Dan the man as youthful Sarries shine
THEO DAN produced a dynamic display to help Sarries suffocate newcastle with seven tries and continue their steady march up the Premiership table.
The young England hooker has quickly picked up where he left off at the World Cup to inspire the champions with his strength, energy and clinical finishing.
He crashed over for a brace of tries with Mark McCall’s men stretching their unbeaten run at Kingston Park to 14 years.
McCall, who made wholesale changes to his team and left out several stars including Owen Farrell, said: ‘This is a very satisfying away win, especially as we had a different-looking team out there.
‘We have a load of people under 25 who are showing their hands here and showing what the future looks like. Theo is just one of them. He’s 22, Andy Christie 24 and there are more excellent young players here.’
McCall is certain to recall all of his experienced Test stars for the huge london derby with Harlequins on Saturday but his second string men were certainly good enough to overcome Falcons, who have lost all five games this season and have just two points to their name.
Yet newcastle, without Argentina stars Matias Moroni and Mateo Carreras through injury, took an early lead when lock Sebastian de Chaves dived over from close range. But that was as good as it got for the strugglers as Sarries took command and had the bonus point in the bag before half-time.
Former Sarries man Elliott Obatoyinbo went to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on and Sarries made them pay further with the impressive Dan rising from a driving maul to claim the try. newcastle found it almost impossible to repel the Sarries pack every time the visitors camped on their line.
Elliot Daly raced over the line for a second score after a line-out move saw the ball switched along the line. Wing Alex lewington darted over for the third after the Sarries pack had again pressed their counterparts back on their heels. It was easy pickings for the white shirts and Dan surged over on the stroke of half-time to complete his brace and grab the bonus point.
Hooker Bryan Byrne raised Falcons’ spirits with a try from a driving maul in the second half after Alex lozowski had kicked a penalty. But again Sarries reasserted their control with Tom Willis pirouetting his way over the line for a fifth try.
Even though they lost flanker Ollie Stonham to the sin bin for a high tackle on Ben Stevenson, Sarries rounded off the win with a try on his debut for flanker Juan Martin gonzalez, and a seventh from Manu Tuilagi.