George the unlikely hat-trick hero as Sarries too good for Wasps
Jamie George scored a hat-trick as Saracens piled the misery on depleted Wasps with a comfortable 38-19 victory at Allianz Park to move top of the Premiership.
Wasps headed into the match with several key players missing and had to name full-back Rob Miller at fly-half in the absence of regular 10s Danny Cipriani and Jimmy Gopperth.
And England hooker George was the unlikely hero as Sarries – for whom Brad Barritt made his 200th appearance – made it 18 straight home Premiership games without defeat, while consigning Wasps to a fourth straight loss – their worst sequence of defeats since 2014.
Sarries were fast out of the blocks and Chris Wyles dotted down in just the seventh minute after latching onto Alex Goode’s excellent grubber kick before turning provider, his quick thinking setting up George to score under the posts.
Full Time | Sarries claim a bonus point win over @WaspsRugby thanks to hat trick hero @J_George2 and a score from @ChrisWyles #proudtobe pic.twitter.com/JDl22Lvsoj
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) October 8, 2017
Alex Lozowski stretched the lead to 15-0 off the tee, but Wasps got themselves on the board when Marty Moore scored off a driving maul.
However, three more Lozowski penalties either side of the break took the match away from Wasps, before George added a second off a maul and completed his treble from a line-out drive.
Jack Willis marked his first Premiership start with a try and Josh Bassett scored with the last play as Wasps rallied late on but the damage had been well and truly done.