Saracens sweep aside Clermont for bonus-point win

Investec Champions Cup

Saracens (26) 47

Tries Cinti (2), Malins, Hadfield, Caluori, Tizard, Dan Cons: Farrell (4), Burke (2)

Clermont Auvergne (0) 10

Tries Guillaud, Plummer

Saracens ran in seven tries as they swept aside a poor Clermont Auvergne for a bonus-point win in their opening Champions Cup fixture.

Lucio Cinti crossed twice in the opening half-hour for tries converted by Owen Farrell, whose chip kick was then latched on to by Max Malins for a brilliant score.

A try from hooker James Hadfield put Sarries 26-0 ahead at the break, and they stretched away after the break with scores from Noah Caluori, Hugh Tizard and Theo Dan.

Clermont's Axel Guillaud and Harry Plummer scored in the second half, but the French side were a distinct second best as Saracens moved ahead of Sale Sharks in Pool One on points difference.

Both were leapfrogged by Toulouse on Sunday, as last year's semi-finalists blew the Sharks away 56-19 at the Stade Ernest-Wallon, with the South Africans resting most of their Springboks.

They could not stem the expected Toulouse tide, with Italy's Ange Capuozzo grabbing a hat-trick and Antoine Dupont introduced as a second-half replacement after missing the knockouts with injury last season.

Saracens made the most of the consistent bounce of the artificial 3G pitch at their StoneX Stadium in the wet and windy conditions, with a sublime kick by Elliot Daly off the side of his boot sitting up perfectly for Cinti to score his first try of the season early on.

Caluori went close to scoring soon afterwards, set up by a delicate chip ahead from Farrell that also sat up nicely but the exciting 19-year-old could not ground the ball inside the small in-goal area.

Cinti extended the lead on 30 minutes when he sliced through a gap between Clermont's Plummer and Lucas Tauzin.

But the moment of the match came a few minutes later, when Malins caught a Farrell chip on the half-volley, with the England winger in the right place when Clermont's Bautista Delguy fumbled the kick ahead on the try line.

Another big gap in the Clermont defence allowed Hadfield stroll through for the try that clinched a bonus point for Saracens just before half-time.

Guillaud handed off Malins to cross for a try that gave the three-times runners-up hope after half-time, but that evaporated when the highly rated Caluori raced through more slack Clermont defending for Saracen's fifth try with only 44 minutes on the clock.

Clermont dug in for large parts of the second half, and they reduced the Saracens lead when Plummer managed to hold off Nick Tompkins for a try near the corner.

But Saracens reasserted their superiority in the closing stages, with second row Tizard running in from the 22 before replacement hooker Dan barged through two Clermont forwards from a line-out for the final try just before full-time.

Elliot Daly told Premier Sports:

"We've started games well but we've not been consistent, we've let teams back in. That was the big message at half-time.

"To keep them to 10 points is testament to us but it's one game and hopefully we can go again next week against the Sharks.

"Having Max (Malins) back is brilliant, he understands the game so well. Noah (Caluori) gives us an edge in tight games. He is trying to learn every day and he's doing really well."

Man-of-the-match Hugh Tizard, speaking to Premier Sports:

"We had a really good week building up to it against a physical Clermont side.

"We always say we decide who wins. We worked hard at the set-piece and to win games you have to have a dominant set-piece.

"It was good to get a try. We've had an up and down season but that's a good first step in Europe."

Saracens will swap the wind and rain of north London for the heat and humidity of Durban when they play Sharks on Saturday, 13 December (15:15 GMT), while Clermont Auvergne will host Sale at the same kick-off time.

Saracens: Daly; Caluori, Cinti, Tompkins, Malins; Farrell, Van Zyl; Carre, Hadfield, Street, Isiekwe, Tizard, McFarland, Onyeama-Christie, Willis.

Replacements: Dan, Mawi, Riccioni, Wilson, Michelow, Bracken, Burke, Segun.

Clermont Auvergne: Guillaud; Tauzin, Newsome, Simone, Delguy; Plummer, Jauneau; Lotrian, Fourcade, Ojovan, Lanen, Ratuva, Chalus-Cercy, Hemery, Tolofua.

Replacements: Belkessa, Frisach, Dzmanashvili, Simmons, Michaux Vargas, Bezy, Moala, Dessaigne.

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Sco)

Assistant referees: Ruairidh Campbell (Sco), Jonny MacKenzie (Sco)

TMO: Mike Adamson (Sco)