Sarries Shake Off ‘Boring’ Tag in Scotland.

This weekend’s Heineken Cup round 1 fixtures served up a number of talking points, but there were not many scorelines more surprising than Saracens’ Pool 1 45-0 victory away to last season’s semi-finalists Edinburgh.

Sarries helped themselves to 5 tries, all coming from Englishmen. Joel Tomkins, Owen Farrell, Chris Ashton, Alex Goode and ‘Chargedown’ Charlie Hodgson all crossed the whitewash for the men in white. The result was a welcome one for Saracens after coming under heavy criticism in the media recently for their failure to score tries.

Sarries went almost 300 minutes without scoring a try this season but factors should be considered when discussing this barren run. The three full games which Sarries failed to score a 5 pointer included games against both Premiership finalists, so arguably the two toughest teams in the division, from the previous season, a 9-9 draw with Leicester Tigers and a fantastic 18-16 win away at champions Harlequins. Saracens also played Exeter Chiefs away in absolutely terrible conditions.

Saracens dominated the set piece, with captain and former England lock Steve Borthwick deservedly winning man of the match, and took advantage of a surprisingly lacklustre Edinburgh side who lost key players Greg Laidlaw and flying winger Tim Visser to injury during the game.

Centre Joel Tomkins opened the scoring with a well taken finish after a quick tap penalty from Richard Wigglesworth, coming from a sustained period of pressure. Hodgson knocked over 3 penalties to give the North Londoners a 16-0 half time lead.

Saracens even survived the sin binning of influential hooker Schalk Brits without conceding a point when Brits held on to Richie Rees on the floor after Rees came close to an interception try. Brad Barrit, making his 100^th appearance for Saracens, was able to celebrate by scrumming down during Brits’ absence.

Owen Farrell then slid over in the corner seconds after coming on as a replacement, taking the scoring pass from England team mate Chris Ashton after some slick handling in the backs. Ashton was then able to dive in under the posts to score himself after a nice inside ball from Charlie Hodgson. Ashton ran a beautiful angle to score his 4^th try for the club since arriving from Northampton Saints in the summer.

Classy full back Alex Goode secured his side the bonus point with a try 11 minutes from time. Goode showed great skill to finish out wide with a nice dummy after speedy hands along the backline.

Charlie Hodgson rounded things off with a chargedown try late on. This is become something of a trademark for Hodgson after his Six Nations scores against Scotland and Italy. Hodgson’s deserved try left him with a nice haul of 25 points.

Saracens victory was simple. They did the simple things right. A brick wall of a defence and absolute dominance of the set piece gave their backs, orchestrated by the experienced playmaker Charlie Hodgson, a perfect platform. The backs were clinical and earned their bonus point with a textbook display of quick handling.

Saracens next match is against Olly Barkley’s Racing Metro, who will be looking to build on their good win against Munster. Edinburgh, however, will be looking to the return match and hoping that preventing Sarries from taking the game to Cape Town will give them a shot at wreaking some revenge. 

Saracens celebrated with a well earned trip to McDonalds.