Saracens raced to a 48-18 Aviva Premiership bonus point victory over Worcester Warriors at Twickenham in the first of the London double headers.
Premiership champions Saracens sizzled in the contest as they scored six tries compared to Worcester’s two tries.
Saracens replacement and potential future England captain Maro Itoje was named man of the match.
Chris Ashton grabbed a brace as the victory ensures that Sarries’ unbeaten start to the season continues, and the result and performance provided the perfect send-off to Ernst Joubert on his final appearance.
Saracens weathered early pressure to cross for their first try after four minutes. Ashton supported Ben Spencer’s dummy and break, and latched onto a deft chip ahead for a score that Charlie Hodgson converted, before Tom Heathcote missed a penalty goal for Worcester.
Hodgson also spurned an opportunity with the boot for the hosts, but Sarries didn’t have long to wait to add to their lead.
This time Spencer was on hand to the finish the move after Chris Wyles had broke and attracted the attention of full-back Chris Pennell.
Hodgson again converted, and he added a penalty to make it 17-0, after the TMO ruled out a third try for Saracens.
A quickfire penalty double from Heathcote got Worcester on the board before half-time to make it 17-6, but there was still time for Hodgson to take Sarries to 20 with his second penalty goal of the afternoon.
Wray was at the back of a powerful maul to score the ‘home’ team’s first try of the second half, before excellent play from Schalk Brits carved out the opening for Hodgson to feed Ashton, who grabbed his second.
Hodgson converted both tries, before Brits crossed for a deserved try of his own and Ben Ransom added a sixth.
There was still time for the Warriors to grab two late consolation tries, to reduce the final deficit to a more respectable 30 points, but it failed to remove the gloss from another impressive Sarries display.
Final Score Saracens 48 (20) Worcester Warriors 18 (11)
Scorers
Saracens
Tries – Ashton (2), Spencer, Wray, Brits, Ransom
Pen – Hodgson (2)
Con – Hodgson (6)
Drop –
Worcester Warriors
Tries – Rees, Van Velze
Pen – Heathcote (2)
Con –
Drop –
Match Officials
Referee : Ian Tempest (10th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Peter Huckle & Nigel Carrick.
TMO: Rowan Kitt.
Teams
Saracens
15 Ben Ransom , 14 Chris Ashton , 13 Marcelo Bosch , 12 Brad Barritt , 11 Chris Wyles , 10 Charlie Hodgson , 9 Ben Spencer , 8 Ernst Joubert , 7 Will Fraser , 6 Kelly Brown , 5 Alistair Hargreaves (c) , 4 George Kruis , 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Rhys Gill
Replacements, 16 Jared Saunders , 17 Richard Barrington , 18 Titi Lamositele , 19 Maro Itoje , 20 Samulea Vunisa , 21 Neil De Kock , 22 Owen Farrell , 23 Nick Tompkins ,
Warriors
15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Jonny Arr, 1 Na’ama Leleimalefaga, 2 Niall Annett, 3 Nick Schonert, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 5 Darren Barry, 6 Phil Dowson, 7 Sam Betty, 8 GJ van Velze (C)
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Val Rapava Ruskin, 18 Joe Rees, 19 Tevita Cavubati, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Charlie Mulchrone, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Ben Howard
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