The England No 8 Billy Vunipola produced a rampaging 20-minute cameo as Saracens secured a home play-off semi-final against Wasps or Newcastle by crushing relegated London Irish.
Making his first appearance since breaking an arm in mid-January, Vunipola’s first involvement left Irish flanker Jake Schatz in a crumpled heap, soon to be withdrawn, and he was a powerful presence thereafter as Saracens rammed home their superiority against the broken Exiles.
“It was a good 20 minutes for Billy,” said Saracens’ director of rugby, Mark McCall. “It’s brilliant to have him back. His influence speaks for itself and he’ll start against Gloucester next week.”
Irish began brightly but Saracens found their stride and only heroic defence held Jamie George and Mako Vunipola at bay after Josh McNally was sent to the sin-bin for illegally sacking a maul.
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Owen Farrell’s penalty put Saracens ahead and the visitors bagged their first try when Brad Barritt capitalised on a Liam Williams offload after Alex Goode had counter-attacked from deep.
Saracens, for whom Farrell, Maro Itoje and Schalk Burger were hugely influential, then produced some irresistible phase play that culminated in a try for Duncan Taylor from Farrell’s long pass.
Irish grabbed a lifeline when Mako Vunipola’s loose pass was collected by Tom Fowlie. He shipped on to the impressive Joe Cokanasiga, who left Farrell for dead to scorch home from halfway. Farrell banged over his second penalty but Irish finished the half strongly and, after Maro Itoje was sent to the sin-bin for a no-arms tackle on Ofisa Treviranus, Johnny Williams found space to smash through Barritt and score, Greig Tonks converting to reduce the interval deficit to 14-16.
Short-handed Saracens responded in the manner a prospective champion side ought to by dominating possession from the restart and their third try coincided with the return of Itoje. The flanker Michael Rhodes was the beneficiary of an excellently worked lineout drive.
A repeat effort six minutes later ended with Marcelo Bosch crashing over for the bonus-point try before Billy Vunipola made his entrance. Vunipola almost bagged a try before Saracens rounded matters off in grand style with tries from Richard Barrington, Goode and Schalk Brits.
McCall added: “You want to be playing your best rugby at this point of the season and we’ve built good momentum. Nothing’s guaranteed but there’s real hunger in the group.”
Meanwhile, however anyone cares to spin it, London Irish’s second relegation from the Premiership in three seasons is grim news for a loss-making club that faces an uncertain future.
Forget the sugar-coated view that a spell in the Championship can be a cathartic exercise preceding a glorious rebirth. Irish’s last tier two campaign in 2016-17 produced record losses of £3m, with turnover, commercial income, season ticket sales and gates all plummeting.
An average of 4,705 spectators attended London Irish home matches at the cavernously empty Madejski Stadium that season and if, as expected, a number of academy crown jewels such as the England prospects Cokanasiga and Williams now jump ship, attendances may struggle to match even that paltry figure for visits from Cornish Pirates and Hartpury.
Immediate promotion back to the Premiership is no sure thing either – and therein lies the rub. With ambitious Ealing embarking on a recruitment spree, which already includes nine players from the Premiership, and Yorkshire Carnegie readying for a promotion push, should Irish fail to bounce back at the first attempt the prospect of reduced central funding looms.
Declan Kidney, their vastly experienced technical consultant, needs men who are up for the fight. “I only want players who want to be there. If they don’t, they can go,” he growled.