Two games into the season and two wins for a remodelled Saracens team embarking on a new era. It took them a little while to get going but a notable contribution from the centre Alex Lozowski, who kicked 23 points and supplied a brilliant try assist for his speedy young winger Tobias Elliott, ultimately took the hosts away from a Sharks side undermined by a costly flurry of injuries.
Sale had been hoping for a repeat of May’s Premiership playoff decider when they shocked Sarries on their own pitch and abruptly curtailed Owen Farrell’s Saracens career but the early loss of George Ford with a quad muscle injury robbed them of their best player and a pair of last quarter tries from Elliot Daly topped off an increasingly dominant home effort to secure a late try bonus point.
Ford will now have a scan to establish whether he faces a spell on the sidelines in the buildup to England’s opening November Test against New Zealand. Sarries’ new skipper, Maro Itoje, also limped off just after half-time and could be seen pressing a bag of ice to his knee in the dugout. Mark McCall, Sarries’ director of rugby, suggested the injury was not unduly serious. “He’s got a bang on a grumbly knee and we took him off really quick to preserve that. He’ll be fine but whether he plays next week I’m not sure.”
McCall also made clear Saracens were ideally keen to retain their general manager, Phil Morrow, wanted by England’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, as the latest part of a backroom reshuffle caused by the departure of the fitness coach Aled Walters. McCall would like Morrow to divide his time between club and country but was keener to dwell on a second-half display that saw his team ram home 33 second-half points to extend their unbeaten start. “Our energy and physicality wasn’t at the level we wanted it to be but we thought that improved significantly in the second half,” said McCall.
The Sharks, clad in eye-catching tangerine, will look back and wonder if this was ever destined to be their day. Their director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, broke two ribs in a midweek training ground collision with Tom Roebuck and it set the tone for an injury-strewn afternoon.
The influential Ford appeared to tweak something in his thigh attempting a long-range early penalty while the hard-working Jean-Luc du Preez, such a physical force, took a heavy blow to the head that forced him off after just 10 minutes.
The Sharks, though, were initially the livelier side and all Saracens could manage in the first half were four penalties from Lozowski and Daly. Despite a yellow card for the busy Sam Dugdale, it was Sale who led 13-12 at the break courtesy of an excellent try, good, direct running from Rob du Preez and then Sam Bedlow allowing Gus Warr to scamper under the posts. The up-and-coming Asher Opoku-Fordjour was also acquitting himself well opposite the heavier Rhys Carré and a tight finish momentarily looked in prospect.
Steve Diamond admitted his Newcastle side struggled to cope with "world-class" Marcus Smith after the England fly-half produced another quality performance in Harlequins' 28-14 victory at the Twickenham Stoop.
Smith kicked eight points to drive Quins forward after they had fallen behind to an early John Hawkins try, with scores from Nathan Jibulu, Will Evans, Leigh Halfpenny and Will Porter leading them to a comfortable victory.
Diamond thought Smith, who was starting his first game for Quins since returning from his touring exploits with England in New Zealand, made the biggest difference between his visitors getting any reward for their exerts and leaving empty-handed.
The Falcons' director of rugby said: "Smith is a class player who looks cool. Every time he gets the ball he's never under pressure, conducted everything and is a world-class player."
Quins head coach, Danny Wilson, also reserved special praise for his star No 10, saying: "I've just told Marcus that was his pre-season friendly because he's not been able to put the Quins jersey and boots on for a while. He's had a long lay-off so to come back and be as influential as he was is testament to the man."
The former Wales star Halfpenny was also outstanding on his home debut for Quins since being recruited in the summer following his spell in Super Rugby with Crusaders. The 35-year-old full-back, who is playing for his fifth team in four different leagues, looks to be a useful addition to the squad, with Wilson saying: "He is so tough and brings so much to the club with his vast experience, knowledge and skill set."
Newcastle last savoured Premiership victory 554 days ago, but Diamond remains optimistic his side can eventually put that dismal record straight. He said: "It could have been a cricket score at one stage and the lads did really well to keep it tight and almost get right back into things. At least we put up a good performance and we will get that win which is being elusive up to now. Quins are a good side and they were better than us on the day, but the spirit is strong amongst the lads." PA Media
There are only so many big players a team can lose, however, before the cracks start to show. Both Ben Curry and the towering Hyron Andrews also had to leave the field shortly after half-time for head injury assessments and with Dugdale still off the field, the reserve hooker Ethan Caine had to deployed in the back-row as an emergency measure.
Amid all the comings and goings two more nicely chipped penalties from Lozowski made it 18-13 before Sarries burst into belated life. Lozowski, having made a clean midfield break, threw a sumptuous long ball which gave Elliott just enough extra time and space to beat Tom O’Flaherty and dive into the right corner.
From that moment, it was a different game. Despite a Sale maul try finished by Luke Cowan-Dickie, Sarries had too much in reserve and some lovely skill from Alex Goode, within seconds of coming on, set up Daly’s first score.
England’s captain, Jamie George, also got himself on the scoresheet and, after Dugdale had been shown a second late yellow card to compound the battered Sharks’ woes, another lovely long ball gave Daly the chance to touch down Sarries’ fourth try. With their Argentina players still to come back and the new fly-half Fergus Burke still settling into Farrell’s shoes, those predicting a humdrum rebuilding season for Sarries may yet be proved very wrong.
• This article was amended on 28 September 2024. An earlier version referred to Sale defeating Saracens in last June’s Premiership semi-final, instead it was last May in their final game of the Premiership season.
