Saracens' five Lions come through hard-fought Championship clash unscathed
Saracens’ five-strong British and Irish Lions contingent led by Owen Farrell emerged unscathed from a feisty 69-12 Greene King IPA Championship victory over Ampthill.
A crowd of 2,000 – the first at a competitive match at StoneX Stadium since the coronavirus pandemic began – watched a 11-try rout that restores Saracens to second in the table with two games of the regular season remaining.
Jamie George and Mako Vunipola were replaced at half-time to make way for a whole new front row, while England captain Farrell came off 11 minutes later still wearing the bandage around his head that was needed to dress an early wound.
Maro Itoje followed him into the stands shortly after, with Elliot Daly the last of the five Lions bound for South Africa next month to leave the pitch.
Alex Goode made his first appearance since completing a loan spell at NEC Green Rockets, deputising for Farrell at fly-half and celebrating his return by immediately launching a counter-attack.
Mid-table Ampthill were missing five players on loan from Saracens who were ineligible to play, but they still offered stiff resistance for long spells, particularly in a gutsy first half that witnessed several scuffles.
When Nick Tompkins danced over in the fourth minute, they appeared to be facing a long evening in north London with Saracens’ set-piece an effective early tool.
Tries by George and Tompkins helped establish a 21-0 lead, but the underdogs were spending increasing time in home territory and their enterprise was rewarded when Syd Blackmore was driven over at a line-out that was reinforced by several backs.
A second try appeared imminent, but acrobatic rucking by Alex Humfrey saw Ampthill penalised just as they closed in on the whitewash and on their next attack Saracens crossed through Sean Maitland.
Hampered by the slippery conditions following an afternoon of storms, Saracens were pinned back yet again in a scrappy first half, with only their comfortable lead sparing their blushes.
But, while they were struggling to stamp their authority on play, they were deadly at turning breaks into points and, just as another Ampthill attack broke down, they struck through Maitland’s second try.
Two minutes into the second-half Ali Crossdale raced over in the left corner and shortly after Elliott Obatoyinbo dummied his way across the whitewash.
Replacement hooker Tom Woolstencroft scored two similar tries in quick succession, but Ampthill produced another purple patch and touched down through Spencer Sutherland.
Saracens had the final say, however, as Crossdale finished a sublime move created by Goode’s vision in midfield before Dom Morris dashed over in injury-time.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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!
5 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 …
34 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 comments