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Sarries crush Blues to go 12 games from 12 this season

By Alex Fisher
Sean Maitland scores for Saracens

Saracens’ unbeaten start continued at Allianz Park on Sunday as the Premiership leaders thrashed Cardiff Blues 51-25 in the European Champions Cup.

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Mark McCall’s men have yet to taste defeat in 12 games in all competitions this season, with Sunday’s win putting them on the verge of the knockouts at the halfway point of the group stage.

Sarries ran in seven tries in a comprehensive victory, but they needed to come from behind having trailed 18-13 at the break.

The second half was all Saracens as they ran in six tries – Ben Earl and Sean Maitland both crossing twice – to secure a bonus point and open up a 10-point advantage over the third-placed Blues in Pool Three.

Racing 92 are also three from three in European competition in 2018-19 after a 36-26 win over Leicester Tigers, the Top 14 side topping Pool Four at the midway stage.

Tries from Virimi Vakatawa, Juan Imhoff, Simon Zebo and Baptiste Chouzenoux secured a bonus point for Racing before half time.

Completing the win was not as simple as it could have been, though, as Leicester rallied in the second half to get within 10 points thanks to scores from Manu Tuilagi and Adam Thompstone.

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Munster top Pool Two after a 30-5 hammering of Castres in a scrappy affair Thomond Park, the Irish province climbing above Gloucester in the table.

Rory Scannell, CJ Stander and JJ Hanrahan all scored for Munster, with the latter converting all three tries and slotting another three penalties from the tee.

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Ed the Duck 2 hours ago
How Leinster neutralised 'long-in-the-tooth' La Rochelle

Hey Nick, your match analysis is decent but the top and tail not so much, a bit more random. For a start there’s a seismic difference in regenerating any club side over a test team. EJ pretty much had to urinate with the appendage he’d been given at test level whereas club success is impacted hugely by the budget. Look no further than Boudjellal’s Toulon project for a perfect example. The set ups at La Rochelle and Leinster are like chalk and cheese and you are correct that Leinster are ahead. Leinster are not just slightly ahead though, they are light years ahead on their plans, with the next gen champions cup team already blooded, seasoned and developing at speed from their time manning the fort in the URC while the cream play CC and tests. They have engineered a strong talent conveyor belt into their system, supported by private money funnelled into a couple of Leinster private schools. The really smart move from Leinster and the IRFU however is maximising the Irish Revenue tax breaks (tax relief on the best 10 years earnings refunded at retirement) to help keep all of their stars in Ireland and happy, while simultaneously funding marquee players consistently. And of course Barrett is the latest example. But in no way is he a “replacement for Henshaw”, he’s only there for one season!!! As for Rob Baxter, the best advice you can give him is to start lobbying Parliament and HMRC for a similar state subsidy, but don’t hold your breath… One thing Cullen has been very smart with is his coaching team. Very quickly he realised his need to supplement his skills, there was talk of him exiting after his first couple of years but he was extremely shrewd bringing in Lancaster and now Nienaber. That has worked superbly and added a layer that really has made a tangible difference. Apart from that you were bang on the money… 😉😂

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