New boys fire for Sarries

Three home debutants scored for Saracens as Sale slumped to a 28-13 Aviva Premiership defeat at Vicarage Road.

Deon Carstens and David Strettle both ran in tries while England scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth kicked 13 points against his old club.

The visitors showed glimpses of promise in the first half, with David Seymour scoring in the 18th minute but they were eventually overpowered by last season's runners-up.

Sale prop Andrew Sheridan took the field for only his second match sine October while Sarries handed home debuts to boys Wigglesworth, Carstens and Kelly Brown, with Strettle on the bench.

And it was the Sharks that were given a chance to take the lead inside two minutes when referee Wayne Barnes handed them a penalty but Nick Macleod's attempt from the left went the wrong side of the near post.

Control

Saracens then began to take control of the match, electing to drive for the line instead of kicking for goal and were rewarded with a 16th-minute try.

Mouritz Botha snatched the ball from a lineout to set up the drive and South African hooker Schalk Brits surged over under the posts to open the scoring.

Wigglesworth then added the extras but Sale provided an instant response as Tom Brady collected the restart before passing inside to former Saracens flanker Seymour to score.

After slotting the conversion over, Macleod gave the visitors the lead after Barnes awarded another penalty on 25 minutes and the fly-half nailed the three-pointer.

Wigglesworth soon levelled the scores with another penalty but was off-target in the 33rd minute before Macleod made no mistake to give Sale the advantage back.

Level

The string of penalties continued with Wigglesworth notching another on the stroke of half-time to send the two sides into the break level at 13-13.

Two minutes after the restart, the scrum-half edged the hosts ahead when he successfully converted a penalty after Sale had been penalised for going off their feet at a ruck.

Saracens then stretched the gap as six players combined in a fantastic attacking move before finishing powerfully when Carstens barged his way over the line.

Sale's indiscipline increased as they conceded a spate of costly penalties while Saracens started to assert full control over the contest.

Strettle looked to have grabbed another try minutes after coming off the bench but a crucial flying tackle from Paul Williams stopped him from crossing the try-line.

Strettle was not to be denied, however, as he took a pass from young stand-off Alex Goode and raced over in the corner on the left.