Sarries put Edinburgh to the sword

Eventful afternoon: Schalk Brits

Saracens got their Heineken Cup campaign off to a fantastic start when they thrashed Edinburgh 45-0 at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Charlie Hodgson scored 25 points as Saracens laid down a marker in Pool 1 with a resounding win in the Scottish capital.

After a fairly even opening quarter of an hour, the visitors landed the first blow when Richard Wigglesworth took a quick tap penalty close to the opposition line and, after he was stopped just short, Brad Barritt and Charlie Hodgson fed Joel Tomkins to score on his Heineken Cup debut.

Hodgson kicked the conversion from the right touchline and then added another three points moments later with a penalty from in front of the posts after an infringement in the scrum.

And the Saracens fly-half kicked two further penalties, one after a superb tackle from Kelly Brown on the half-hour mark and another from out wide on the right-hand side, to make it 16-0 at the break.

The English side were reduced to 14 men right at the start of the second half when Schalk Brits was sent to the sin bin but Edinburgh were unable to take advantage of the extra man and Hodgson even added to the lead with another penalty during that ten-minute period.

At 19-0 with an hour gone, the game was almost in the bag for Sarries and they cut loose in the final quarter, with Owen Farrell scoring the first of four second-half tries with almost his first touch after coming on as a replacement.

Chris Ashton provided the final pass for Farrell and the winger grabbed a try himself just a few minutes later after Hodgson had drifted across the field and invited him to come inside and sprint over underneath the posts.

Alex Goode waltzed through the Edinburgh defensive line to score in the left-hand corner and seal the bonus point with just over ten minutes remaining before Hodgson charged down a kick, gathered in the loose ball and strolled over the line to cap a brilliant individual display and add even more gloss to an already emphatic victory.

The scorers:

For Saracens:
Tries: Tomkins, Farrell, Ashton, Goode, Hodgson
Cons: Hodgson 4
Pens: Hodgson 4

Yellow card: Brits (Saracens - 43rd min)

Edinburgh: 15 Tom Brown, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw (capt), 9 Richie Rees, 8 Stuart McInally, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 David Denton, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 John Yapp.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Robert McAlpine, 20 Netani Talei, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Harry Leonard, 23 Dougie Fife.

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick (capt), 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 George Kruis, 20 Andy Saull, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Chris Wyles.

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)