In Dublin, seven days before, Ireland’s half backs employed kick-chase tactics to suffocate England into submission. In Coventry yesterday Alex Goode and Richard Wigglesworth, who had experienced at first hand the way that Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray pulled those Irish strings, did the same thing to Wasps.
There were a staggering 88 kicks in the 80 minutes, three times the usual number, and Saracens, because of the effectiveness of their strategy, go third in the Aviva Premiership. “We knew what was coming, but we struggled to deal with the aerial battle,” Dai Young, the Wasps director of rugby, said.
Wasps, boasting four bonus-point league wins from four at the Ricoh Arena since their move north in December, had taken 22 points from their past six Premiership games and were looking to climb to third themselves. After 15 minutes they led 17-3, through brilliant individual tries from Christian Wade and Elliot Daly. Then Wigglesworth and Goode got to work, and the life was choked out of Wasps.
Saracens were 20-17 up by half-time, such was the power of their comeback. First Wasps could not handle a series of lineout drives, with Jackson Wray touching down seven minutes after Daly had scorched through the middle, from halfway, to score near the posts without a Saracens hand being laid on him. Then, in the 32nd minute, Wigglesworth put in a left-footed grubber kick behind Wade, after Mako Vunipola had set up a ruck for Chris Wyles to win the chase and slide over after scooping up the ball with one hand.
Wade had produced one of the tries of the season when he kicked from defence and sprinted up the right touchline to beat the Saracens cover with two further, delicate left-foot kicks ahead and an athletic right-handed dot down in the corner of the in-goal area.
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It was a breathtaking start to the contest, but after Daly’s coruscating run it was the Saracens pack — with Jamie George, the hooker, and Mario Itoje, the promising 20-year-old, among those catching the eye — who dominated set piece and loose, to give Wigglesworth and Goode the platform to dictate the rest of the game.
Goode also kicked four penalty goals and two conversions from out wide, and Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby, said: “Having a game plan is one thing, but executing it is quite another and for the last hour of the match we built enormous pressure on Wasps.”
Scorers: Wasps: Tries: Wade (13min), Daly (15). Conversions: Goode 2. Penalty goal: Goode (4). Saracens: Tries: Wray (22), Wyles (32). Conversions: Goode (2). Penalty goals: Goode 4 (8, 27, 49, 66)
Scoring sequence (Wasps first): 3-0, 3-3, 10-3, 17-3, 17-10, 17-13, 17-20 (half-time), 17-23, 17-26
Wasps: R Miller; C Wade, E Daly, J Downey (rep: A Masi 62), S Tagicakibau; Andy Goode (rep A Lozowski 68), J Simpson; M Mullan (rep: S McIntyre 68), T Lindsay (rep: E Jackson 68), L Cittadini (rep P Swainston 66), B Davies, J Gaskell (rep: K Myall 59), A Johnson, T Young (rep G Thompson 59, sin-bin: 64-74), N Hughes.
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Saracens: B Ransom; C Ashton (sin-bin: 41-51, rep: N Mordt 72), M Bosch, B Barritt (rep: T Streather 57), C Wyles; Alex Goode, R Wigglesworth (rep: B Spencer 78); M Vunipola, J George (rep: J Saunders 78), P du Plessis (rep J Figallo 57), J Hamilton, A Hargreaves, M Itoje, J Burger (rep: M Hankin 78), J Wray (rep: E Joubert 72).
Referee: M Carley. Attendance: 16,874