Charlie Hodgson announced in the week that this season will be his last; then he strode out on to the Twickenham greensward and took his Premiership points tally through the 2,500 mark. It is an extension of the record he has held for years. Next is 278 points of daylight, then Andy Goode, followed by 623 points of more daylight before Olly Barkley. What a career it will have been when it finishes in May, perhaps here with a third Premiership title to his name. And how many more England caps might he have won, had his time not coincided with one Jonny Wilkinson?
Regardless of the points, it is as a playmaker of vision and passing skills to die for that he should be remembered. At the age of 35, those skills remain undiminished. He pulled Saracens’ strings as masterfully as ever in this latest demolition, despite all the players missing, and landed every conversion from all angles in a vicious, swirling wind.
Worcester’s return to the Premiership has been encouraging but here they were up against opponents of a different class. If Saracens can do what they did to Toulouse and Ulster over the previous fortnight, Worcester need not despair at this rude welcome to the big stage.
“We always knew, coming into this competition, that we would get some pretty serious dents,” said Dean Ryan, their director of rugby. “It’s unrealistic to think we can jump across to this competition and then jump again to the top end of it. Today was a sobering lesson but one we’re prepared to take to get better.”
Not that it was as big a stage as it might have been. Twickenham looked barely a third full, even if the attendance was given out as rather more, for an event that usually attracts between 60,000 and 70,000. Then again, usually it is played in shirt-sleeve weather at the start of the season. After the vibrancy of the World Cup, which took the shirt-sleeve weather away with it, as well as the legion of fans, Twickenham felt cold and rather empty.
Harlequins had decided that this year’s event was too close to their Big Game gig over Christmas to be attractive, which left Saracens as the only club from London in the London Double Header. Worcester brought a West Midlands accent to the concept – as do Wasps these days.
The Warriors proved competitive for much of the first half but when the opportunities presented themselves Saracens had too much class. Fourteen points down after 20 minutes without really doing much wrong, Worcester unravelled after the break.
Chris Ashton scored his first two tries of the season, both high-class efforts, albeit sparked by brilliance from others. Ben Spencer, Saracens’ third-choice scrum-half, broke from a ruck in the fourth minute, which was sharp, but his cross-kick on the run was touched by genius and sat up for Ashton for the first try. Spencer was on the scoresheet himself around 20 minutes later when the excellent Maro Itoje, off turnover ball, put Chris Wyles away. Spencer was on hand to take his inside ball for Saracens’ second.
The game was more or less gone by then but any Worcester hope was crushed a couple of minutes into the second half, when Jackson Wray scored from a driven lineout to set up a 27-6 lead. Another 10 minutes later and Saracens had the bonus point with the try of the match. Schalk Brits went past three players on the counter and found Hodgson, who sent Ashton in on the switch. The conversion of that score just happened to be the one that brought up Hodgson’s 2,500th point.
Worcester were gone now and further tries followed in smart order for Brits, from another driven lineout, and Ben Ransom, off a classic Hodgson miss-pass.
Worcester roused themselves for two late scores of their own, one by Joe Rees, the other a fine score by GJ van Velze. His opposite number, Ernst Joubert, was playing his last game for Saracens after six years of great service, but for services to Sale, Saracens and English rugby this was a suitably classy way for Hodgson to pass his latest milestone.
