Rather than a game of two halves, this was a game of two half-hours.
In the first, Saracens notched up two tries and 18 points, and could sniff a bonus point which would have taken them into the top half of the Premiership.
In the final 30 minutes yesterday, however, all the Londoners had constructed subsided gently like a house of cards under constant pressure from Leeds, who retained their place at the head of the pack chasing the leaders Gloucester.
Saracens enjoyed the bulk of the possession and ample territory, but spent much of the time throwing the ball sideways through innumerable phases and hands, and, critically, showed an inability to complete any of the many chances which came their way.
On another day, Tim Horan's run 13 minutes into the second half would not have ended with the ball bobbling away as he was tackled a metre from the Leeds try-line, but other opportunities went begging: drop goals for the fly-half Andy Goode and the the France full-back Thomas Castaignède, a missed penalty by Goode, a charge-down by Horan and Goode which bounced the wrong way.
The Saracens coach Wayne Shelford did not put his side's failure down to bad luck, however. "I thought at half-time that this was a game which we would have to show a lot of character to win. We lost three tries over the line, and you can't afford to do that at this level. I'm really disappointed, as that's basic skills. If one or two of those tries had gone over in the first half, they wouldn't have come back."
Shelford highlighted a 15-minute spell during the second half as the key to his side's downfall, when they gave away a string of penalties. With Braam van Straaten boasting a success rate close to 80%, the result was inevitable: the Springbok landed three out of four to give Leeds the lead by a point with eight minutes of normal time left.
"Those penalties hurt," said Shelford. "Every time they came down our half we gave away three points, then they went a point ahead and we suddenly started playing catch-up football instead of having the patience to keep our heads."
Even after Chris Hall scored with a minute left, van Straaten's missed conversion gave Saracens a chance. Their second-half effort was summed up by a desperate long throw in a lineout in their own 22. It fell to Leeds for the Gordon Ross drop-goal which gave the Tykes a flattering victory margin.
Earlier, Saracens had looked to have a new edge up front thanks to the return of Christian Califano and David Flatman. The quick hands of the fly-half Kyran Bracken gave Goode the perfect platform to switch play wide to Darragh O'Mahony in the ninth minute, and the wing fed Richard Hill.
Ten minutes later, when Castaignède was put over by Horan, Saracens looked in control, even though Dan Scarbrough knocked the ball out of the Frenchman's hands at the vital moment. The referee Dave Pearson was playing advantage from an earlier infringement, however, and from the lineout Califano drove over.
Two more penalties for Goode was as good as it got for them, however, as Leeds showed the staying power which earned them victory at Bath the previous weekend. "We did have to dig for it," said their director of rugby Phil Davies. While Leeds were digging for victory, however, their visitors were digging too: a very large hole which they found it impossible to get out of.
Leeds: Scarbrough; Harder, Davies, Van Straaten, Hall; Ross, Dickens (Hegarty, 50); Shelley (capt), Regan, Kerr, Campbell (P Murphy, 60), Palmer, Mather, Hyde, Feaunati.
Tries: Ross, Hall. Con: Van Straaten. Pens : Van Straaten 4. Drop-goal: Ross.
Saracens: Castaignède; Arasa (Sorrell, 60), Johnston, Horan, O'Mahony; Goode, Bracken (capt); Flatman (Marsters, 65), Cairns, Califano, Benazzi (Quinnell, 71), Yandell, Peacey (Hooper, 67), Hill, Chesney.
Tries: Hill, Califano. Con: Goode. Pens: Goode 2.
Attendance: 5,015.
Referee: D Pearson (Northumberland).
