SUPER-SUB EARL LORDS IT OVER BLUES
Sarries were behind to Cardiff until little-known Ben came on to spark a rout
IN a team of star names, Ben Earl’s is not yet up in lights.
But yesterday the 20-year-old back row was the man who turned a Heineken Cup struggle for Saracens into a romp with two tries in two minutes just after his arrival off the bench.
Earl, who toured South Africa with England in the summer, came on in the 42nd minute with a frisky Cardiff 18-13 up and dreaming of inflicting a first defeat of the season on Sarries.
What followed, in front of England coach Eddie Jones, was a genuine super-sub contribution.
In the 45th minute, Earl went over for a try after initially turning over possession by sacking the Blues’ replacement scrum-half Lewis Jones.
Then, in the 47th minute, Earl picked off Wales stand-off Gareth Anscombe’s pass and raced in unopposed for the score which gave Saracens a lead they went on to stretch in ruthless fashion as they finished with seven tries.
From a position of some danger for the English champions, normal service emphatically resumed as Saracens moved back to the top of Pool 3 – flying the flag for the Premiership in Europe once again.
Earl said: “I gave away a penalty with my first touch but the next two were a lot more positive. I was just in the right place at the right time to get two tries.
“People talk about the bench as game changers these days and we spoke as a unit about when we come on making a difference and bringing a bit of impetus. That’s the point of substitutions – bringing a lift to the pitch. “We didn’t work as hard as we should have done in the first half but at least we had another 40 minutes to make amends and we did that, thankfully. “The second half was closer to the real Saracens but there’s still a huge amount left in us. “That’s the most exciting thing.” Another positive for a Saracens side, without the injured Maro Itoje for up to two months, was a man-of-the-match return for England prop Mako Vunipola after two months out.
The England prop was his old rumbustious self, steamrollering Anscombe with the most eye-catching of his 13 carries in a satisfying 59 minutes on the field. Vunipola said: “I’m not sure how I got man of the match. I was just thankful to get through injury-free. “It’s never nice missing games – you want to be playing every game. I’m worse watching than I am playing, so I think my family are happy I’m back playing so I’m not moaning too much.”