 Richard Hill made his first league appearance in 19 months |
Harlequins: (9) 16
Tries: Brown
Cons: Mehrtens
Pens: Jarvis (3) Saracens: (12) 20
Tries: Castaignede, Ratuvou, Skirving
Cons: Jackson (2)
A late try from Ben Skirving earned Saracens a hard-fought victory in the fog against Harlequins at The Stoop.
The number 8's 78th-minute try cancelled out Mike Brown's score which had put the home side in the lead.
Sarries had taken an early first-half lead through tries from Thomas Castaignede and Kameli Ratuvou, with Glenn Jackson converting both scores.
Adrian Jarvis kicked three penalties, while Andrew Mehrtens added two points when he converted Brown's try.
Saracens were also boosted by the return of England flanker Richard Hill, who made his first Premiership appearance since May 2005.
The victory was Sarries' sixth in their last seven games.
Saracens boss Alan Gaffney on the return of Richard Hill, who limped off with a knock in the second half:
"He'll be fine in three or four days. That limp will disappear and it is not necessarily because of the fact he's suffering from it, it maybe just mental. "I thought that Hilly was very, very good for us tonight. By self admission he fell off probably more tackles tonight than he's fallen off for a long time.
"He's absolutely on track and his experience would bring a lot to England just because he's Richard Hill."
Harlequins director of rugby Dean Richards:
"I'm frustrated we gave them two soft tries in the first 10 minutes, clawed our way back into position and then with four minutes to go we were in front and were naive enough to give them the ball. "The potential is great but at this moment in time we're not realising any potential.
"I thought Richard Hill played well in a very shrewd way. They had a little more cutting edge, their decision-making at the crucial times was better."
Harlequins: Brown, Strettle, Luscombe, Abbott, Williams, Jarvis, Gomarsall, Jones, Fuga, Ross, Kohn, Miall, Vos, Skinner, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Richards, Nebbitt, Evans, Guest, So'oialo, Mehrtens, Deane.
Saracens: Castaignede, Scarbrough, Sorrell, Farrell, Ratuvou, Jackson, de Kock, Yates, Ongaro, Visagie, Fullarton, Raiwalui, Vyvyan, Hill, Skirving.
Replacements: Cairns, Mercey, Chesney, Seymour, Dickens, Penney, Vaikona.
Referee: Sean Davey (RFU)
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