Saracens keep it simple to power past Warriors
SARACENS performed a first-half blitz with a clear advantage at scrum time to take an unassailable lead before fly-half Max Malins’ solo-try near the hour mark ended Worcester’s hopes of a comeback.
The North Londoners showed the depth of quality in their squad at a rain-hit Sixways to cruise into the Premiership Cup final on Friday night, making nonsense of the notion the Warriors were top-seeds from the group stage.
Saracens academy coach Adam Powell said: “We came here with a simple game-plan based around massive work ethic, high standard of physicality and putting them under pressure.
“We did that and the tries we scored ultimately came from us putting them under pressure.
“They are good at holding onto the ball but possession stats can be misleading as our defence was in control.”
Saracens started the game with pace and all round efficiency, taking Worcester by surprise. On the sixth minute, Warriors made several handling errors and as full-back Nick David was unable to gather, scrum-half Tom Whitely hacked the ball and ran on to score by the posts.
Five minutes later, Saracens No.8 Ben Earl broke on the short side from a dominant scrum in their own half, making 40 metres with Ali Crossdale in support. The visitors had a huge overlap with the ball going across the park to wing Rotimi Segun who scored in the corner.
Worcester’s best chance of the half came just before the 20 minute mark, stringing together 15 phases from a 10-metre line-out but after hooker Niall Annett went a few metres short they were pushed back by Saracens unyielding defensive line. Both teams traded penalties and, after David failed to ground in the 39th minute, Saracens had a 15point advantage at half time.
The home-side came out revitalised and after a five metre scrum centre Will Butler drew the defence for David to slide over in the corner.
Warriors were using either pace or field kicking to get around Sarcens physical advantage and fly-half Scott van Breda’s beautifully weighted chip fell perfectly for wing Tom Howe who sped around three defenders to score.
The margin was nine points at 15-24 but Malins’ try through a hole in Worcester’s defence felt like the final nail in the coffin.
Warriors suffered from illdiscipline as the quality mismatch shone through and playmaker Alex Lozowski kicked six more points before replacement Sione Vailanu dotted down after a series of phases.
Howe’s second try in the corner, his seventh in six games, again from a van Breda break was scant conciliation.
Worcester coach Alan Solomons said: “The bulk of their tries were soft. They defended really well, particularly in that first half, as we were unable to breach that defence.”