Seven-try Sarries crush Quins in quest for place among European elite

AS obliging as NEC Harlequins were, Saracens showed for the second successive game they have the artillery for European combat next season.

After overwhelming Bedford the previous week, Bank Holiday Monday's seven-try-feast was further evidence The Men in Black are worthy of a place in European rugby next season. There is little room for error, however, in the four remaining games with Bristol level on points in the table with fifth-placed Saracens.

After an hour, Sarries had already assembled 50 points on the board. It was not until the latter stages of the game and after seven changes to Saracens' line-up, that Quins were able to add some respectability to the score line.

Skipper Francois Pienaar said: 'Quins have been our bogey side recently and we have lost our last three games to them. So it was very pleasing to be 22 points up at half time.

'But we did not finish the way we should have done. We made a few changes which might have affected the guys. We didn't get the impact we wanted.'

Quins were poor, dropping catches and missing tackles, and were out-played in every department. Sarries' menacing front division were complemented by a pacey back row with a vast array of feints to bamboozle their opponents.

And what might Saracens have achieved this season had Kyran Bracken been fit from the start? Ruled out with a back injury since June until he made his first start at Bedford last week, the scrum-half was making his first appearance at Vicarage Road this season.

Bracken showed no sign of rust and was a constant source of ammunition for the backs. He also shows no sign of needing more time to adjust to the tempo of the game after such a lengthy lay off and worked well with fly-half Thierry Lacroix.

But one thing that is different from Bracken's game is the physical element, under orders of Pienaar and director of rugby Alan Zondagh. Bracken's combative style previously involved taking on the forwards, but he has been advised not to be so eager to indulge in the heavyweight contests on the field anymore, so as to avoid injury.

'The message to Kyran is not to be as physical as he used to be and to consider his long term career. I would like him to be more of a piano player than a piano pusher,' Pienaar said.

Bracken began by calling the tune after 16 minutes when he put Darragh O'Mahony over following Julian White's try ten minutes earlier when he burrowed over after a lineout take from Kris Chesney.

Rob Thirlby was the instigator of Saracens' third try after his jinking run took him to within ten metres of Quins' line. Bill Davison, in support, fed O'Mahony to complete a comfortable interval lead of 22 unanswered points.

Thirlby's pace again proved deadly for Quins in the first minute of the second half. The Sarries full-back left the Quins cover defence trailing in his wake on a diagonal run from the half-way line.

So quick was Thirlby, that Quins could not lay a hand on him. On another dash, Thirlby's chip and run brought him deep into the visitors' territory where Richard Hill accepted his invitation to run in another try.

Lacroix's punt deep into Quins territory was fumbled and O'Mahony capitalised to complete his hat-trick. But the French fly-half pulled his hamstring in the process of making the kick leading up to the try and had to be replaced by Matt Leek.

Saracens' deluge was completed when Ryan Constable, scorer of a record-breaking six tries the previous week, picked his way through Quins' back line.

Former Saracen Brendon Daniel and David Barnes reduced the arrears with unconverted tries as Sarries made seven changes to rest limbs and give others a taste of the action late in the game.