Northampton hung on with 14 men to hold off Saracens in a Vicarage Road thriller and reclaim third place in the Zurich Premiership table.

Saints appeared to be coasting to victory after tries from Chris Hyndman, Shane Drahm and Bruce Reihana had earned them a 22-10 lead early in the second half.

But Saracens belied their lowly position in the league table with a try apiece for Nicky Little and Robbie Kydd - and mounted a furious late assault on the Northampton line after the visitors had lost Mark Robinson to the sin-bin.

And ultimately it needed a last-gasp tackle from Oriol Ripol to bring down wing Paul Bailey within a metre of the line in the final play of the game.

Both sides were without major stars with Northampton's Matt Dawson, Paul Grayson, Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson on duty in Rome, while Saracens were without back-row talisman Richard Hill, Scotland's Robbie Russell and England Sevens star Richard Haughton.

But despite the absence of the big names, the meagre Vicarage Road crowd of 5,651 was treated to a hugely entertaining contest.

Saracens opened by launching a furious series of attacks prompted by Thomas Castaignede's guile and Kris Chesney's muscular approach.

Chesney and Taine Randell linked up to put Little in for the opening try at the end of sustained pressure in the fourth minute, with the centre converting from wide on the right.

Saracens, though, could not build on their flying start and Little missed two kickable penalty shots before succeeding with his third in the 22nd minute .

Drahm had already pulled three points back from long range in the 15th minute and Robinson's eye for the half chance created their opening score 10 minutes before the break.

Kydd spilled the scrum-half's kick ahead, the athletic Robinson dived in to reclaim possession and the ball was moved across the width of the field for Chris Budgen to give Hyndman the scoring pass.

That score was the cue for another series of Saracens attacks from deep with Kydd and Darragh O'Mahony making breaks their team-mates could not finish off.

The increasing tension between the two packs led to Saracens being reduced to 14 men when Ibanez was yellow-carded by referee Steve Leyshon for stamping five minutes before the interval.

And while they were a man down, Northampton struck with the first of two seemingly decisive tries in three minutes early in the second half.

The first was created and finished in the 45th minute by Drahm, whose scything break started the attack that ended with Reihana putting him over in the left-hand corner.

The second was another long-range effort scored by Reihana but made by Robbie Morris. The replacement prop forward showed an astonishing turn of speed to burst 40metres clear of the cover down the right and deliver the perfect scoring pass.

Drahm's two conversions opened up a 12-point lead only for Saracens to come again in the 57th minute when Kydd picked the perfect angle to cut through the cover and hold off the last defender to reach the right-hand corner.

Northampton were really on the ropes when Little kicked his second penalty after Robinson was sin-binned 10 minutes from time for some illegal work defending at a ruck.

They survived - but only just - as Paul Bailey's dazzling break took him within inches of pulling off a remarkable Saracens comeback when he was stopped short under the posts.