barritt and Chris Ashton.
They will now meet Northampton Saints in the Premiership final at Twickenham on 31 May.
Having squeaked into the play-offs by beating Bath on the final day of the regular season, Quins were huge underdogs against a Sarries side who had beaten them 39-17 at Wembley in March.
After a slow first half hour, the game exploded into life when Saracens found themselves down to 13 men, Marcelo Bosch and Matt Stevens yellow carded.
Quins exploited the numerical advantage with Monye going over and Nick Evans converting, but Sarries hit back almost immediately through flanker Kelly Brown, although Owen Farrell’s missed kick kept the lead at 11-10.
With half-time approaching, a Tim Molenaar tackle coughed up the ball on halfway, Chris Robshaw got a toe to it and Brown chased it down to send the Quins fans delirious.
The drama continued in the second half. Danny Care’s drop goal hit a post and that proved to be the turning point, with Saracens scoring moments later through Barritt, who broke through a tackle to score.
The home side had another try disallowed by the TMO but they weren’t long in extending their lead as Quins began to tire, England winger Ashton crossing with his famous swallow dive.
Farrell’s conversion and a later penalty put Saracens out of sight as Quins hopes of making the Twickenham showpiece were dashed.
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This post was last modified on 19/05/2014