Bristol Bears were heavily beaten 47-13 by defending Gallagher Premiership champions Saracens at Allianz Park on Saturday.
With Saracens essentially needing to win every game this league season having been handed a 35 point deduction for breaking the salary cap for the last three seasons, the homeside showed their ruthless side after the break to run in seven tries in total.
The North London side are now 17 points behind 11th place Leicester Tigers who must be looking over their shoulders with 16 rounds still to play.
Max Malins and Nick Tomkins both scored braces while Mako Vunipola, Brad Barritt and Ben Earl all touched down.
Luke Morahan scored from a cross-field kick for the Bears while fly-half Callum Sheedy kicked eight points from two penalties and a conversion.
Bristol Bears rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances at Allianz Park.
15. Charles Piutau - 6
The full back has been averaging well over 100 metres in attack this season but the stunning Saracens defence restricted him to just 35 from eight carries which tells you everything you need to know about how good their kick and chase game is.
14. Luke Morahan - 6
The Australian winger took his try well, having to readjust as the ball took a deflection off a Saracens man on its way to him from Callum Sheedy’s cross-field kick.
13. Piers O’Conor - 5
The centre failed to make an impact on the game making zero metres in attack although Bristol were starved of the ball particularly in the second half.
12. Sam Bedlow - 5
The centre made 10 tackles after being given the nod in this big game. Saracens pairing of Brad Barritt and Nick Tomlins won the centre duel.
11. Toby Fricker - 6
The winger put in a stunning tackle right on his line to stop Brad Barritt scoring what looked like a certain try and battled relentlessly throughout in the biggest game of his young career. He missed four of his 10 attempted tackles.
10. Callum Sheedy - 7
The fly-half barely put a foot wrong, particularly in the first half as he kicked Bristol into positions to pressure the hosts. There were glimpses of his stepping ability with the ball in hand, he kicked eight points without missing and set-up Morahan’s try with a sumptuous cross-field kick.
9. Andy Uren - 7
It was a mixed bag for the scrum half who was exceptional in some areas of the game but also missed five tackles according to the stats. His interception and 40 yard burst was key to Morahan’s try and a couple of the six tackles he did make were try savers. He got a little over excited at times and knocked the ball on when there were a couple of attacking opportunities.
1. Jake Woolmore - 7
The scrum was a source of stability throughout with nether side clearly on top. Considering the entire Saracens front row were playing in the World Cup final last month, plus the second rows, that is some going.
2. Harry Thacker - 6
The hooker got a yellow card for pulling down a maul, but that was more a team sin binning after numerous similar offences in a short space of time. Threw well in the lineout and was missed when he was off the field.
3. John Afoa - 7
The prop stepped up when Bristol needed physical performances in the tight areas, particularly in defence and held his own in the scrum.
4. Joe Joyce - 7
The lock who was told he is not going to make it is now being picked for the biggest games of the season and with 14 tackles and no misses you can see why. A strong performance against world class head-to-head opposition.
5. Chris Vui - 6
Back at lock the Samoan battled manfully with the likes of George Kruis, Maro Itoje and Will Skelton to try and repel Saracens’ trying maul and while Bristol coughed up penalties do it they did manage to stop a large number of attempted drives over the line
6. Steven Luatua - 6
The New Zealander’s offloading game was heavily missed as he barely featured as a ball carrier, making just one metre from three carries.
7. Jake Heenan - 6
The flanker topped the tackle charts with 16 successes but also missed four. Held up what would have been another Saracens try over the line.
8. Nathan Hughes - 5
Through no real fault of his own the big number eight just wasn’t able to make a big impact on the game, getting just eight touches in attack when we have seen him having 20 in recent weeks. He did make 34 metres from those runs mind you but also gave away three penalties.
Replacements
16. Will Capon - 5, 17. James Lay - 4, 18. Max Lahiff - 6, 19. Ed Holmes - 5, 20. Luke Hamilton - 5 21. Harry Randall - 5, 22. Ioan Lloyd - 7, 23. Alapati Leiua - 6.
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