Noah Caluori bags second glut of season as Saracens pump Sale Sharks

Noah Caluori claimed another remarkable five-try haul against Sale as Saracens kept alive their outside hopes of reaching the Prem play-offs with a stunning 85-19 win.

The 19-year-old winger ran in five tries on his first Prem start for Mark McCall’s men in the reverse fixture against Sale last October and he grabbed another handful here in Saracens’ record Prem victory.

Sarries ran in six unanswered first-half tries to lead 38-0 at the break after ruthlessly exposing Sale’s brittle confidence and defensive weaknesses as the hosts slumped to a record Prem defeat.

Rotimi Segun opened the scoring and Caluori added a second before Tom Willis, Rhys Carre, Fergus Burke and Caluori again ensured the visitors went in at the break in total control.

Tom O’Flaherty – with two – and Asher Opoku-Fordjour scored second-half tries for Sale but Saracens added seven more of their own with Caluori claiming three more and Charlie Bracken, Nathan Michelow, Max Malins and Ben Earl all touching down.

Gallagher Premiership

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Northampton

13

11

1

1

57

2

Bath

13

11

2

0

56

3

Leicester

13

10

3

0

51

4

Exeter Chiefs

13

8

4

1

47

5

Bristol

12

8

4

0

38

6

Saracens

13

6

7

0

38

7

Sale

13

3

10

0

22

8

Gloucester

12

2

10

0

16

9

Harlequins

13

3

10

0

15

10

Newcastle

13

1

12

0

7

Saracens have had a disappointing campaign but this bonus-point win takes them to within nine points of fourth-placed Exeter with five rounds remaining.

The result marked another major setback for Sale, who slumped to their 10th defeat from 13 league games this season and are marooned in seventh place.

The Sharks were also dumped out of the Champions Cup by a 43-13 quarter-final defeat at Leinster last Saturday and are firmly on course for a bottom-half finish in the Prem.

Saracens led inside the second minute when Segun touched down inside the left channel after breaking through Sale’s defence.

They had their second in the 11th minute when Malins advanced forward and found England captain Maro Itoje, who ushered Caluori over from close range.

The visitors’ third came after good work from a lineout on the left flank saw the ball moved to the right where Willis stretched out an arm to touch down.

Prop Carre crashed over from close range for a fourth in the 33rd minute and moments later came the try of the first half, scored by fly-half Burke.

He chipped the ball over the Sale defence and had enough speed to race clear and score before some fine handling gave Caluori his second in the right corner.

Sale improved after the break before being rewarded when O’Flaherty dived over in the right corner in the 44th minute.

But soon after Caluori’s neat inside pass sent Bracken over for Saracens’ seventh try and Caluori soon seized centre stage again after racing clear from halfway.

That marked his hat-trick score but he claimed his fourth try soon after when going over in the right corner from Burke’s offload.

His fifth came from close range five minutes later before Michelow, Malins and Earl all finished clinically from close range, while Burke ended the game with nine conversions and Owen Farrell with one.

Sale had the final say when England prop Opoku-Fordjour powered over and George Ford added his second conversion.