David Strettle tries to evade the attention of Hendrie Fourie at Headingley
David Strettle marked his first start for Saracens with a try as bottom side Leeds were sent to a third consecutive Aviva Premiership defeat.
Strettle took a grubber kick to score in the corner in-between Derick Hougaard's two first-half penalties.
With the visitors 13-0 up at the break, penalties were traded in the second period to cut the lead to 16-9.
But Schalk Brits crossed to put the result beyond doubt, before James Tincknell's late consolation score.
The win moved Saracens to fourth in the table but left Leeds three points adrift of Harlequins at the bottom.
The home side handed England hooker Steve Thompson his first start but were behind in three minutes when Hougaard, who notched 16 points in total, slotted over the first of his four penalties.
Leeds responded well and would have been level had Christian Lewis-Pratt not sent a penalty wide, but they could not make their dominance pay and were sent further behind when Strettle collected Neil de Kock's kick and touched down.
Hougaard added the extras and converted another penalty before half-time, but Leeds got on the board in the second period through a Lewis-Pratt penalty.
Injury forced Lewis-Pratt to be replaced by Leigh Hinton, who scored two penalties of his own either side of a Hougaard double.
Leeds were within a converted score of parity but Brendan Venter's side moved out of sight when replacement hooker Brits was driven over by the visiting pack.
Hougaard converted and there was still time for Tincknell to go over before Hougaard kicked a final penalty.
Leeds: Stephenson; Blackett, Tincknell, S. Barrow, Tadulala; Lewis-Pratt, Mathie; MacDonald, Thompson, Gomez, T. Denton, Wentzel, Myall, Fourie, Browne.
Replacements: Fa'afili for Tadulala (61), Hinton for Lewis-Pratt (52), Fury for Mathie (65), Hardy for MacDonald (65), Titterrell for Thompson (61), Swainston for Gomez (55), Hohneck for T. Denton (61), Oakley for Myall (55).
Replacements: Tagicakibau for Goode (46), Wigglesworth for de Kock (52), Parr for Carstens (61), Brits for Reynecke (52), Du Plessis for Nieto (52), Smith for Kruis (61), Mordt for Melck (73), K. Brown for Burger (67).
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