Saracens: (24) 52 |
Tries: Lewington, Dan 2, Maitland 2, Cinti, Gonzalez, Goode; Cons: Farrell 6 |
Harlequins: (0) 7 |
Tries: Dombrandt; Cons: Smith |
Saracens blew Harlequins away 52-7 in front of 61,000 fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Quins hardly laid a glove on the north Londoners as Sarries stretched their winning run to seven matches against their rivals in the Premiership.
Tries from Alex Lewington, Theo Dan and two from Sean Maitland gave Saracens a 24-0 lead at half-time.
Alex Dombrandt replied after Dan scored again, before Lucio Cinti, Juan Martin Gonzalez and Alex Goode sealed the win.
The victory lifts Saracens above Harlequins into second in the Premiership table, while Quins slip to fifth as a result of Exeter’s win over Newcastle and their points difference taking a battering.
Saracens exploded out of the blocks like the fireworks display before captain Owen Farrell’s 250th game for the club and were ahead within three minutes thanks to Lewington’s seventh Premiership try of the season.
Harlequins had hardly touched the ball and could not cope with the home side’s quick passing and intensity in the early stages and lost captain Stephan Lewies to the sin-bin in the 14th minute.
And they were immediately made to pay, with hooker Dan driving over at the back of the Saracens maul from the resulting lineout after the penalty.
Farrell’s perfect pass found Maitland, a late replacement in the line-up for Rotimi Segun, in acres of space to run in the third try.
Saracens then capitalised on another mistake from Harlequins as an overshot lineout went through to Dan.
The home side got the ball out to Elliot Daly whose brilliant through-the-legs pass found Lewington, who teed up his fellow wing Maitland for his second try of the game.
Harlequins could not live with the speed and skill of Daly, who was gaining great ground with his kicking from full-back and threading together the play in the Harlequins half on the attack.
The second half began in much the same fashion with Harlequins giving away another penalty, Farrell kicking into the corner and Dan driving over the line for his second try of the match.
Dombrandt got one back for Harlequins almost from nowhere, as he broke over the line after the maul had broken down.
Saracens made the points safe as Cinti finished off a nice move created by Nick Tompkins and the brilliant Daly.
Maitland then got within a whisker of his hat-trick but was able to roll the ball across to Gonzalez after grounding it just short of the try line, before replacement Goode dotted over to secure a massive win for Saracens in their first match back after the Six Nations.
Saracens: Daly; Maitland, Cinti, Tompkins, Lewington; Farell, Van Zyl; M Vunipola, Dan, Judge; McFarland, Tizard; Gonzalez, Earl, B Vunipola
Replacements: George, Mawi, Riccioni, Isiekwe, Willis, Christie, Simpson, Goode
Sin-bin: Gonzalez (80)
Harlequins: Green; Lynagh, Beard, Esterhuizen, Murley; Smith, Care; Marler, Walker, Collier; Launchbury, Hammond, Lewies, Evans, Dombrandt
Replacements: Riley, Baxter, Lewis, Herbst, Trenholm, Green, Nortmore, David
Sin-bin: Lewies (13), Care (67)
Referee: Christopher Ridley