Owen Farrell teaches Marcus Smith a lesson as Saracens send message to Premiership rivals

Owen Farrell very much got the better of fellow England fly-half Marcus Smith as Saracens produced a statement display against Harlequins on Saturday.

The champions, who have struggled for their best form this season, were absolutely outstanding from start to finish and sent a message to their competitors in this 52-7 victory over their London rivals.

On his 250th appearance, Farrell was superb and dictated play throughout while fellow Englishmen Elliot Daly, Ben Earl and Theo Dan also shone.

Dan touched down twice while Sean Maitland also scored a brace, with the other tries coming from Alex Lewington, Lucio Cinti, Juan Martin Gonzalez and Alex Goode.

Farrell kicked six conversions and easily won the duel with Marcus Smith, who could only add the extras to Alex Dombrandt’s try.

Smith faltered behind a pack that continually went backwards as Sarries’ physicality and tempo proved too much for the visitors.

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After a special tribute for Farrell’s 250th club appearance, Saracens came flying out of the blocks looking to make it a milestone to savour.

Dan pierced a gap in the defensive line to carry Sarries inside the Quins 22 and wing Lewington finished off a fine first move in the corner inside two minutes after bouncing off a poor tackle from Marcus Smith.

Harlequins’ indiscipline was the story of the opening quarter and they were a man down after a maul misdemeanour from captain Stephan Lewies.

Saracens smelt blood and several backs poured in to the resulting lineout drive to help them over the line, with hooker Dan the man to touch down for his sixth try of the season.

Flyer Maitland was a late call-up in place of Rotimi Segun but was quickly the toast of Tottenham, sliding in for the first of two scores in quick succession.

Conductor-in-chief Farrell sprayed a flat miss pass to Maitland for the first and he had the simplest of run-ins for Saracens’ third try.

Maitland’s second and Saracens’ bonus-point score came on 26 minutes and encapsulated the performances of both teams in a thoroughly one-sided first half.

Saracens believe they found the ‘right person’ to replace Owen Farrell

After an overthrown Quins lineout, Dan gobbled up the loose ball and after some swift hands, player of the match Elliot Daly produced an audacious through-the-legs pass to present Lewington with a two-on-one.

Sarries’ top scorer unselfishly tipped on to Maitland and the Scot fought off a couple of desperate covering defenders to cross for a second time, doubling his tally for the season in the process.

There was no let-up after the break and after Joe Marler and Will Evans were penalised at the breakdown, Saracens re-established their base in the Quins corner. Dan found the whitewash again as the league’s most prolific maul notched their 11th collective try of the season.

Quins finally managed to get themselves on the board after 50 punishing minutes as Dombrandt stretched over, but any hopes of a comeback were quashed by a lovely team try finished off by Cinti.

Pumas team-mate Gonzalez then picked up a loose ball to score on the hour mark before turning provider for replacement Goode as Saracens leapfrogged their fierce rivals into second in style.

That's the Goode stuff 🤌@Saracens hit 50 in #TheShowdown4 ⚫️🔴#GallagherPrem #SARvHAR pic.twitter.com/flOdE4AnPl

— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) March 23, 2024

Exeter boost play-off hopes against winless Newcastle

Newcastle began life under new consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond with a 25-16 defeat as Exeter maintained their push for a top-four Premiership finish.

The Falcons, who are bottom of the table, could have gone home with a losing bonus point if fly-half Brett Connon had not missed a penalty with the last kick of the match.

The Chiefs suffered a blow before kick-off when England back-rower Ethan Roots picked up a calf injury in the warm-up and was replaced by Jacques Vermeulen.

Newcastle scored a try after only 70 seconds, with winger Ben Stevenson bursting down the left flank and bouncing through a tackle by Josh Hodge to cross in the corner, with Connon converting superbly from the touchline.

A quick tap penalty saw England Under-20s number eight Greg Fisilau reply with a try for the Chiefs 12 minutes later, but Exeter immediately gave away a penalty which was slotted by Connon to extend the Falcons’ lead to five points.

Exeter dominated the rest of the half, with Newcastle’s case not helped by having back-rower Guy Pepper sin-binned for not retreating 10 metres at a quick tap penalty.

However, the only score the visitors conceded while he was off the pitch came in the most bizarre circumstances.

Exeter’s Welsh centre Joe Hawkins sent a cross-field kick towards the corner, where Newcastle full-back Elliott Obatoyinbo dived to brilliantly keep the ball in play. He crashed into the advertising hoardings, injuring himself, leaving Zack Wimbush to stroll up and dot the ball down to level it up at 10-10.

The Chiefs’ forwards controlled the latter stages of the half, with Australia prop Scott Sio and lock Rusi Tuima both powering over from close range in the space of seven minutes to secure the try-scoring bonus point, with Josh Hodge adding a conversion.

Connon added another penalty in between those scores, but the visitors entered the break facing an uphill battle at 22-13 down.

However, they started the second half in bright fashion, and after being awarded a succession of penalties, Connon kicked three more points to put them within six of their hosts.

Entertainment was at a premium as the weather conditions deteriorated, but Newcastle remained firmly in the game and Chiefs appeared in danger of sleep-walking their way into a shock defeat.

When they did muster a sustained attack, Newcastle’s defence held firm, until they lost replacement hooker Brian Byrne to a yellow card for repeated team infringements – there were 27 penalties awarded in the match.

With the try bonus point already secured, the Chiefs opted for the kick at goal, and former Falcon Hodge – having hit the upright with an earlier 40-metre effort – slotted the three points to put Exeter two scores clear and secure victory.

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