MAGIC MARO FUELS SARRIES
BURNS CAN CELEBRATE
FREDDIE BURNS bounced back from last week’s prematurecelebration horror show, with an impressive display in Bath’s 35-35 draw at Wasps.
Burns (left) converted all five of Bath’s tries.
Exeter threw away an early 14-point lead to lose 29-25 at Castres in the Heineken Champions Cup.
And PRO14 side Edinburgh were far too good at home for French aces Toulon as the Scots emerged 40-14 winners at Murrayfield. MARO ITOJE’S moment of magic sparked Saracens into life as the English champs made it two from two in the Champions Cup.
Playing No.6, where he could do a turn for England in the autumn, Itoje sprinted in from 55 metres after a Michael Rhodes tackle for Sarries’ first score to get the board going.
The double act combined to rob Bok lock Etienne Oosthuizen of the ball and Itoje romped home.
That was as good as it got in a desperate game when the French seemed to be happy to have a day out.
Sarries were never going to lose this and Itoje was bang at the centre of it. He Cipriani, snubbed by Eddie Jones on Thursday when England’s autumn series squad was named, was sent off in the 28th minute by French referee Alexandre Ruiz, after his right shoulder made contact with the head of Munster centre Rory Scannell. Fly-half Cipriani faces a possible six-week ban. Gloucester captain Ed Slater said: “The referee said he felt there was shoulder contact to the head. For him that was enough to give a red card. Whether I agree with it or not doesn’t matter. “I know ‘player welfare’ is thrown out there a lot, but there were a few high shots. I’m trying to work out what makes that one a lot more serious than some of the others.”
Tries from Mike Haley and Rhys Marshall gave Munster a 15-3 half-time lead, with Gloucester also having lock Tom Savage sin-binned.
The Irish had a bonus point by the 55th minute thanks to man-of-thematch Joey Carbery’s first European try in red and a Sam Arnold score.
Andrew Conway added a fifth try but Munster finished with 13 players – replacements Arnold and Stephen Archer saw yellow – as Gloucester rallied with tries from Gerbrandt Grobler, Jason Woodward and Ben Morgan. Coach Johan Ackermann was clear on the issue of red cards. He said: “Before the season started I gave a statement. My view is simple. It is spoiling the game if there is no intent.”
Saracens 29 Lyon 10
never ran out of gas and finished the game steaming. He is a player.
Saracens have had a nightmare of a week with Billy Vunipola ruled out for 12 weeks with a broken arm and big brother Mako on the sidelines with a torn calf.
Chuck in an eight-week ankle injury for Nick Isiekwe and you would think the gaffer Mark Mccall had run over a black cat.
But they have class to spare all over the field – in particular Alex Goode. How he is not in Eddie Jones’s England thinking has got be one of the biggest mysteries in sport. Saracens: Tries: Itoje, Maitland, Barritt, Lewington; Cons: Farrell (3); Pens: Farrell Lyon: Try: Lacombe; Con; Beauxis; Pens: Beauxis