Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Saracens secure Premiership return with second heavy victory over Ealing

By PA
(Photo by Getty Images)

Saracens rubber-stamped their return to the Gallagher Premiership with a 57-15 victory over Ealing after successfully hitting the reset button on a poor first half at StoneX Stadium.

ADVERTISEMENT

All five of the club’s British and Irish Lions including England captain Owen Farrell were replaced in the 54th minute, their job done after a 10-10 interval stalemate vanished before an avalanche of points in the third quarter.

The South African-bound Lions received a standing ovation as they departed having come through the Greene King IPA Championship final second leg unharmed, while Springbok prop Vincent Koch also followed them into the stands in anticipation of the battles ahead this summer.

Video Spacer

Episode 34 – Jamie Roberts & Simon Zebo on South Africa’s Move North, French Owners, Sexton’s Temper and Lions Greats

Video Spacer

Episode 34 – Jamie Roberts & Simon Zebo on South Africa’s Move North, French Owners, Sexton’s Temper and Lions Greats

It was Koch and two of Warren Gatland’s tourists – Elliot Daly and Jamie George – who propelled Saracens out of sight immediately after the break with a flurry of three tries in 10 minutes.

Ealing had displayed spirit and endeavour until that point and were a substantial improvement on the side that capitulated 60-0 in the first leg last Sunday, but once more they were outclassed and this clash in front of a 2,000 crowd turned into another procession.

Saracens’ one-year exile from the Premiership as punishment for repeated salary cap breaches has ended at the earliest possible opportunity, but the final day of the Championship season was marred by a red card shown to Michael Rhodes.

Rhodes was playing his final match after seven years at the club but he was shown a red card in the 50th minute for a high tackle.

ADVERTISEMENT

The pre-match applause for Rhodes as he bade farewell after seven years at Saracens quickly gave way to shock when Ealing surged ahead inside the opening minute through a penalty try.

Jackson Wray, the eventual man of the match, was to blame as he missed the kick-off and then deliberately knocked the ball dead, resulting in the try being awarded and a yellow card for the openside.

Ealing were showing far less respect than a week ago when they waved their star-studded opponents through from the start, but they were unable to turn half-chances into points.

Nick Tompkins and Alex Lewington threatened briefly and although Saracens were starting to take control, they still trailed 10-3 as the half-hour mark passed.

ADVERTISEMENT

That changed when the pack took control from a line-out with Mako Vunipola crashing over, Ealing totally overpowered by the well-drilled set-piece attack.

Farrell added the conversion to level the score at half-time and the momentum now was fully behind Premiership-bound Saracens, who nearly scored through Sean Maitland as the interval approached.

And just 67 seconds into the second half they underlined the shift in balance when strong carries from Billy Vunipola and George sucked in defenders to allow Lewington to set up a try for Daly.

Koch surged over shortly as Saracens began to canter out of sight and when George crossed as the driving line-out proved unstoppable once more, Ealing faced the prospect of another heavy defeat.

Tompkins was the next to break the whitewash before the superb Lewington weaved a path over the line, Saracens gaining new purpose with a host of new arrivals off the bench.

The scrum forced a penalty try in the 71st minute and replacement back Tom Whiteley had the final say for the home side by touching down late on.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

A
AM 41 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

72 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Rugby fans are about to find out what Robertson's All Blacks are made of Rugby fans are about to find out what Robertson's All Blacks are made of
Search