Over and out for Scots in Europe
SCOTLAND’S involvement in the Champions Cup came to an abrupt end yesterday as both Glasgow and Edinburgh crashed out of the competition.
Edinburgh were narrowly edged out by Munster, who came from behind to record a 17-13 win at Murrayfield, while Glasgow were mercilessly swatted aside 56-27 by a clinical Saracens at Allianz Park.
JUST a few minutes after Glasgow Warriors had arrived at Allianz Park, at around 2pm yesterday afternoon, word was beginning to spread of Owen Farrell’s late omission from the Saracens team-sheet.
His wife, Georgie, had gone into labour on Friday evening and had not yet given birth by the time this Heineken Champions Cup quarterfinal rolled around.
With the baby ready to make an appearance, then, Farrell would not be playing. He needn’t have bothered in any case.
His team didn’t require him. On a day when their star fly-half had his mind on impending fatherhood, this was child’s play for the two-time European champions.
They were more powerful than Glasgow. But, then again, that’s no great surprise. Sarries have outmuscled many other teams before and will do so again in the future.
What really shone through was the speed and accuracy of an attacking machine which brought seven tries on a sun-kissed day in north London.
Quicker in both deed and thought, the reigning English Premiership champions were relentless in the way they battered Glasgow, particularly in a second half which turned into a demolition.
At the interval, the score was 22-13 in the home side’s favour. At that point, it felt like the Warriors still had at least half a chance of reaching the semi-finals for the first time in their history.
In the end, though, it turned into one of the most straightforward victories you could ever wish to see in the knockout stage of the European Cup.
Glasgow had conceded 38 points on each of their last two visits to Allianz Park, but this was something else entirely.
With his players looking punchdrunk come the final whistle, head coach Dave Rennie was honest enough to admit that they were on the receiving end of a ‘hiding’.
The return of Stuart Hogg was not enough. The Scotland full-back only offered glimpses of his talent.
The fact that he kicked straight out on the full three times — one of which was directly from a kick-off — typified an error-strewn display from the Scotstoun side.
Saracens were the only team to win all six games in the pool stage, beating Glasgow home and away.
Their status as top seeds in the knockout stage is justified and, on this evidence, they will take some stopping in their bid to land a third European crown.
There was a time yesterday when Scottish eyes were peering nervously towards the history books. In the end, Sarries’ total of 56 points was the second-highest total ever scored in the quarter-finals of the European Cup.
They strangled the Warriors, dominating both territory and possession. With their heel pressed on their opponents’ throat, it was easy to see why they have only lost one Champions Cup game at this venue since moving there in 2013.
Somewhat ironically, Glasgow could not have wished for a better start. It was scrum-half Ali Price who scored the opening try with just 68 seconds on the clock.
Matt Fagerson provided clean ball from the line-out, before it was worked through Adam Hastings, Kyle Steyn and Rory Hughes.
Hughes then fed a great pass back inside for Price to scurry in, with Hastings duly adding the extras to ensure the day’s first meaningful action was a seven-pointer to the visitors.
In an exclusive pre-match interview with Sportsmail, Price had spoken of how he felt some of Sarries’ players could be rattled following England’s Calcutta Cup implosion and, at that point, it felt like he may have a point.
But the home side dominated thereafter. With the absence of Farrell causing such a shock, it was perhaps easy to forget that, in Alex Goode, Saracens had a pretty handy replacement.
It was Goode who dinked a lovely ball over the top in the fifth minute, with Liam Williams collecting to score under the posts. Alex Lozowski’s conversion levelled it up.
A daring runner who is safe as
houses under the high ball, Williams was one of the outstanding players for a Wales team who won the Grand Slam in this year’s Six Nations and he would torment Glasgow again before the afternoon was over.
Sarries were building pressure, with Lozowski adding a penalty before some fine work from Williams, Brad Barritt and Jamie George allowed David Strettle to dive over in the corner on 25 minutes.
Just three minutes later, a flowing move then saw Lozowski combine with his midfield partner Barritt to devastating effect. It was Lozowski’s cleverly-delayed pass that ripped the Glasgow defence wide open and allowed Barritt to score.
Lozowski converted to make it 22-7 and already, with not even half an hour gone, it felt like the game was getting away from Glasgow.
A couple of penalties from Hastings stemmed the flow before half-time and ensured it was just a nine-point deficit at the interval, but then the floodgates opened.
Lozowski continued his excellent kicking display by drilling a penalty from distance on 42 minutes, before Williams ran a brilliant line to score his second try of the afternoon.
Strettle intercepted a Stafford McDowall pass to race in under the posts, while Lozowski continued to pummel Glasgow with his boot.
Rennie had spoken beforehand about how strong Glasgow’s bench was. But it didn’t matter in the end; it was over as a contest by the time the replacements were introduced.
England hooker Jamie George was excellent throughout, playing a hand in several of his team’s tries, before he got on the scoresheet himself just after the hour-mark.
Nick Tompkins added a seventh for Sarries, with George Horne and Matt Fagerson each going over in the closing stages for Glasgow to make the final scoreline look slightly less embarrassing.
On a day which began with Glasgow and Edinburgh fans dreaming of an all-Scottish semifinal at Murrayfield, it’s Sarries who now face Munster in the last four.
Rennie and his players must dust themselves down. With the climax of the Pro14 season looming large on the horizon, they cannot afford to wallow in self-pity.
Even without father-to-be Farrell, slick Saracens find it child’s play as Warriors’ Euro dream is torn apart