Saracens suffer worst defeat in four years at hands of Harlequins
Saracens’ first Gallagher Premiership match since they accepted automatic relegation ended in heavy defeat as Harlequins eased to a 41-14 win at the Stoop.
The reigning champions, who were found to have persistently breached the salary cap, were overawed in the first half as Cadan Murley’s two tries and Danny Care’s effort set up a convincing win.
Without their international stars due to the upcoming Six Nations and with little to play for, Saracens fielded a young side and were ruthlessly exposed by Quins, who climb into the top half of the table.
Saracens, who were hit with a 35-point penalty earlier in the season, stay bottom with only tries from Alex Lozowski and Dom Morris providing a crumb of comfort.
Quins, roared on by a raucous home crowd, made a lightning start and scored within two minutes.
Number eight Alex Dombrandt, left out of England’s Six Nations squad despite a lack of options, showed what he can offer by bulldozing his way through Saracens’ defence from midfield.
He exchanged off-loads with scrum-half Care, who eventually burst clear to touch down before fly-half Marcus Smith converted from the right.
After that breathless start, Saracens struggled to respond. They were disjointed in attack and defence and outmuscled by the hosts, who were strong in the tackle and inventive on the ball.
A second try appeared inevitable and it came in the 11th minute. Smith’s cross-field kick from the left found hooker Elia Elia on the right and he burst through one tackle and off-loaded to Murley, who ran a perfect support line and slid over to score.
Saracens tried to regroup but they could not generate meaningful possession and the pain kept on coming. Smith, in the middle of a kicking exchange with full-back Matt Gallagher, collected the ball inside his own half, faked a clearance downfield and cut inside wing Rotimi Segun.
With space in front, he sprinted clear before passing inside to centre Paul Lasike, who in turn found a grateful Murley and he ran clear for his second try. Smith converted to make it 19-0.
As the weather worsened, Saracens improved and with just over 10 minutes left of the first half they gained a foothold as Lozowski crashed over from a metre out.
But any hope of a comeback was snuffed out just four minutes into the second half, when a grubber kick forward was spilled by Gallagher and pounced on by Gabriel Ibitoye for the bonus-point score.
A fifth try soon followed as Saracens fell apart. From a Quins line-out five metres out, Elia powered forward and passed inside for Lasike to dive over.
Morris later capped his Saracens debut with a score in the corner but Quins had the last laugh when replacement Martin Landajo intercepted a loose ball and ran in unopposed.
Press Association
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful 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!
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
4 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 comments