Just when you think they might be losing a bit of their mojo, languishing down in fourth place, eight points off the top, Saracens remind us of one of English rugby’s seemingly eternal truths. They are the best team in it. By quite a way.
Another hiding was meted out, in front of a crowd of 60,000, against some hapless stooges or other. That the stooges in question were Harlequins, riding high until then in second place, apparent title contenders, simply underlined the reality of Saracens’ dominance of this era of English rugby.
This was their eighth win in a row over Quins, having dismantled them at the Stoop just after the World Cup. “This game can quickly remind you and Saracens particularly, if you’re slightly off, you’re in trouble,” said Danny Wilson, Quins’ head coach. “And we were more than slightly off.”
Before we eulogise the champions too extravagantly, the apparent issue Harlequins have with playing Saracens ought to be dwelt upon, because this was not the performance of credible challengers. The visitors have long been a byword for unpredictability, as brilliant as they are flaky, but even by their standards this was an inexplicable dip in performance. An embarrassment, really.
Expect them to be unplayable next Saturday at home to Bath. This Saturday, though, they did not play at all, submissive without the ball, flat and fumbly with it.
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These are never qualities to take into a match in as competitive an arena as the Premiership, but against Saracens they are disastrous. The champions duly gorged themselves, rattling up eight tries, four within the first half-hour to cruise past the vanquished into second place, suddenly only three points behind the leaders, Northampton.
Owen Farrell stepped out before the match in front of his adoring fans, in front of his father, Andy, to celebrate his 250th appearance, a young son on either side of him. They will probably play for England one day, but this is their father’s time.
“Incredible,” said Mark McCall of his performance. “He played as well as I’ve seen him for a very long time. It looked like it mattered to him today. The players wanted to make it a special week, because they think so highly of him.”
Marcus Smith will be cursing the abject performance of his team, simply unable to shine in the midst of it, but he was as eclipsed as any of his teammates by the player opposite him.
Farrell nearly set up a try in the second minute when he chipped to the tryline, but Quins managed to keep out Lucio Cinti, another remarkable performer. So he set one up in the third instead. Alex Lewington finished it, stepping inside Smith, but it was a who’s who of English rugby in the buildup – Ben Earl, Farrell, Elliot Daly on the loop.
Of all the outstanding performers – and there was a surfeit of them in black – Daly was the pick. A quiet Six Nations by his standards, but he was devastating here from full-back.
After Theo Dan, another star, stepping in for Jamie George, scored the first of his two from driving mauls, after an early yellow card for Quins captain, Stephan Lewies. Daly made a break for Sean Maitland’s walk-in, then pulled off an outrageous pass between his legs to send the latter over again, for the bonus-point try. The clock read 26 minutes.
Dan scored his second three minutes into the second half, before Quins replied with their only try, Alex Dombrandt breaking away from a lineout and drive. Of all the teams capable of an outrageous comeback, Quins are it. To say we were on the edge of our seats might have been an exaggeration, but Saracens nipped any such thoughts in the bud with three tries in the last quarter.
Cinti scored a well-deserved try after Nick Tompkins’s break and Daly’s inside pass, before another brilliant Argentinian, Juan Martín González, finished after Maitland went close. Danny Care saw yellow for an offence in the buildup to that try.
Saracens scored their eighth with 10 minutes remaining, when Lewington broke, and González turned the ball inside for Alex Goode.
It is easy to forget players like Goode are still around, rivalling Farrell as one of the greats of this era of the Premiership. Saracens’ bench was absurdly strong, yielding among others the England captain, the returning Tom Willis and another of the stars of the Six Nations, Andy Christie.
Saracens move on to the shoulder of Northampton at just the right time, typically coming together when it matters, bristling with options. Their next assignment? Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday night. The season is building to a delicious denouement.
