Saracens breeze past Clermont as England hopefuls star

Two tries from Argentina centre Lucio Cinti set Saracens on their way to a thumping 47-10 victory over Clermont Auvergne in their opening match of the Investec Champions Cup pool stage.

Sarries scored seven tries in total at the StoneX Stadium, with a dominant first half helping them see off the team they defeated in the 2017 final of this competition with plenty to spare.

There was also a reminder of Noah Caluori’s burgeoning talent as the teenage winger lit up the occasion with a superb score in the early stages of the second half, his seventh try of the season.

Saracens had the opening try in the 11th minute when Elliot Daly’s kick downfield just stayed in play and bounced kindly for Cinti to run in down the right, with Owen Farrell adding the conversion.

Clermont then had openside flanker Anthime Hemery sin-binned on 15 minutes for illegally ripping the ball at a ruck close to his own try line.

Sarries did not make the most of their one-man advantage, though, with Caluori being tackled inches short by some excellent last-ditch defence.

It was only after the visitors had been restored to 15 men that they had their second try when Ivan van Zyl whipped a pass out to Cinti who barged his way through before stretching to make it a double in the 31st minute.

The hosts were in cruise control when Clermont winger Bautista Delguy slipped in trying to mop up Max Malins’ kick ahead, allowing Malins himself to steal in and dot the ball down.

Saracens then secured the four-try bonus point off the final play of the first half when James Hadfield received from Van Zyl and slipped through a tackle to score near the posts.

Farrell’s conversion put the three-time European champions 26-0 ahead at half-time but Clermont were on the board three minutes into the second half when 19-year-old full-back Axel Guillaud shrugged off Malins for an unconverted try.

Sarries hit straight back, however and it was their own teenage flyer, Caluori, who sprinted away after receiving Farrell’s pass near the halfway line for a scintillating individual score.

Tom Willis thought he had made it a half-dozen of tries for his side when he squeezed over from inches out but the TMO judged him to have made a double movement in doing so.

Instead, Clermont had their second try after 72 minutes when fly-half Harry Plummer managed to ground the ball in the left-hand corner despite Nick Tompkins’ best efforts.

But Sarries had the final say with two late scores as Daly’s break and pass gave Hugh Tizard a deserved try before a botched Clermont line-out close to their own line provided a gift for Theo Dan.