Farrell sparks a mauling
Ex-England skipper eclipses Smith as Sarries hit top gear ahead of Saints showdown
OWEN FARRELL marked his 250th appearance for Saracens by leading them to a statement win over neighbours Saracens and putting Marcus Smith in the shade.
Farrell won the battle of 10s comfortably playing behind a dominant pack, scoring 12 points and pulling the strings for the champions in an eighttry hammering.
The 32-year-old will leave for Racing 92 in the summer and looked like he wanted to make the most of his big day out, after an eight-week break, in front of 61,000 fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Dad Andy and mother Colleen were in the stands watching as Farrell led his side out with young sons Freddie and Tommy. The former England captain was the centre of attention and he stayed there all afternoon as Saracens dominated their rivals and went second in the table.
Hooker Theo Dan and wing Sean Maitland both scored twice as Saracens delivered a warning to the rest of the Premiership ahead of Friday’s trip to leaders Northampton. And Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby, revealed Farrell received a special presentation from a muscular dystrophy charity, Joining Jack.
McCall said of his skipper: ‘He played as good as I have seen him play for a very long time. It looked like it mattered to him today and I think he is going to be like that for the rest of the season.
‘The players wanted to make it a special week because they think so highly of him. There was a lovely moment in the changing room when Jack from the charity presented him with his commemorative shirt –—it was very emotional.”
Elliot Daly, who was in and out in the Six Nations, put in an outstanding performance at full-back, running things in the backfield and showing his eye for a gap with a hand in five of the tries in this landslide. Saracens had the bonus point banked after 26 minutes when Maitland scored his second try after Daly’s pass through his legs after he fielded a rare wayward ball from Farrell.
Maitland had work to do but got round two defenders and Harlequins looked out on the canvas. They lost captain Stephan Lewies to the sin bin, which cost them 12 points, and Saracens turned the screw in the second half.
They led 24-0 at the break, which was soon turned into 31-0 when hooker Dan scored his second and they had no answer as Saracens ran in three more. They made one defensive lapse when Alex Dombrandt scored from a driving line out, when Saracens had just replaced three forwards, but Smith’s threat was squashed.
Quins head coach Danny Wilson said: ‘We got burned today — our defence was really poor. That has not been not us this season, we came into this game second in the league and we have built that over a long period of time but this game can remind you if you are slightly off you are in trouble and we were more than slightly off today.
‘They got on the front foot and we couldn’t and at half-time we were chasing the game and when you do that and over play you are in a world of trouble.”
EXETER director of rugby Rob Baxter was happy to pick up five points after an almost two-month break from Premiership action with a 25-16 victory over Newcastle.
The Chiefs had the four-try bonus point in the bag by the break, while the visitors could have earned a losing bonus point if Brett Connon had not missed a last-minute penalty.