MATCH REPORT | Saracens Men 73-14 Newcastle Red Bulls
Saracens Men returned to Gallagher PREM action in style with a dominant 73-14 win over Newcastle Red Bulls at StoneX Stadium.
The Original Club of North London scored 11 tries to secure all five points and close the gap on the top four in the league.
Newcastle made the perfect start with a try after just four minutes. The ball come loose in their hand and Alex Hearle ran clear before the ball was recycled to Oscar Usher who crashed over the line from close range. Brett Connon’s touchline conversion gave the visitors a 7-0 lead.
That lead was nearly doubled just a minute later as Freddie Lockwood broke away and passed inside to Tom Christie who thought he had scored but as he dotted the ball down Charlie Bracken managed to drag him out with an incredible piece of defence to keep Sarries in the game.
The hosts then got themselves level with 10 minutes gone courtesy of a penalty try. A penalty was kicked to the corner and Bracken looked to pass wide to Noah Caluori but Simon Benitez Cruz slapped the ball down with the line beckoning and gave the referee no option but to award a yellow card and a penalty try.
Newcastle then had another chance to cross the line but Alex Hearle’s charge down fortunately trickled in to touch before he could regather it.
Rotimi Segun then scored a try of the season contender as Saracens hit the front. The winger got the ball in space and chipped ahead, and then the ball bounced up perfectly for him to run away from 40 metres and send the home fans wild. Owen Farrell’s touchline conversion made it 14-7 with 18 minutes played.
Sarries then got some breathing space with try number three after 25 minutes. A number of phases took them near the line, and Elliot Daly’s perfect grubber kick bounced up to Noah Caluori who won the footrace to dot the ball down. Farrell added the extras as the lead grew to 21-7.
Andy Onyeama-Christie then thought he had secured the bonus point as he burst on to an offload from Segun to score in the corner, but the try was ruled out for a knock on and the score remained the same.
However the bonus point score arrived from the next phase as the lead continued to grow. Daly’s fizzed pass but Caluori through a gap and a monstrous hand off put the last defender on the ground and he dived over in acrobatic fashion to score his second. Farrell’s extras made it 28-7.
Elliott Obatoyinbo was then sent to the sin-bin for the Red Bulls just before the break but that was the last notable act of an impressive first half for Sarries who had a 28-7 lead at half time.
Sarries started the second half like a house on fire and scored just 90 seconds after the restart as the dominance continued. Tom Willis’ monstrous carry took play in to the 22 and then Onyeama-Christie juggled and gathered to dive straight under the posts for try number five.
Caluori then completed his hat-trick just two minutes later as a penalty was taken quickly and the ball was spun from left to right to allow the winger to stroll over in the corner as the lead grew to 40-7.
Alex Lozowski almost got in on the act when a pass across their own goal-line was so close to landing right in his hands but it agonisingly bounced out of his grasp.
James Hadfield then scored try number seven with 55 minutes gone as a penalty was kicked to the corner and the maul powered over allowing the hooker to dot down at the base of the maul.
Eroni Mawi joined the party on the hour mark as he bundled over the line from just a metre out for the hosts’ eighth try, and Farrell’s conversion made it 54-7 as they went past the half century.
Hadfield got his second just two minutes later as he once again carried from a handful of metres out and crossed under the posts, with Farrell’s sixth conversion took them up to 60 points.
It almost got even better when Farrell’s cross field kick looked to find Juan Martin Gonzalez who was in acres of space, but the bounce was cruel and went in to touch.
Caluori then got his fourth with five minutes to go as Nick Tompkins broke in to the Newcastle half and kicked ahead. The ball popped up perfectly for Caluori who was never going to be caught.
Tompkins then got rewarded for a fine performance as he went over for their final score of the
game with just a minute to go from a quick penalty to add further gloss to the performance.
Reuben Parsons then scored with the final play of the game for Newcastle’s second, but the final whistle then blew as Sarries celebrated a much-needed win and also a highly impressive performance.
