Match Report
Saracens - 10
Newcastle Falcons - 0
Late tries from Jamie Blamire and Mateo Carreras brought the home crowd to life in the closing quarter, but the gap was too big by that stage as the Londoners showed their class.
Saracens led 26-0 at half-time having raced into the lead as early as the third minute when winger Alex Lewington grounded an unconverted try in the left corner, chasing a grubber kick in behind the defensive line.
His side kept on the pressure and added a second on nine minutes through hooker Kapeli Pifeleti, who broke away from the back of a maul in the left corner to go through two tacklers and over the try-line.
Farrell this time negotiated the crosswind to add the conversion, and his side were only denied a third try on 15 minutes after some stoic maul defence from the Falcons repelled a drive in the right corner.
The third score finally arrived just after the quarter mark, with centre Alex Lozowski the man to dot down when a short-side move saw the ball worked quickly through the hands for a converted try in the left corner.
The pace of Adam Radwan prevented a fourth when he chased down Lewington from a Saracens’ counter-attack 20 metres out, but they had their bonus point on 32 minutes when Max Malins scored down the right from simple hands along the line.
That left them 26-0 up at the interval as Newcastle failed to make a period of attacking pressure count on the scoreboard, and they had a fifth try pulled back by referee Wayne Barnes after Theo McFarland passed forwards to Elliot Daly wide out on the left.
Saracens were reduced to 14 men on 53 minutes when prop Mako Vunipola was red-carded for a no-arms clear-out on Tom Penny, but it did not change the flow of the game as Malins helped himself to his team’s fifth try after some deft hands put him away down the right.
Newcastle finally got themselves off the mark just after the hour when replacement hooker Jamie Blamire raced in for a try, latching onto a Tian Schoeman line-break and collecting a simple two-on-one.
Schoeman converted from the left-hand side, and he did so again just two minutes later when Mateo Carreras scooped up a loose ball from the back of a lineout 30 metres out before scampering between the posts.
Farrell took time off the clock and increased his side’s lead with a 74th-minute penalty, his side taking all five points from the game.
**Newcastle Falcons:** 15 Tom Penny, 14 Adam Radwan (Ben Stevenson, 53), 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Matias Orlando (Pete Lucock, 56), 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Sam Stuart (Michael Young 51); 1 Adam Brocklebank (Logovi’i Mulipola, 56), 2 George McGuigan (Jamie Blamire, 51), 3 Richard Palframan (Mark Tampin, 65), 4 Greg Peterson (Sebastian de Chaves, 53), 5 Sean Robinson, 6 Will Welch (captain), 7 Connor Collett, 8 Callum Chick (Freddie Lockwood, 40).
**Scorers –** Tries: Jamie Blamire, Mateo Carreras. Conversions: Tian Schoeman 2.
**Saracens:** 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Max Malins, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Alex Lewington (Alex Goode, 56), 10 Owen Farrell (captain), 9 Ivan Van Zyl (Ruben de Hass, 76); 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Kapeli Pifeleti (Theo Dan, 66), 3 Marco Riccioni (Alec C;arey, 56), 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 5 Theo McFarland, 6 Jackson Wray, 7 Ben Earl (Hugh Tizard, 76), 8 Billy Vunipola (Eroni Mawi, 58).
**Scorers -** Tries: Alex Lewington, Kapeli Pifeleti, Alex Lozowski, Max Malins 2. Conversions: Owen Farrell 3. Penalties: Owen Farrell.
**Referee:** Wayne Barnes. **Attendance:** 6,125.
