Saracens completed a stunning comeback in front of a club record crowd at Wembley to defeat world champions South Africa 24-23.

More than 46,000 supporters watched the Springboks storm into an 18-3 lead towards the end of the first half. But the revitalised Saracens were a different side in the second half and tries from Ernst Joubert and Brad Barritt along with a decisive drop goal from Derick Hougaard gave them a famous win.

The Men in Black picked a strong side to face the Springboks. Sarries had seven South Africans starting the clash including captain Wikus van Heerden and fly half Hougaard. Michael Tagicakibau was also given the chance to star with a spot on the wing on the opposite side to Noah Cato.

South Africa went into the match off the back of defeats to Leicester Tigers and France. But they kept faith with most of the players from the midweek side which was beaten by the Guinness Premiership champions.

It took Saracens less than two minutes to take the lead when Hougaard fired over the first penalty of the match. But the Springboks came straight back and were given a penalty which enabled Ruan Pienaar to level the score.

The visitors went in front for the first time after Van Heerden was penalised for a high tackle and Piennar fired over the penalty. Sarries had a great escape in the 16th minute when South Africa looked odds on to score. Andries Bekker raced towards the line but Cato pulled off a miraculous recovery to force him into touch before he grounded the ball.

South Africa were dominating possession and territory but Sarries’ excellent defence kept them at bay until the breakthrough in the 28th minute. Juan de Jongh picked up the ball and the centre forced his way over for the first try despite the desperate attempts of Kameli Ratuvou. Pienaar’s conversion failed to find the target.

Sarries’ attacking efforts in the first half were summed up by Hougaard’s ambitious penalty effort from his own half which failed miserably short of the posts. Brendan Venter’s side were penalised for coming in at the side but they escaped when Pienaar miscued his kick.

The Men in Black fell further behind three minutes before the break when a hopeful high kick was knocked on by Ashley Johnson and wing Jongi Nokwe caught the ball and ran unopposed to score for the Springboks. It was a blatant knock on and the crowd booed at the referee’s failure to disallow the try. Pienaar added the conversion as the world champions extended their advantage to 15 points. With the last kick of the half, Hougaard kicked over a routine penalty but Saracens still had their work cut out at the break.

The biggest cheer of the night came during half-time when a supporter, Stuart Tinner, struck gold by winning the crossbar challenge and scooping £250,000.

Saracens needed a fast start to the second half and they got it when Joubert charged down Francois Hougaard’s clearance and the South African dived over in the corner. But Hougaard was unable to add the conversion from the left touchline.

The Men in Black were much more of a threat during the second half and they came close to getting another try when Rodd Penney offloaded to Ratuvou but the Fijian could not keep hold of the ball.

The momentum was shifting to Saracens and the Guinness Premiership leaders brought the house down with their second try of the night. A scrum near the tryline allowed replacement Kevin Barrett to set up Barritt and the powerful centre forced his way over. Hougaard fired over a simple penalty and within 14 minutes of the restart Sarries were level at 18-18.

The hosts wasted a glorious opportunity to put themselves in front midway through the second half when Hougaard’s penalty attempt from the right side of the pitch sailed narrowly past the post.

South Africa had taken a battering but they came to life again and led to Nokwe scoring his second try which gave them a 23-18 lead but Saracens again felt hard done by because of a forward pass in the move. Pienaar could not find his touch with the boot as the conversion drifted wide.

Saracens narrowed the gap to just two points with 12 minutes remaining when Hougaard kicked a penalty from right in front of the posts. Hougaard had missed four drop goal attempts but his persistence paid off in the 75th minute when he found his range to give Sarries the narrowest of wins over the Springboks.

Saracens: Horak (Goode, 50), Cato (Penney, HT), Ratuvou, Barritt, Tagicakibau, Hougaard, De Kock (Barrett, 38); Gill, Reynecke (Brits, HT), Skuse (Nieto, 50), Botha, Vyvyan, Van Heerden, Melck (Saull, 49), Joubert

South Africa: Rose, Ndungane, De Jongh, Oliver, Nokwe, Pienaar, Adams; Van der Merwe, Strauss, Van der Linde (Du Preez, 11), Hargreaves, Bekker, Deysel, Potgieter, Johnson

Scoring sequence: 3-0, 3-3, 3-6, 3-11, 3-16, 3-18, 6-18 HT 11-18, 16-18, 18-18, 18-23, 21-23, 24-23

Referee: James Jones

Attendance: 46,281