Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter was quick to praise his troops following a convincing 28-5 LV= Cup win over Leeds.
Vyvyan may be out for two months
Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter was quick to praise his troops following a convincing 28-5 win over Leeds which kept alive their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the LV= Cup.
Having built up a 14-0 lead midway through the first half courtesy of tries from number eight Ernst Joubert and their hooker Schalk Brits, Sarries were always in control and coasted to victory.
Centre Adam Powell added another in the first half, before New Zealand scrum-half Justin Marshall came back to haunt former club Leeds with a fourth try in the 50th-minute to secure a bonus point.
A delighted Venter stated afterwards: "There were some beautiful tries there tonight.
"I think we needed a bonus point and if we can beat the Newport Gwent Dragons then we might slip through in this competition.
"It hurt us not going through in Europe because we want to win every game we play and every competition.
"Give credit to Leeds tonight because they fought hard and were very well-organised.
"But they lacked firepower and they were just up against better players in the end.
"I think if we beat Newport with a bonus point in our next game then we should win the group and progress to the semi-finals."
Vyvyan injury
The only downside for Venter was a knee injury picked up by second-rower Hugh Vyvyan which led the Sarries chief to add: "It puts a little bit of a dampener on out performance.
"He will have a MRI scan tomorrow and he might be out for a couple of months."
Leeds - sitting bottom of the Guinness Premiership - could not cope with the pace and quality of the visitors' attacks and were on the back foot throughout the opening 40 minutes.
The crushing defeat was another damaging blow to the Yorkshiremen's morale after they were outclassed by French side Bourgoin in last weekend's Amlin Challenge Cup encounter at Headingley.
Back sees positives
They did earn themselves a consolation score when young winger Peter Wackett touched down late on and head coach Neil Back refused to be too downbeat despite watching his team exit the competition.
"Saracens are a top Premiership club and they have got a strong and experienced squad," Back noted.
"Without being disrespectful to the competition it is a means to an end for us and more about preparing the squad for the games back in the Premiership.
"Overall I am happy with the performance. We got a well-deserved try and it could have been more."
