Harlequins were top going into this week. They are not now. The season is long and the champions of 2021 will play far better than they did here before it is over, but the champions of 2023 are in a mood to defend their title if this demolition is anything to go by.
Their opening two defeats have long been put to bed. Those over in France, otherwise engaged, had to rub their eyes when they saw the 60 points Saracens conceded at Exeter on the opening weekend, but the World Cup stars are back now. This win puts Saracens ahead of Quins in the top four on points difference. Normal service has been resumed.
Not that they are all back without qualification. Ben Earl and Elliot Daly were lost to injury before a ball had been kicked. Both picked up injuries in the warm-up. Daly’s is thought to be a minor hamstring complaint, but Earl’s knee injury is causing more concern. He was meant to be on the bench anyway, but emerged on crutches to sit on it.
England may have surpassed expectations in France but there was a very familiar ring to the excellence of the rest of their Saracens contingent. Harlequins, reinforced with more than a few internationals of their own, could not match the visitors’ precision, either in attack or defence. So followed one of the more chastening defeats they have suffered here.
All the more galling, Saracens lost a third player only three minutes in. Alex Lozowski, no longer in favour but another international all the same, was forced off, also with a knee injury. He looked in some discomfort.
“I thought we dealt with all that really well,” said Saracens’ director of rugby, Mark McCall. “We’ve picked up a few injuries in the last couple of weeks, but people are stepping up. That was a really good win tonight.”
No matter the injuries, there were plenty more internationals, current, former and no doubt future, to enliven the away team’s lightning raids. Maro Itoje, subject to contract speculation at the start of the day, is rediscovering himself with a vengeance. But there are new toys available too. The dynamic Juan Martín González, scorer of Saracens’ first try from a driven lineout, was another extraordinary performer.
Then there was Alex Goode. He may not be an England international any more, but his class remains. Of all Eddie Jones’s provocatively nonsensical selection decisions, the stubborn omission of Goode was the most unfathomable.
His exchange with Owen Farrell after a Quins clearance was typically visionary, and he was away on the counter. Itoje took up the theme with a gallop of his own, and when the ball was swung right Olly Hartley, on for Lozowski, finished bullishly. Saracens reckon the burly centre will be one of their next internationals.
By now Quins were rattled and had further reason to be so when Saracens finished another lineout and drive a few minutes before the break. Jamie George guided the ball home behind an advancing pack.
New half, same routine. Saracens registered a bonus point with their third driven lineout try of the evening. Andy Christie, another handful in the loose, demonstrated his prowess at close quarters by claiming the fourth.
Quins looked at sea, but they were never going to let this lie. On came Danny Care to inject the usual pace. They were duly inspired, mounting their most sustained series of attacks, pounding at the Saracens line. But Saracens, as we know, can defend every bit as well as they can attack.
Quins fumbled in the face of it, even though the line kept beckoning. Gradually they were repelled into their own half, when Itoje took a turn terrorising them. He forced a knock-on and, when González terrorised Nick David, Hartley seemed to have a second. It turned out Itoje had pulled on a Quins shirt in the buildup, but Saracens were awarded a penalty and scored from it anyway. This time the driven lineout was halted, but Goode’s brilliant hands under pressure sent Tom Parton over for the visitors’ fifth. Goode was instrumental in the sixth 10 minutes from time, too, when the race for his chip was won by Alex Lewington.
André Esterhuizen, an actual World Cup winner, rounded off the scoring with a consolation for Quins in the dying minutes. It was nowhere near enough to lift the Stoop. But Quins will come again. The table is looking deliciously tight – as always. The World Cup feels further and further away.
