On the verge of half-time, as Northampton searched for a try that would give them a 10-point lead, Underhill hurled his body into a desperate stand that eventually earned a breakdown penalty. Four minutes into the second period, Saints fired Burger Odendaal towards Finn Russell. Underhill shot across the channel and chopped down his target. Odendaal needed to withdraw because of a knee injury.
When Northampton finally scored their third try, thanks to George Hendy’s mazy run and more instinctive support play from Mitchell, Underhill was off the pitch. Having passed his head injury assessment, he returned to the fray with Saints 25-21 ahead.
These days, pigeonholing Underhill as merely a defensive destroyer is primitive. In the 55th minute, from a line-out that could have been awkward for Bath, he stormed away from his own try-line and smashed through Curtis Langdon. Since missing out on the initial World Cup squad last year, a decision that stunned peers, the 27-year-old appears to have branched out, as Courtney Lawes has done superbly.
After a phenomenal display in the third-place play-off against Argentina at that tournament, which he featured in as an injury call-up, Underhill demonstrated his resourcefulness during the Six Nations. In the skinny win over Wales, with England down to 13, he scrummaged at lock for Ben Earl’s decisive try. Against Ireland, he flipped an offload to Maro Itoje in the build-up to Furbank’s finish (watch video below). Later, Underhill soared to gather a line-out with his left hand. Generally, his jackalling has seemed more threatening as well.