Saracens sweep aside Clermont for bonus-point win

Investec Champions Cup

Saracens (26) 47

Tries Cinti (2), Malins, Hadfield, Caluori, Tizard, Dan Cons: Farrell (4), Burke (2)

Clermont Auvergne (0) 10

Saracens ran in seven tries as they swept aside a poor Clermont Auvergne for a bonus-point win in their opening Champions Cup fixture.

Lucio Cinti crossed twice in the opening half-hour for tries converted by Owen Farrell, whose chip kick was then latched on to by Max Malins for a brilliant score.

A try from hooker James Hadfield put Sarries 26-0 ahead at the break, and they stretched away after the break with scores from Noah Caluori, Hugh Tizard and Theo Dan.

Saracens made the most of the consistent bounce of the artificial 3G pitch at their StoneX Stadium in the wet and windy conditions, with a sublime kick by Elliot Daly off the side of his boot sitting up perfectly for Cinti to score his first try of the season early on.

Caluori went close to scoring soon afterwards, set up by a delicate chip ahead from Farrell that also sat up nicely but the exciting 19-year-old could not ground the ball inside the small in-goal area.

Cinti extended the lead on 30 minutes when he sliced through a gap between Clermont’s Plummer and Lucas Tauzin.

But the moment of the match came a few minutes later, when Malins caught a Farrell chip on the half-volley, with the England winger in the right place when Clermont’s Bautista Delguy fumbled the kick ahead on the try line.

Another big gap in the Clermont defence allowed Hadfield stroll through for the try that clinched a bonus point for Saracens just before half-time.

Guillaud handed off Malins to cross for a try that gave the three-times runners-up hope after half-time, but that evaporated when the highly rated Caluori raced through more slack Clermont defending for Saracen’s fifth try with only 44 minutes on the clock.

Clermont dug in for large parts of the second half, and they reduced the Saracens lead when Plummer managed to hold off Nick Tompkins for a try near the corner.

Elliot Daly told Premier Sports:

“We’ve started games well but we’ve not been consistent, we’ve let teams back in. That was the big message at half-time.

“To keep them to 10 points is testament to us but it’s one game and hopefully we can go again next week against the Sharks.

“Having Max (Malins) back is brilliant, he understands the game so well. Noah (Caluori) gives us an edge in tight games. He is trying to learn every day and he’s doing really well.”

Man-of-the-match Hugh Tizard, speaking to Premier Sports:

“We had a really good week building up to it against a physical Clermont side.

“We always say we decide who wins. We worked hard at the set-piece and to win games you have to have a dominant set-piece.

Saracens: Daly; Caluori, Cinti, Tompkins, Malins; Farrell, Van Zyl; Carre, Hadfield, Street, Isiekwe, Tizard, McFarland, Onyeama-Christie, Willis.

Replacements: Dan, Mawi, Riccioni, Wilson, Michelow, Bracken, Burke, Segun.

Clermont Auvergne: Guillaud; Tauzin, Newsome, Simone, Delguy; Plummer, Jauneau; Lotrian, Fourcade, Ojovan, Lanen, Ratuva, Chalus-Cercy, Hemery, Tolofua.

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Sco)

Assistant referees: Ruairidh Campbell (Sco), Jonny MacKenzie (Sco)