Sarries take control but Woodward in frame for England call
Wasps beware. Saracens broke from what looked in the first half to be a relatively tough assignment against Gloucester to score nine tries to two and make a strong statement of intent heading into the Premiership play-offs.
Despite finishing seventh in the table behind Bath, Gloucester will still claim a Champions Cup slot due to reaching the Challenge Cup final.
Gloucester drew first blood as wing Tom Seabrook slotted in the corner off the back of a break from full-back Jason Woodward, who looked to be pressing his case for an England callup. The New Zealand-born 27-year-old was in menacing form in the opening half.
Mark McCall, Saracens director of rugby, said: “It was a good lesson for us. I thought we didn’t work as hard as we would have wanted in the first half off the ball. They scored two terrible tries from our point of view. But equally, in attack, we weren’t moving quickly enough. That was the message at halftime, we needed to bring our work off the ball to a different level and we were better.”
Saracens scored their first try through Scotland’s New Zealand-born wing Sean Maitland, which was quickly followed by a stunning sprint up the flank by Woodward to set up wing David Halaifonua. With the sides tied at 12-12, Saracens slowly started to turn the screw and an Owen Farrell penalty put the hosts ahead.
Gloucester head coach Johann Ackermann said of Woodward’s England chances: “It depends what Eddie Jones wants from the three matches. There are a lot of injuries.
“If he takes someone he must believe that he can contribute next year leading into the World Cup. It would be great for Jason.”
Farrell crossed under the posts and converted his own try after a clever run from Alex Lozowski, taking Saracens to 22-12 heading into the second half.
After the interval the Cherry and Whites looked somewhat anonymous as Saracens ran in three tries through Argentine tighthead Juan Figallo, Maro Itoje and Chris Wyles.
The tempo was slowed when Seabrook looked to have sustained a leg injury, yet Saracens remained in control and spent much of the closing quarter camped on the Gloucester line and came away with a penalty try after 70 minutes. Moments later Alex Goode wove through numerous defenders to score and Ben Spencer took Saracens’ try tally to nine in the final play.