Falcons are taken apart by Saracens

9:20am Monday 22nd September 2008

Saracens 44 Newcastle Falcons 14

SARACENS boss Eddie Jones was delighted with the way his side adapted to the new ELVs as they crushed Newcastle 44-14 to collect their first Guinness Premiership victory of the season.

Fly-half Glen Jackson kicked 17 points with leftwing Kameli Ratuvou, Kevin Sorrell, Hugh Vyvyan, Rod Penney and Gordon Ross, who also converted the last one, running in second-half tries.

Saracens had lost both their opening matches, against Harlequins and Sale, by three points and their Australian director of rugby was pleased with the manner of the performance which enabled them to collect a bonus point.

Jones said: ‘‘It’s a very tight competition but we took our opportunities and got a few points.

‘‘We had some control today and, with the way the game’s being played at the moment and the interpretation of the laws, you need that control.’’ Jones was though slightly disappointed his side let Newcastle come back with two tries long after the outcome was beyond doubt.

He added: ‘‘There’s a lot of timidness at the moment so the good thing about us today was that we played with a lot of conviction, knew what we wanted to do and went and did it.

‘‘There is a great deal of worry about is it the wrong way to play the game but I think after five or six or seven weeks we’ll see a sorting out and then everyone will understand the laws we are going to play under and how they are going to interpret it.’’ Newcastle certainly fell foul of referee Dean Richards as they struggled to come to terms with the experimental rules introduced this season.

Falcons head coach Steve Bates, who saw skipper Phil Dowson and flanker Ed Williamson receive yellow cards within a minute of each other, said: ‘‘I was disappointed with the set piece in the first half and the second half was a mess.

‘‘We had two men sinbinned and that meant we were always going to be under pressure.’’ Fly-half Glen Jackson kicked 17 points with leftwing Kameli Ratuvou, Kevin Sorrell, Hugh Vyvyan, Rod Penney and Gordon Ross, who also converted the last one, running in second half tries to claim the bonus point.

Newcastle, heavily punished for their indiscipline, were reduced to 13 players midway through the second half when skipper Phil Dowson and back row colleague Ed Williamson were both yellow-carded within the space of a minute.

The influential Jackson contributed 17 of the Saracens points, with four penalties, a drop goal and a conversion – as well as outshining Jonny Wilkinson.

The visitors finally managed two late tries – but they were little more than a token response.

May’s perseverance created an opening for Wilkinson to race in for his 75th-minute touchdown, which he converted.

Then the winger struck himself, with Wilkinson adding a cheeky trademark drop goal for the conversion.

However, this defeat leaves notorious bad travellers Newcastle –who achieved their first Premiership win of the season when they beat Northampton at home last weekend – still without a league win on their travels in 2008.