Saracens ease past Oyonnax in Champions Cup
By Louise Warr
Last Updated: 13/12/15 4:25pm
Saracens cement themselves at the top of Pool One in the European Rugby Champions Cup with a six-try 45-10 victory over Oyonnax at the Stade Charles-Mathon.
An 18th minute penalty try started the ball rolling for the away side before tries from Alex Goode and Chris Wyles gave Sarries a 24-3 lead at the break.
The Premiership side continued their dominance in the second half with further scores from Maro Itoje, Richard Wigglesworth and Schalk Brits sealed the comprehensive victory.
Rory Clegg got Oyonnax on the scoreboard and their persistence throughout was awarded five minutes from time when replacement Florian Faure finished off a well-worked team try.
Saracens dominated possession from the word go and got the first points on the board through an Owen Farrell penalty, avenging his earlier miss from a kickable position.
Saracens went close on 17 minutes when Wyles broke through the Oyonnax defence releasing his fellow winger Chris Ashton, but the final pass couldn't go to hand after great defensive work from Silvere Tian.
However, it only delayed the inevitable after a superb shove by the Saracens pack saw the Oyonnax eight buckle leaving referee Marius Mitrea with little choice but to head under the posts.
Clegg missed a chance to get Oyonnax on the board after a powerful maul forced a penalty. The former Newcastle man was off-target with his second attempt too before he made Saracens to pay for their repeated indiscipline with three points on the half hour mark.
Saracens hit back immediately with their second try of the match through man-of-the-match Goode. Farrell set up the score with a fine break through the midfield before Wyles sent Goode over in the corner.
The north London club scored again shortly before the break with Saracens choosing to abandon their usual conservative style and run the ball back from a quick lineout. Goode, Wyles and Will Fraser linked up through a series of swift offloads sending the American winger over to score, giving the visitors a 24-3 half-time lead.
The bonus point came for Saracens on 49 minute minutes when a drifted pass from Marcelo Bosch allowed Michael Rhodes to exploit the overlap on the right-side before sending over fellow forward Itoje.
Saracens struck again from the kick off with Rhodes at the heart once again. The former Western Province flanker went rampaging deep into Oyonnax territory before offloading to supporting Wigglesworth to score much to the delight of the travelling Saracens faithful.
Despite the score line Oyonnax continued to play with spirit and determination throughout, optimised by their ferocious defensive effort to hold Saracens up just short of the line on 60 minutes.
Oyonnax's never-say-die attitude was repaid with a string of penalties in the final quarter and on the 75th minute their passionate home crowd got something to shout about when a dominant scrum put Saracens on the back foot and replacement scrum-half Faure dived over, Regis Lespinas adding the extras.
Saracens livewire hooker Brits topped off a successful afternoon for Mark McCall's side with their sixth try of the afternoon at the death, after help from the television match official.
