Scintillating Saracens

Saracens have done English rugby a huge favour by winning the cup in the most scintillating style seen at Twickenham for years. In one glorious sun-splashed afternoon, the born-again club from north London banished the memory of recent grinding one-paced finals. Their spectacular brand of all-purpose football not only yielded seven tries but also set fresh standards.

In their first final Tony Diprose's potent blend of southern hemisphere stars, Celts and club stalwarts demonstrated a cutting edge and a big-match temperament of the type normally found only in international matches.

From the outset Saracens went for the jugular with ruthless timing and when Wasps did manage to raise their game and score a dozen points after half-time Tony Diprose and company made them pay dearly for their temerity.

Any lingering doubts about the creative influence of overseas players were surely dispelled by the extraordinary contribution of Michael Lynagh and Philippe Sella, the old masters who are about to retire. As the Wasps director of rugby Nigel Melville acknowledged, Lynagh's distribution and kicking out of hand subdued his players like nothing else they had experienced. As for the Frenchman, he unleashed a repertoire of skills that even his team-mates had not seen before.

Wasps were left to contemplate the debris of a painful afternoon in which their younger players looked under-powered and overawed while the senior pros seemed jaded. In the second half Wasps brought on their experienced forwards Buster White and Andy Reed to shore up their disorganised pack yet there was never a real prospect that they would claw back a 29-6 half-time deficit.

Within 12 minutes Sella and Ryan Constable had charged through to score on the right and in the 10 minutes before half-time Gavin Johnson slashed through the Wasps defence for a third try and Grewcock added his shortrange score between the posts.

Lynagh's inch-perfect grub kick set up a 48th-minute try for Steve Ravenscroft before Wasps belatedly pulled together with a pushover try by Paul Volley and a gem of a score by Shane Roiser, who sprinted home from halfway courtesy of a pass by Gareth Rees.

Roiser then denied Richard Wallace with a tackle that defied gravity, a last-ditch ankle tap, but Saracens put Wasps back on the rack in the last 10 minutes, scoring spectacular tries through Kyran Bracken and Wallace.