Saracens make Euro history
After becoming the first team to win nine games in a row on their way to winning the Champions Cup for the first time last season, Mark McCall's side made it four in a row this season with a double over Premiership rivals Sale.
Having run in six tries in a 50-3 home win over the Sharks in Round Three, life got a lot tougher away from home. They had led 26-3 at the break a week earlier, but only had two Farrell penalties to show for their efforts in the opening 40 minutes.
Sharks Director of Rugby Steve Diamond had demanded a reaction from his side and their defensive display showed a massive improvement. So much so, in fact, that a penalty from AJ MacGinty meant they were only three points behind at the break.
The second half started poorly for the home side as Rob Webber become the fourth player in the two games against Saracens to pick up a yellow card when he hauled down a driving line-out in his 22. Fortunately for Webber, and his side, Farrell pushed his kick wide of the posts and then the England star proved he can be a mere mortal off the kicking tee by missing a second shot moments later.
Those two misses kept the game in the melting pot until New Zealand lock Bryn Evans picked up another yellow card for a deliberate knock down as Saracens looked to build an attack on the home 10 metre line. This time Farrell hit the mark to make it 9-3 as the game moved into the final quarter.
A third yellow card for Sale No.8 TJ Ioane 12 minutes from time gave Farrell the chance to kick a fourth goal and that made it six yellows in two games and nine in four games in the Champions Cup this season for Sale.
A delightful off-load as he went to ground in a tackle in the shadow of the home posts by giant Australian lock Will Skelton then paved the way for Farrell to cross for the first try of the game. Farrell added the simple conversion to make it 19 points.
There was an quick exchange of tries at the death, with Nathan Earle racing onto a pin-point kick through by Alex Goode and then Bryn Evans cantering over for a try from the re-start, but nothing could unsettle Saracens. They remain the only unbeaten team in the Champions Cup this season.
The scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Try: Evans
Con: MacGinty
Pen: MacGinty
For Saracens:
Tries: Farrell, Earle
Con: Farrell
Pens: Farrell 4
Teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Johnny Leota, 11 Josh Charnley, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 James Mitchell, 8 TJ Ioane, 7 Magnus Lund (captain), 6 Cameron Neild, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Halani Aulika, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 James Flynn, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Jonathan Mills, 20 David Seymour, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Mark Jennings, 23 Tom Arscott.
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt (c), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Michael Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Kelly Brown, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Nathan Earle.
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Mark Patton (Ireland), Jonathan Peak (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
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