Protesters disrupt Premiership final as Saracens edge Sale, Munster show 'unbelievable balls' to claim URC in Cape Town

The English Premiership final was disrupted by anti-oil protesters throwing orange paint powder before Saracens beat Sale in the glamour match.

The game was delayed when two men ran from the stands. They were tackled by security guards and players helped remove the two men, who were arrested.

It was the latest sporting event to be affected after play was halted at the World Snooker Championship in April and a Premier League football match.

Just Stop Oil said the protesters at Twickenham were a doctor and a construction worker.

A statement read: “Today’s action occurs against a back-drop of more extreme weather events, as increasingly greater carbon concentrations in the atmosphere push us closer to irreversible tipping points, threatening to spin the balance of humanities’ life supports systems out of control.”

A Just Stop Oil throws orange powder on the pitch during the Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)

Saracens later won their sixth title and first in four years when they overpowered a spirited Sale.

Saracens, who finished top of the standings in the regular season, had their noses in front for most of the game having led 20-18 at halftime after a penalty try and one for Max Malins.

Sale, seeking a second title in their first appearance in the final since their sole triumph in 2006, hit back strongly with three tries from Akker van der Merwe, Tom Roebuck and Bevan Rodd to edge ahead midway through the second half to threaten an upset.

Saracens, however, who lost to Leicester via a last-gasp drop goal in last year’s final, delivered the telling blow with quickfire scores by Elliot Daly and Ivan van Zyl late in the second half to open a lead that Sale were unable to close.

“This was not redemption. We have moved on from last year, but it gets brought up a lot,” said man of the match Owen Farrell. “It’s about getting the best out of ourselves as we felt that we closed up shop a bit in the final last year.

“This just shows how strong the group is. When people come to a club like this, not many people want to leave.

“It feels like a family when you’ve been together as long as we have and you want to keep fighting for the group to make it a place where people want to stay and fight for 10 or 15 years.”

After a tense opening spell it was 6-6 after two penalties apiece but the game was held up when the protesters invaded the pitch and let off orange smoke bombs.

After a brief delay, the action resumed and Saracens were awarded a penalty try when flanker Tom Curry tackled Malins off the ball as the winger bore down on a grubber kick over the tryline.

Curry was sin-binned but while he was off Sale surged back to level through Van der Merwe.

Saracens, though, were looking full of energy and invention, as they have all season, and a terrific move set up Malins to put them 20-13 ahead at the break after a great combination between the hugely impressive Farrell and Alex Goode – seeking a remarkable sixth title in his ninth final.

The lead was cut to two early in the second half when Roebuck caught Daly napping as he tried to scoop up a bouncing ball, the winger cleverly chasing and diving to touch down inches inside the dead ball line.

Daly thought he had made amends two minutes later but the TMO ruled that he was in touch before touching down. Farrell, though, landed a penalty soon after to stretch it to 23-18 with 30 minutes remaining.

Sale refused to back down, surging back immediately as Manu Tuilagi smashed a huge hole to replacement prop Rodd to go through and as Ford converted, Sale were ahead for the first time.

With the sun beating down on the hottest day of the year, players started to wilt and some of the sharpness dropped, epitomised when Sale fullback Joe Carpenter took too long over a clearance kick and was charged down, paving the way for Daly to score and edge Sarries back ahead.

The London side then came again as scrumhalf Van Zyl squeezed over, this time Farrell converting for a 10-point lead that broke the back of the Sale challenge.

The vast experience of the most successful team in the country over the last decade ensured they were able to run down the clock without too many further scares and celebrate a victory that their hugely impressive season deserved.

Munster’s ‘unbelieveable balls’

Ireland star Peter O’Mahony hailed his Munster team’s courage after they edged the Stormers in Cape Town to win the first silverware of his career and the club’s first trophy in 12 years.

A late converted John Hodnett try gave Munster a 19-14 win in the United Rugby Championship Grand Final in Cape Town.

Stormer Manie Libbok converted his own try to make it 7-0 but Diarmuid Barron and Calvin Nash crossed for Munster to give them a 12-7 half-time lead.

Deon Fourie scored a converted try to move Stormers ahead but Hodnett went over with five minutes remaining.

More than 5,000 Munster fans travelled to Cape Town in a sold-out 55,000 capacity DHL Stadium to see their team bring down the champions.

Stormers went into the game as favourites despite Munster’s strong away form, which included wins on the road over their final opponents in round 17 of the regular league season, plus Leinster and Glasgow Warriors in the knockout rounds.

Test star O’Mahony was forced out of the action after 34 minutes with a neck injury.

“I can’t really believe it, to be honest with you. I’ve been a long time waiting for it and yeah, I can’t believe it. Happy days,” he said.

“We’ve been on the road a lot and I think it stood to us. We’ve worked hard and we’ve ground out serious, serious victories.

“Even the Sharks away from home that we drew…I think they stood to us today. Unbelievable balls in the second half to put in that performance.”

Hodnett agreed.

“We’ve been on the road I don’t know how many weeks now, we’ve travelled some crazy miles, so it’s great,” he said.

“Battle-hardened, that’s exactly what we’re talking about. We stuck in until the very end. That was the difference.

“We had a couple of weeks off (after losing in the Champions Cup), but I think we just turned it around when we came down here – the win against the Stormers turned our season around and we just built momentum.

“It’s not just the 23 here, it’s everyone at home. The way we trained all year, it’s a group effort really, it’s unbelievable to win.”