| Gallagher Premiership |
|---|
| Saracens (14) 36 |
| Tries: Carre, Segun, Isiekwe, Barrington Cons: Vunipola 2 Pens: Vunipola 3, Lozowski |
| Sale (10) 22 |
| Tries: McGuigan, D du Preez, R du Preez Cons: R du Preez 2 Pen: R du Preez |
Relegated Saracens showed they will still be a force this season with a four-try win over third-placed Sale.
The Sharks beat Sarries last week to reach the final of the Premiership Rugby Cup, but were undone inside a minute when Rhys Carre crashed over.
Byron McGuigan gave Sale hope with a try at the end of the first half.
Rotimi Segun, Nick Isiekwe and Richard Barrington added second-half tries for the bonus, with Dan du Preez and Rob du Preez scoring late on for Sale.
Saracens were the more controlled and clinical at a blustery Allianz Park, while Sale were made to pay for a series of errors and indiscipline, mostly avoidable.
Carre scored the early try after an error on their own lineout from Sale, while the visitors were made to pay for a moment of indiscipline at the start of the second half.
After Segun was released to score in the corner, McGuigan was penalised for sliding in late and Manu Vunipola kicked a restart penalty after his successful conversion.
As well as the bonus point, Sarries’ four tries also contributed £4,000 to the charity pot for Worcester forward Michael Fatialofa, who suffered a serious spinal injury in the Premiership loss to Sarries on 4 January.
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall:
“We’re chuffed with the way we played, and the unity and togetherness that we showed.
“It was difficult conditions and Sale chose to play with the wind in the first half. We needed to roll our sleeves up and we did that. Our half-backs were fantastic in the first half, Tom Whiteley in particular, the way he kicked into that breeze.
“We were good value at 14-3, but they got a good try. One mistake by one person and it’s 14-10. I thought the response to that in the second half was great.”
Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond:
“We come from Manchester, it pours it down every day. We trained with the wind all week, but it was just a bit more experience in their team to put us to the sword in that first half.
“Fair play to Saracens, their strength in depth runs deep. Players come in and stay in structure, and they did that really well.
“I think we’ve been playing well over the past six weeks, we just didn’t play [today], we didn’t get past one phase. I’m a little bit disappointed with that.”
Saracens: Goode; Segun, Lozowski, Barritt (capt), Lewington; Manu Vunipola, Whiteley; Carre, Woolstencroft, Koch, Kpoku, Hunter-Hill, Isiekwe, Clark, Wray.
Replacements: Singleton, Barrington, Ibuanokpe, Christie, Reffell, Spencer, Taylor, Crossdale.
Sale: Hammersley; Ashton, S James, Van Rensburg, McGuigan; R du Preez, Cliff; Harrison, Webber, John, Evans, J-L du Preez, Ross (capt), B Curry, D du Preez.
Replacements: Van der Merwe, Oosthuizen, Cooper-Woolley, Phillips, Wilson, Warr, L James, Solomona.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU).
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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