Chris Ashton marked the weekend of his 28th birthday with two trademark tries that helped Saracens reclaim second place in the Premiership, but for the first time since he made his England debut in 2010 he will finish the season without making a Test appearance.
England’s Six Nations campaign showed a need for wingers with Ashton’s finishing ability, but the prospects of a player who has scored 19 tries in 38 internationals featuring in the World Cup appear remote.
Playing in front of a world record crowd for a club match in rugby, and larger than any at Twickenham this season, Ashton helped create the first of Saracens’ five tries as they comfortably secured another double over their London rivals, following September’s 39-0 success at the Stoop, and then used his pace either side of the interval to take his try tally for the season in all competitions to 12.
“My game revolves around the Saracens team and if it is going well and I can add something to it, I am happy,” said Ashton, who hopes to use Sunday’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Racing Métro in Paris as a reminder to the England selectors that he is still around.
“It will be the biggest game of the season for me personally and I hope to replicate what I have been doing so far. We reached the final last season and want to go one step further and win it this time.
“We know we are going to have to step it up in Paris. We were good against Harlequins, but we got turned over a lot. Since we played Wasps at the start of the month, it seems rugby has transformed itself. It shows that the northern hemisphere teams can play.”
Saracens were prepared to run from their own line and although Ashton’s wing partner David Strettle was not among the scorers, he tormented his former club.
His counter-attack led to Ugo Monye being sent to the sin-bin on 14 minutes for killing the ball near his own line, an absence Ashton exploited for his first try, and Strettle set up the bonus point try that may be crucial in the battle for second place when he hacked Richard Wiggleworth’s chip into the path of Chris Wyles.
Saracens were by then down to 14 men with Ashton in the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle on Matt Hopper. It was Ashton’s third yellow card in the Premiership this season. It summed up Harlequins’ season that the bonus point they should have been chasing in their quest for a top-half finish and a place in the Champions Cup turned into one for their opponents.
Quins had desire but they lacked the fluency of their opponents, defensively suspect and profligate in possession. They will finish outside the top four for the first time since 2010-11 and the Challenge Cup beckons next season unless they rediscover themselves in the final four rounds of the campaign.
“We felt good coming into the game, but we were disappointing after making the best possible start and we are making it harder for ourselves to achieve our aim of qualifying for Europe,” said the Quins’ flanker and England captain Chris Robshaw. “I am looking forward to having a break after a tough nine weeks and the focusing on the rest of the season.”
Quins have one of the youngest squads in the Premiership having settled on a policy of developing England-qualified players. It has left them light at times, especially on the bench. They have recruited two experienced forwards for next season, James Horwill and Adam Jones, and are locked in a battle with Cardiff Blues for the Lions and Wales centre Jamie Roberts who is set to leave Racing.
Conor O’Shea, Quins’ director of rugby, would not comment on how the talks with Roberts are progressing, but stressed that the emphasis on experience would not compromise his side’s style of play which is based on tempo and a degree of risk. “We will learn a lot about each other and this season has hurt me because the players want so badly to succeed,” he said. “We are used to success and we will get it back.”The final try of the day was scored by the England No8 Billy Vunipola, lasting the course, as he had throughout the Six Nations. “I was quite tired, but I had a good week coming back to the club and a more relaxed environment,” he said. “I used to stress about rugby, but now it’s just something I think I could do better. England put a lot of trust in me in the Six Nations, giving me the opportunity to play the full 80 minutes, and I want to kick on and improve.”
Saracens Goode; Ashton, Bosch, Wyles, Strettle (Tomkins, 74); Hodgson (Fercu, 67), De Kock (Wigglesworth, 49); M Vunipola (Gill, 63), George (Spurling, 74), Johnston (Alo, 63), Kruis, Hargreaves (capt; Itoje, 35), Wray (Brown, 49), Burger, B Vunipola.
Tries Wyles 2, Ashton 2, B Vunipola. Cons Hodgson, Goode 3. Pens Goode 2, Hodgson. Sin-bin Ashton 71.
Harlequins R Chisholm (Walker, 71); Yarde, Hopper, Sloan, Monye; Evans (Botica, 76), Care (Dickson, 61); Marler (capt; Lambert, 69), Ward (Buchanan, 60), Sinckler (Shields, 34), Matthews (Wallace, 49), Robson, Clifford, Robshaw, Easter.
Try Clifford. Pens Evans 3. Sin-bin Monye 14.
Referee W Barnes. Attendance 84,068
