Itoje is star man as Saracens secure home quarter-final
MARO Itoje produced a command performance despite having only recently returned from a five week injury lay-off to help Saracens secure a prized home quarterfinal with a five tries to three bonus point victory over a tenacious Glasgow outfit.
The Scottish side also made their way into the quarter-finals, but will have to do it the hard way, away from home, having come second in an encounter which was niggly throughout.
There was no love lost between the combatants, and no doubt it will be more of the same if Glasgow have to make a return journey to Allianz Park in the last eight.
Saracens had coped with the disruption of losing England co-captain Owen Farrell on the morning of the match due to a thumb tendon strain.
However, they regrouped rapidly enough with Alex Goode redeployed at flyhalf to gain a psychological edge having absorbed Glasgow’s attempt to run them ragged in the first-half.
The English champions then turned the screw on the Scots after the interval, with Itoje and veteran scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth instrumental in ratcheting-up the pressure.
Itoje’s grappling strength saw him not only rip the ball off a brigade of Glasgow carriers, he also displayed his all-court game by rounding off a great forward inter-passing move down the right tramline to score the 70th minute try which took Saracens clear.
The ball was whisked from George Kruis to Mako Vunipola, on to brother Billy, and then Jamie George before Will Skelton popped the scoring pass inside for Itoje to race in.
With Alex Lozowski converting Glasgow trailed 31-19, and when Itoje followed that with a glorious charge out of defence – in which he sold a kickdummy and a feint pass to bamboozle the visitors' defence – the Scots were pegged back in their own territory.
That Saracens kept them there for most of the last half-hour, finishing the job when Skelton barged over in the final minute, was thanks to the accuracy and craft of Wiggleswort’'s tactical kicking.
The measure of control he gave Saracens was in stark contrast to a helterskelter opening half-hour in which both teams scored three tries.
Ben Spencer started the scoring with a penalty, and then the Saracens scrumhalf crossed for the opening try after a clean break by David Strettle, and converted it for a 10-0 lead. However, Spencer’s tactical kicking does not have Wigglesworth's finesse, and when a Glasgow raid saw Stuart Hogg put Tommy Seymour in to make it 10-5, it took only three minutes before they scored again.
This time it was a charge-down of a Spencer line-out clearance on the edge of the Saracens 22 which saw Ali Price sprint clear to score, and when Adam Hastings added the extras Glasgow led 12-10.
The punch and counterpunch continued with Vincent Koch touching down from a Saracens lineout drive, and then Ryan Wilson drilling over from short range to keep Glasgow 19-17 ahead.
After a TMO decision ruled out a George Kruis touchdown when Hastings nudged the ball from under his forearm, Saracens got another chance from the resulting five metre scrum – and Billy Vunipola made no mistake by blasting through Chris Fusaro and Hastings to score.
Although Spencer converted to give Saracens a 24-19 half-time lead there appeared to be very little in it going into the secondhalf.
However, with Itoje and Wigglesworth imposing their will, Glasgow were slowly but surely shut down – and Saracens progressed to the last eight as the only unbeaten side in the pool stage.