Sarries fight hard for top spot
Saracens were made to work for a hard fought 26-20 victory over Benetton Treviso in northern Italy on Sunday but got the points they required to finish top of Pool Five.
In a tight affair at the Stadio Comunale Monigo Owen Farrell’s boot proved to be the difference with the centre kicking 16 points.
The visitors opened the scoring courtesy of Farrell with a penalty after ten minutes but Treviso struck back immediately with flank Robert Barbieri crashing over for the game’s first try and Kristopher Burton added the extras with the boot.
Mouritz Botha eased over the line just three minutes later for Saracens and Farrell converted as they moved back in front.
The lead changed hands one again as the hosts doubled their score at the end of the first quarter with wing Tommaso Iannone racing into score. Burton converted and kicked a drop-goal to stretch his side’s advantage to 17-10.
Farrell kicked another three points for the visitors before the break to reduce the deficit to four points.
It took just 36 second-half seconds for Saracens to retake the lead with England wing David Strettle capitalising on a charge down to side step his way over the whitewash.
Farrell and Burton exchanged further penalties in a tight second period before Farrell continued his impressive display with the boot adding another three points to his tally.
The scorers:
For Treviso:
Tries: Barbieri, Iannone
Cons: Burton 2
Pen: Burton
DG: Burton
For Saracens:
Tries: Botha, Strettle
Cons: Farrell 2
Pens: Farrell 4
The teams:
Treviso: 15 Ludovico Nitoglia, 14 Tommaso Iannone, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Brendan Williams, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Benjamin Vermaak, 5 Cornelius van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Enrico Ceccato, 17 Matteo Muccignat, 18 Augusto Allori, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Gonzalo Padrò, 21 Marco Filippucci, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Alberto Di Bernardo.
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Owen Farrell, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 John Smit, 1 Matt Stevens.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 Hayden Smith, 20 Justin Melck, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Chris Wyles, 23 Duncan Taylor.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
