Back on home turf it was business as usual for Saracens, on the field at least, with six tries, a handful of World Cup stars returning – including an impressive debut for Elliot Daly – and a demonstration that they will not give up their European crown without a considerable fight. Premiership survival remains the priority this season but this emphatic bonus-point victory kick-starts Saracens’ campaign on the continent and tees up a decisive double header with Munster next month.
Rotimi Segun finished with two tries, Jack Singleton, Alex Lewington, Richard Barrington all one apiece with Saracens awarded a penalty try to boot but it was Daly who shone brightest on his first appearance. He teed up two tries for Segun and was the standout performer but the very fact the defending champions have added England’s full-back to their already illustrious squad hardly leads to much sympathy for their plight amid the salary-cap scandal that hangs heavy over the club.
Saracens chose to leave Billy Vunipola, Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje out of their matchday 23 but this was demonstration of their strength in depth, in contrast to the lack of reserves available to the Ospreys. The visitors have been hit hard by injuries – Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric, Gareth Anscombe and George North heading a list of notable absentees – and, for all that the XV selected stuck to the task, this was always likely to be a routine victory for Saracens given they had nine internationals in their starting lineup.
“We are still ambitious to do well in the competition and we still want to win the games,” said the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall. “We have just got some decisions to make along the way about when the internationals play and we will make those decisions.
“The decisions we’ve taken around who does and doesn’t play had nothing to do with the salary-cap issue and everything to do with how they are. If we get through to the quarter-finals we’ve got a chance, a good chance because my experience with this team in knockout rugby is pretty good.”
It was a scrappy start, notable only for just how quiet it was at Allianz Park in their first outing here since being hit with a £5.4m fine and a 35-point deduction in the Premiership. Saracens supporters are not always the most vocal but one had to wonder whether the off-field controversies had shaken their fans’ belief. The chairman, Nigel Wray, often uses his programme notes to make a statement and on this occasion opted to quote from Rudyard Kipling’s If. In the opening stages, however, with Saracens sluggish, one could not say it had the desired effect and, if the players are trying to foster an us-versus-the-world attitude, on this evidence it has yet to spill on to the stands.
Daly eventually opened the scoring, on target with a penalty beyond Manu Vunipola’s range and the 19-year-old fly-half added another closer in soon after. Daly had a hand in Saracens’ opening try too, gathering James Hook’s high kick, peeling to the right wing and releasing Jackson Wray, who in turn found Ben Earl there. The flanker was stopped short by the covering Owen Watkin but the Ospreys were forced into conceding a lineout deep in their own 22. Nick Isiekwe gathered Singleton’s throw and the England hooker was soon over in the right corner.
Hook put the Ospreys on the board with a penalty before Saracens’ second try, which had a touch of fortune to it. Vunipola’s return pass to Tom Whiteley was off target but the scrum-half hacked the ball across field to Daly on the volley. Daly seized the opening ruthlessly, releasing Segun on the right to race clear. Segun then turned provider for Saracens’ third, the returning captain, Brad Barritt, delaying his pass delightfully for the right wing, who shipped on to Lewington in the left corner.
Saracens lost Titi Lamositele to injury just before half-time, the tighthead prop clutching his left elbow as he made way, but they secured the bonus point seven minutes into the second half – Segun arcing his way to the try-line after a clever offload from Daly. After a flurry of replacements in which Saracens introduced Richard Wigglesworth and Jamie George, they had their fifth try when the referee, Mathieu Raynal, wasted little time in running to the posts after the home side turned the screw at a close-range scrum and Barrington barrelled over to complete the rout.
