Eight-try Sarries torment sorry Saints, Toulon deny Halfpenny winning return
Saracens started their quest for a third successive European Champions Cup with a 57-13 demolition of Northampton Saints, while Leigh Halfpenny’s return to Toulon ended in an agonising defeat for Scarlets.
Sarries inflicted a 55-24 thrashing on Northampton on the first day of the Premiership season and Saints were taught another brutal lesson by the defending champions in a Pool Two drubbing at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday.
The Premiership leaders had the bonus point in the bag before half-time and scored eight tries in a ruthless thrashing of Saints – who lost Wales wing George North to a knee injury – in their own backyard.
Liam Williams finished off a slick move for the opening try on the left flank and added a second in the other corner either side of an unstoppable driving maul resulting in captain Brad Barritt dotting down, before former Saint Calum Clark scored a fourth try before the break.
The holders were 29-6 up at the break and showed no mercy following the interval, tries from Vincent Koch, Mako Vunipola, Alex Lozowski and Ben Spencer rubbing salt into the Saints wounds.
Owen Farrell scored 17 points from the tee on his return from a calf strain as the much talked about duel between England hookers Dylan Hartley and Jamie George become a mere sideshow.
Man of the Match goes to @sanjaywills – Take a bow Sanjay! pic.twitter.com/KlQGwAyCRp
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) October 15, 2017
Halfpenny threatened to return to haunt Toulon on his return to Stade Mayol, but the Top 14 side clung on for a 21-20 Pool Five win.
FULL TIME: @Scarlets_rugby produced a huge second 40 at the Stade Félix Mayol however @RCTofficiel take the victory #ChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/6mzdJhxWMp
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) October 15, 2017
There was no sign of what was to come when the three-time European champions raced into an 18-0 lead midway through the first half following tries from Eric Escande and Guilhem Guirado.
Johnny McNicholl gave Scarlets hope with a try just after the break and Halfpenny darted through a gap to go over before taking his points tally for the afternoon to 15 with a second penalty to put his side in front.
Francois Trinh-Duc edged Toulon back into the lead with a penalty and Halfpenny – deemed surplus to requirements by Toulon after three seasons in France – missed a difficult kick to win it as Toulon edged the victory.
A Dan Evans double was unable to prevent Ospreys from suffering a 26-21 home loss to Clermont Auvergne in Pool Two, while Munster drew 17-17 in the Pool Four clash at Castres.
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments