It was not quite a case of ‘Owen who?’ but life after Farrell began as smoothly as Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall could have hoped with a bonus-point win away to Gloucester.
For the first season in 16 years, Saracens came into a campaign without the former England captain driving standards, screaming “smash” in the defensive line and generally upsetting anyone who wasn’t one of his own team-mates and supporters. Those mighty big boots were filled by Fergus Burke, an English-qualified Kiwi recruited from the Crusaders.
This was not a game he grabbed by the scruff of the neck, as Farrell was wont to do. Nor would you trust him with your mortgage from the kicking tee. Instead, he applied more of a supervisory role, enabling others to shine, which earned McCall’s vote of approval. “He played really well,” McCall said. “They came down his channel a few times and I thought he fronted up defensively outstandingly. He controlled things nicely. He’s very measured, very controlled. In time, if everyone allows him a bit of time, I think he’ll grow into a really good fly-half.”
Elliot Daly, one of England’s forgotten men, showcased his vision by setting up tries for wings Rotimi Segun and Tobias Elliott, while flanker Andy Onyeama-Christie scored either side of half-time. As captain, Maro Itoje embraced his role as be the tone-setter, stealing an early line out and winning a breakdown penalty that set a marker for Saracens’ dominance. “He looked like he meant business and made a lot of important interventions that changed the momentum,” McCall said.
Gloucester will be pleased to have snuck a four-try bonus point but were largely underwhelming. On his debut fly-half Gareth Anscombe threw a horrible intercept try to Ivan van Zyl while another new boy, Christian Wade, barely featured in a clunky attack. There were a couple of bright spots in the form of tenacious full-back George Barton and Afolabi Fasogbon, the highly promising England Under-20 tighthead prop who acquitted himself well on his first Premiership start.
“There’s no doubt he’s going to be an amazing talent,” George Skivington, the Gloucester director of rugby, said. “I think the quicker we get him in there, the better for Gloucester and the better for England down the line. We might as well get him in to see what he can do and he could be a real crowd hero here. That’s my mindset to be brave around those selections.”
Burke made an inauspicious start, throwing a pass at Elliott’s bootlaces and the wing was bundled into touch and then failed to find touch with a penalty. Yet both he and Saracens grew into the game and their opening try was beautifully worked. From a line out strike move, Daly put a chip over the top that was beautifully weighted for Segun to gather without breaking stride.
They did not have to work so hard for their second. Skivington has placed a big emphasis on placing responsibility in his playmakers’ hands but this is probably not what he had in mind when Anscombe’s telegraphed pass to Wade was easily plucked out by Van Zyl who ran home.
Very little was going to plan for Gloucester who conceded a third five minutes before half-time. Saracens had patiently probed inside the Gloucester 22 through the forwards before deciding to go wide with Daly throwing a long mispass to Elliott who stepped inside Ollie Thorley to score.
It would have been interesting to gauge the mood inside Kingsholm at half-time before Freddie Thomas was pushed over in the last play of the half to restore a modicum of hope to the long-suffering Gloucester faithful. Fools. In a wretched period of play, Gloucester made a mess of the restart before Tomos Williams shanked his clearing kick. Itoje claimed the line out and the Saracens maul was driven over with barely a puff of resistance, Onyeama-Chistie coming up with the ball.
Burke converted and then added a penalty to take Saracens 27-7 clear. After that the intensity dipped considerably. Replacement Freddie Clarke dived over from close range for Gloucester while Onyeama-Christie got his second with a cleverly worked line out move. Further tries from replacements Jack Clement and Seb Blake enabled Gloucester to escape with a measure of respectability. Whether Saracens would have wilted so badly in the final quarter had a certain Wigan accent been bawling out commands remains to be seen.
