RUGBY: Saracens 26 Connacht 8CONNACHT'S pre-season preparations ended with a defeat to Premiership champions Saracens last night at the HAC in London.
Two penalties from Owen Farrell pushed Saracens into a 6-0 lead by the 18th minute, before James Short went over in the corner on the half-hour mark.
Matthew Jarvis opened Connacht’s account with a penalty in the 35th minute but Farrell replied to leave the hosts leading 14-3 at half-time.
Saracens stretched that gap inside three minutes of the restart when Short got in for his second try of the game. Six minutes later Saracens struck again as Andy Saull scored their third try.
Despite now trailing 26-3, Connacht’s response was positive and they were rewarded for their efforts when Tiernan O’Halloran crossed for a 54th minute try after some good work by Gavin Duffy. The conversion from Jarvis went narrowly wide.
However, with light fading fast at the temporary venue and no floodlights in place, the referee was forced to call a halt to proceedings with ten minutes left.
SARACENS: Goode; Strettle, Powell, Barritt, Short; Farrell, de Kock; Gill, Brits, Nieto; Borthwick, Botha; Melck, Saull, Joubert.
CONNACHT: Duffy, O'Halloran, Griffin, Fa'afili, Tuohy; Jarvis, Murphy; Rogers, Reynecke, Ah You; Swift, McCarthy; Muldoon, J O'Connor, Naoupu. Replacements: McSharry for Fa'afili, Buckley for Rogers (both 50 mins), Ofisa for O'Connor, Flavin for Reynecke (both 54 mins), O'Donohoe for Murphy (56 mins), Anderson for Swift (60 mins), O'Connor for Jarvis (62 mins).
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