Saracens dismantle Sale on road to European defence
OWEN Farrell produced enough touches of class to make sure that Saracens kept the English Premiership standard aloft despite the carnage inflicted on the European Cup hopes of Leicester and Northampton.
England’s ace marksman was not flying solo, because with Jamie George, Maro Itoje, George Kruis and Alex Goode all back on duty, there was class to spare as the European champions got back into their formidable stride in the north London downpour.
By the time Farrell was taken off for Alex Lozowski in the first minute of the second half as a precaution for a tight quad, Sale, at 26-3 adrift, were already sunk.
The lack of resolve that seems to have seeped into the DNA of the two East Midlands clubs stood little chance of afflicting last season’s double winners, and Sale did not have the wherewithal to test it in any case.
The fact that having conceded two tries before the break, Sale went on to leak a further four tries in the second half was not a great advert for either Europe, or the Premiership, because there was a Grand Canyon of a chasm between these teams.
You can also imagine the sense of dismay – not to mention the sense of an unending uphill climb – when Saracens, having benched a whole set of international stars, brought on their latest acquisition, the Aussie man-mountain, Will Skelton, soon after the break.
Sale had their own new import, Wigan flyerJosh Charnley, to thank for saving them from conceding a try with six minutes played. A Schalk Burger grubber and a hack into the middle by Chris Wyles saw Richard Wigglesworth scoop up the ball, but despite Sale’s defence being in a tangle, Charnley prevented the Saracens scrum-half from grounding it.
Thereafter Charnley probably also thought he would get his hands on the ball in attack.
However, by the end of this lop-sided encounter, the awareness will have dawned on the Rugby League winger that, with your pack being battered, there is precious little good attacking ball to be had in Rugby Union.
Farrell gave Saracens an early 6-3 lead with two penalties to one by AJ McGinty, before the home side made the first breach. From an advancing scrum, Burger fed Wigglesworth, and the scrum-half darted through a statue-like Sale defence to link with Marcelo Bosch. A dummy and an outside swerve from the Argentine centre did the rest as he cruised in for the opening try.
With Farrell converting and then adding a penalty after Laurence Pearce became the first of three Sale players to be sinbinned after a late tackle on the fly-half, Saracens led 16-3.
A few minutes later Farrell punished Sale mercilessly when his one motion take-and-give pass sent Sean Maitland racing over from 25 metres, and then converted to make it 23-3.
On the stroke of halftime a long-range Bosch penalty gave Saracens their cushion, but they are not a side to put their feet up.
With Jonathan Mills yellow-carded for collapsing a 5 metre line-out drive, Saracens went to the corner again for George to barrel over.
Although Alex Lozowski could not convert from the touchline he made no mistake when Wyles won the race to a Goode diagonal grubber, giving Saracens a 38-3 lead with half an hour remaining.
The best try of the match came next. With Mako Vunipola, Burger and Skelton ramming it up the middle, it was recycled for Brad Barritt, Bosch, and the indefatigable Vunipola to send Maitland on a weaving run to the corner for his second try, making it 43-3.
When replacement prop James Flynn became Sale’s third sin-binning, this time for a high tackle on Schalk Brits, they were left counting the cost for spending half-an-hour of the match reduced to 14 men when Richard Barrington crashed over.
Lozowski’s conversion rattled up a Saracens half century. It also prompted this thought: A two-tier European Cup was not what was envisaged when the competition was re-cast two years ago, but given results like this that is where the gap between the haves and the have-less is heading.