SARACENS MADE A statement of intent as they thumped record four-time champions Toulouse 32-7 in the European Champions Cup on Saturday.
The 2014 runners-up ran in three tries as they put the French Top 14 giants to the sword in a stunning first half performance in north-west London.
A day after the terrifying Paris attacks, the Pool 1 match begun with a rendition of the French national anthem the Marseillaise but there was precious little goodwill offered by the English Premiership leaders thereafter.
Saracens dominated from the off and strangled the life out of their overawed opponents, negating Toulouse’s power at the scrum and overwhelming them with swift attacking through the three-quarter line.
Two early penalties from England fly-half Owen Farrell set the stage for the opening try of the game as Sarries made their superiority pay off when Mako Vunipola was shoved over by his fellow forwards, including brother Billy Vunipola on 14 minutes.
Farrell, who had made the initial break for that score thanks to Mako Vunipola’s delightful inside pass, added the conversion and a penalty before Sarries blew a clear scoring opportunity when they failed to make a three-on-two situation count.
But another penalty came their way and Farrell kicked them 19-0 ahead.
Worse was to follow for the visitors as Samoa prop Census Johnston, who left Sarries for France in 2009, was sent to the sinbin after cynically coming in from the side of a maul.
The hosts turned the screw as Farrell landed his fifth penalty before they stretched the Toulouse backline and sent American wing Chris Wyles over in the left corner.
The half finished with Toulouse battering the home line but Saracens resisted and forced a turnover to make it to half-time leading 27-0.
They also struck first after the break with Wyles getting his second after crucial support play from Farrell, who missed his second successive conversion, pushed the American over the line despite the close attentions of Sebastien Bezy.
Toulouse finally showed the pride their heavyweight status demanded and their forwards succeeded where they had failed at the end of the first period, forcing over French prop Christopher Tolofua — Bezy converted.
Former England international Toby Flood was forced off early for Toulouse with an injury but sitting on the bench he told BT Sport that winning the second half was all that counted now for the French side.
They managed that, albeit only by 7-5 as their massive pack started to overpower that of Saracens, without threatening the scoreboard further.
What about her run in with Martin Johnson in the 2003 Six Nations? Caused quite a bit if controversy and an apology from the RFU.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/international/2904249.stm
You’re the one dubbing her “Ireland’s newest saint” Pete. The rest of us are simply acknowledging that she did the job with grace, humility and respect. Simple as that.
She certainly helped me over the hurdle of watching england play in croke park. She dragged me kicking and screaming thru quite a few things actually.
My sporting highlight for Mary McAleese was when she took the winning free that won the 2011 all Ireland football final for Dublin…wait a minute she wasn’t playing…actually now that I recall she didn’t play in any team during her presidency. What a load of nonsense this article is. More fool me for reading it. Hup-ya boyo!
All of of her speeches were empty platitudes.
When she opened the GR7 conference in the RDS in 2004 she opened her speech by saying that she knew nothing about Science.
The genius Stephen W. Hawking was sitting directly in front of her.
(Ireland collapsed on her so-called watch.)
Aw FFS, you can’t blame her for that, get real! Also I have a huge amount of respect for someone who acknowledges their ignorance on a subject. You could possibly learn something from her….
Not much soccer there!
Donnacha:
I was complaining about her elevation to be the newest Irish Saint.
She could have done SOME research before making such a speech in front of the cleverest people on earth.
And be criticised for trying to pretend she knows more than she does…. You can’t win in this country. Platitudes come with the role unfortunately, but so do the begrudgers.