Owen Farrell returned to Saracens to lead them to a strong away win over the revamped Newcastle Red Bulls in their opening match of the new season.
Saracens welcomed back Farrell as he put in a masterclass performance with the Londoners scoring five tries en route to beating Newcastle 39-17.
Despite all the excitement around the rebranded Newcastle outfit’s new era in front of their first sell-out crowd of 10,210 since 2018, it was a similar story as the ex-European champions turned the screw in the second half.
Saracens may not be one of English rugby’s fancied sides but an excellently-executed second-half showing marked Mark McCall’s men out as a team with big ambitions to banish last season’s dip in form.
With Kingston Park full of excitement and new Newcastle owners Red Bull’s branding in every corner of the league’s most northern outpost, it took just two minutes for all the hype to be rewarded as winger Alex Hearle surged down the right from 25 metres to cross the whitewash after a patient period of phase play.
Brett Connon converted, and Saracens were down to 14 men for a quarter of the game when flanker Nathan Michelow was shown the first ever 20-minute red card in the Prem (formerly known as the Gallagher Premiership) for a tip tackle on hooker George McGuigan.
Farrell got the visitors off the mark almost straight from the restart when he slotted a penalty from out on the right.
Newcastle were full of zip early on, but could not convert their advantage, and instead it was the experienced Londoners who took the lead when a quick line-out move led to winger Brandon Jackson dashing over unopposed in the right corner.
The first half was well poised, and an offside infringement just before the half-hour mark led to Connon kicking Newcastle back in front from 30 metres out.
Saracens’ Andy Onyeama-Christie celebrates after scoring a try during the Gallagher PREM match at Kingston Park
Saracens went into half-time 15-10 up after back-row forward Andy Onyeama-Christie picked and went through the middle, with the ever-present Farrell on hand to add the extras.
The second half was very different. Newcastle making four basic errors in the first three minutes set the tone before Farrell extended Saracens’ lead with a straightforward penalty.
Saracens piled on the pressure, and two quickfire tries around the hour mark wrapped up the result for the Londoners.
First, outside-centre Nick Tompkins was quickest to a loose ball from a close-range line-out to wriggle over on the right, and he was quickly followed by winger Noah Caluori who was the beneficiary of a funny bounce of the ball to swallow dive over the line and wrap up the try bonus point.
Newcastle were in no mood to roll over and ploughed over a well-deserved second try when debutant Freddie Clarke powered through a tackle to score after a maul in the right corner was worked infield.
But Saracens showed their killer instinct, and halted any sense of a comeback when Tompkins regathered the ball for his second try of the evening in the 71st minute.
Bath overhaul Harlequins
Reigning champions Bath started off the new season with a win, beating Harlequins 47-31 at the Twickenham Stoop.
Harlequins flanker Will Evans’ first-half hat-trick proved in vain. Bath were rattled in the first half by an enterprising Quins but once Chandler Cunningham-South was yellow carded, there was only one team in the contest as Bath scored 33 unanswered points.