Owen Farrell described as 'incredible' as Saracens rout Harlequins

Mark McCall has admitted even he was surprised by the scale of Saracens’ dominance in a crushing 52-7 victory over Harlequins. More than 60,000 people were treated to a Sarries special in north London, with four tries in each half sending them above their fiercest rivals into second.

Friday’s shock results provided a reminder of the Gallagher Premiership’s unpredictability and few could have foreseen this contest being quite as one-sided.

“We weren’t expecting the scoreline and weren’t expecting the performance to be quite at that level,” said director of rugby McCall.

“We understand, however, that sometimes when you are dominant it’s not always reflected on the scoreboard – today it was.

"This was about the players because we only had two training sessions and tried to keep it as simple as we could. Quins are a handful so to defend the way we did and keep on fighting in the second half was very encouraging for us.”

It was a particularly special day for captain and fly-half Owen Farrell, who celebrated 250 club appearances. Lawrence Dallaglio hailed Farrell as Saracens’ greatest ever player pre-match and this was some way to start his swansong ahead of a summer move to French giants Racing 92.

McCall said of Farrell’s performance: “Incredible, he played as good as I have seen him play for a very long time. It looked like it mattered to him and he is going to be like that for the rest of the season, hopefully.

“He didn’t enjoy being the centre of attention during the week but the players wanted to make it a special occasion because they think so highly of him.”

Quins have now lost each of their last eight meetings against their London rivals and do not have long to patch up their wounds, with fellow title-chasers Bath heading to The Stoop next Saturday.

The Quarters have developed a reputation for producing stunning comebacks in recent times, but four Saracens tries inside 26 minutes left them desperately trying to salvage some pride.

“The first-half performance caused all the problems,” said head coach Danny Wilson. “Our lack of collision on both sides of the ball, our lack of physicality, we couldn’t get on the front foot which led to a half-time scoreline (24-0) where you are chasing the game.

“When you are chasing the game and trying to score, you end up overplaying into a defence which if they turn you over, you’re in a whole world of trouble.

“Our defence was really poor and that’s the story of the game. We will bounce back at home against Bath, we have to because this league is so tight and one or two wins or losses makes all the difference.”