Farrell's wife going into labour fails to upset Saracens juggernaut
David Strettle capitalised on the late withdrawal of Owen Farrell to cross twice as Saracens stormed into the Heineken Champions Cup semi-finals with a 56-27 victory over Glasgow.
Farrell pulled out of the team after his wife went into labour on Saturday morning and in the England captain’s absence seven tries were amassed against the outclassed Warriors.
Alex Goode provided a slick alternative at fly-half and the contingency plan also promoted Strettle from the bench to the left wing, allowing the veteran to help himself to a touch down in each half.
Wales full-back Liam Williams also ran in two tries, while hooker Jamie George and centre Brad Barritt were outstanding throughout – the former even operating as an occasional playmaker to be acclaimed man of the match.
The Allianz Park clash was the third time the rivals have met this season and this was the most emphatic of Saracens’ three wins as Glasgow were swept aside to set-up a last four appointment with Munster at the Ricoh Arena.
Maro Itoje made a barnstorming comeback from the knee injury sustained in England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland, but the favourites suffered the sickening blow of seeing Barritt carried from the field on a stretcher in the final minute because of an injury sustained to his left ankle.
Another player making his return after seven weeks out with a shoulder injury was Stuart Hogg but even his pace and ingenuity could not prevent a landslide defeat.
Hogg was involved as Glasgow made a blistering start, drawing two defenders in a set-piece move that was given urgency by the speed of Rory Hughes and ended with Ali Price touching down after just 69 seconds.
Saracens pressure led to the score being levelled as first Sean Maitland’s persistence forced a penalty and when Goode lofted a kick over the posts where Williams outjumped Adam Hastings to catch and score.
Alex Lozowski landed three points to put the English champions in front for the first time and they were now the dominant force, winning the aerial battle and the collisions, but on two occasions visits deep into enemy territory were ended by soft penalties.
Glasgow eventually cracked for a second time as they struggled to contain waves of attacks, Will Skelton and Itoje making dents through their power and Barritt carrying hard before George sent Strettle racing over.
Very impressive display from @Saracens as they power past @GlasgowWarriors 👊
They'll meet @Munsterrugby in the #Heineken #ChampionsCup semi-finals at the Ricoh Arena on Sat April 20 at 15.15 local time 🤝 pic.twitter.com/eSMcpzwRew
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) March 30, 2019
Barritt was having a stormer as he punched another hole in midfield, Billy Vunipola followed suit and when the move swept left with George acting as playmaker, Barritt was able to run in his side’s third try.
Successive long-range penalties by Hastings kept Glasgow in the hunt but one of those was wiped out by Lozowski shortly after half-time and Saracens resumed pounding away in the visiting 22.
A patient build-up came to a head when Vunipola offloaded in the tackle and George took Goode’s pass to tie in defenders by the touchline before Williams arrived on an incisive line to plunder his second.
Another Lozowski penalty left Glasgow floundering and when Strettle picked off a dismal pass by Stafford McDowall to score under the posts the floodgates were open.
George was driven over from a short-range line-out for Saracens’ sixth try but the Warriors were back on the scoresheet when an injection of pace by Hogg created a touch down for George Horne.
Nick Tompkins crossed to restore the previous order of home dominance but Glasgow had the final say in overtime after Matt Fagerson drove over a forwards try.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 Go to comments