Sarries see off Rovigo
Saracens side made it six wins from six this season with a 36-12 victory over Rugby Rovigo in the Amlin Challenge Cup.
Last Updated: 11/10/09 6:52pm
A much-changed Saracens side made it six wins from six this season with a 36-12 victory over Rugby Rovigo in the Amlin Challenge Cup.
The Guinness Premiership leaders scored four tries to gain a bonus point in their opening game in Pool Three of this year's competition.
Fly-half Jake Sharp marked his full debut by kicking 14 points, including a very early penalty that gave his side the lead at Vicarage Road.
It took Sarries just seven minutes to break through Rovigo's defences, centre Kevin Sorrell marking his return following a lengthy lay-off with a try.
Kicking duel
Sharp converted and then became involved in a personal kicking duel with German Bustos, the two number 10's booting nine points apiece to make the score 19-9 at the break.
Don Barrell put further daylight between the teams with a try after half time, though Bustos' fourth penalty meant the gap was at 12 points with 20 minutes to play.
From then on Sarries stepped up a gear, Michael Horak touching down on his debut for the club with replacement Derick Hougaard adding the extras.
Centre Rodd Penney, making his first start of the new campaign, then crossed soon after to secure the bonus point with 15 minutes to play.
The comfortable victory for Brendan Venter's troops was the perfect warm-up before they travel to Stade Felix-Mayol to take on Jonny Wilkinson's Toulon on Thursday night.