Rampant Saracens storm to victory over Mont de Marsan

SARACENS continued the English romp through the European Challenge Cup with a clinical 53-3 win over French side Mont de Marsan at Vicarage Road yesterday.

Mon, 13 Oct, 2008 - 01:00

The Guinness Premiership outfit join London Irish, Northampton, Newcastle and Worcester in recording convincing victories on the opening weekend.

Only Bristol’s heavy loss in Montpellier on Friday night prevented an English clean sweep.

Worcester and London Irish got their European Challenge Cup campaigns off to the perfect start with massive wins. The Warriors scored nine tries in a 55-6 win against Petraca in Northern Italy, while the Exiles crossed for 12 tries of their own as they crushed Rovigo 78-3 at the Madejski Stadium.

New signing Chris Latham scored a first-half hat-trick for Worcester, who led 38-6 after 40 minutes – and Irish had themselves established a 49-3 lead at the half-time interval.

Elvis Seveali’i scored twice for London Irish, as did replacement Peter Richards, as they recorded their biggest margin of victory and their highest-ever score in a European fixture.

Sailosi Tagicakibau, Seilala Mapusua, Paul Hodgson, Delon Armitage, Topsy Ojo and Shane Geraghty added the other tries – with Rovigo also conceding a penalty try after 32 minutes.

Former New South Wales Warratahs full-back Peter Hewat kicked eight conversions for Irish, with Delon Armitage also adding an extra two points.

All Rovigo could muster was a single penalty from right wing Stefan Basson during the early stages of the first-half.

Saracens ran in seven tries against Mont de Marsan and Eddie Jones’ men were never in trouble after a lightning start to Pool Six.

England Under-20 star wing Noah Cato was over the tryline within the opening 60 seconds, and the hosts had secured the bonus point inside 45 minutes.

Scrum-half Neil de Kock was the next player on to the scoresheet before a penalty try and Chris Wyles added to the visitors’ woes as they went into the half-time break 25-3 down.

Second-half tries by Andy Saull and Ben Skirving and a second penalty try extended Saracens’ lead while 16 points from the boot of Glen Jackson rounded off a comfortable afternoon.

In Pool Four, Overmach Parma caused a surprise and fought off a strong second-half fightback from Brive to win 34-29 while Bourgoin recorded a 21-10 away triumph at Bucuresti in Pool Three.