MATCH REPORT | Saracens Men 52-7 Harlequins
Saracens Men romped away to secure a pulsating victory over Harlequins, on a day when club legend Owen Farrell made his 250th appearance for the side.
In front of a crowd of over 60,000 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Saracens put on an attacking clinic to put the rest of the league on notice heading into the run-in.
After the fanfare and the build-up ahead of the match, Sarries kept the party vibes going, as Alex Lewington raced over out wide after just two minutes.
With Mark McCall’s side in the mood to attack early doors, Farrell linked up with Elliot Daly, with the fullback offloading to Lewington to charge over out wide.
Sarries were in no mood to give the visitors a sniff of the ball and with penalties mounting against them, their captain Stephen Lewies was sent to the bin for repeated infringements on the line.
Saracens were in no mood to let the visitors off the hook, and made them pay immediately, with Theo Dan bundling over from the back of the maul.
There really was no let-up now, with Sean Maitland, a late replacement for Rotimi Segun helping himself to his first of the afternoon minutes later.
It was scintillating play again from Sarries, with the ball being worked well around the park, before Farrell applied the finishing touches with a pinpoint pass for the winger to race in out wide for a stunning score.
Things were about to get even better for Sarries though, as Maitland crossed again for a try of the season contender that left the crowd applauding and somewhat stunned!
With another flowing backs move dragging the Quins defence around the park, Farrell fed Cinti to crash it up, with the Argentinian managing to offload out of the tackle to Daly.
Taking the ball behind him, the fullback preceded to bring out the flair, as he sent the ball between his legs to Lewington, who in turn found Maitland.
From there, it was all about the power of the winger, as he left a sea of Quins defenders in his wake to dive over, before charging off with a celebration that Alan Shearer would be proud of!
Sarries started the second half as they finished the first, with Maitland racing into the visitors’ 22 and drawing a penalty, as the hosts showed no signs of letting up.
After Farrell put the ball into the corner, there was no mistake again from the pack, with Dan crossing for his second of the afternoon.
After the ferocity of the first half, it was understandable that the pace would eventually slow on the pitch.
Harlequins are too good a side to be kept quiet for the whole afternoon too and they hit back with a score of their own through Alex Dombrandt to halt the Saracens domination.
The visitors were continuing to look dangerous in attack, with Dombrandt and Green trying to push their side forward.
It mattered little though, as Sarries continued to probe and build up a head of steam.
After a loose pass was hacked through by Jamie George, Farrell put in a rib-cruncher on opposite number Smith to put pressure on the Quins defence.
That pressure continued to tell, with Cinti helping himself to another score after more sublime work from Nick Tompkins and Daly, before his compatriot Juan Martin Gonzalez added another.
Ivan van Zyl took a penalty quickly, causing chaos in the Quins ranks, before Maitland got agonsingly close to a hattrick. After being pulled down just short, he fired the ball back inside for Gonzalez to collect and flop over the line!
Sarries still weren’t done there though, with Gonzalez involved again, as Alex Goode took his side up to the half century mark.
The hosts again broke free down the wing, with Gonzalez feeding inside to Goode, as the replacement fullback swivelled out of contact and over the line.
With the clock ticking towards the red, Lewington saw yellow for a high tackle, but that hardly took the gloss off of what was an attacking clinic at The Showdown 4.
