Sean Maitland masterclass sees Saracens thrash Northampton Saints

Reigning Aviva Premiership champions Saracens have thrashed Northampton Saints 55-24 in their opening match of the 2017-18 season at Twickenham.

Sean Maitland scored three of the Sarries’ seven first-half tries while Tom Wood touched down twice for Northampton in the second half.

Saracens took control early with tries in the 11th and 12th minutes. First, Brad Barritt went over after Vincent Koch had bundled through the Saints defence.

Then, Richard Wigglesworth finished off a good team move and Alex Lozowski added the extras to make it 12-0.

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Another Sarries try came on after 20 minutes when Maitland took advantage of space out wide to touch down before Saints finally got themselves on the scoresheet with a Harry Mallinder penalty.

The bonus point came before half an hour had elapsed when Lozoski picked up a Schalk Brits offload to go over.

Maitland completed his hat-trick with the next two tries, going over in the corner twice to stretch Saracens lead.

Koch made it 41-3 at half time when he powered over from ten yards out.

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Northampton improved dramatically after the restart and pulled a try back when Lewis Ludlum crossed on the left.

An eighth Saracens try came after 53 minutes though when Brits went over.

Wood scored again for Northampton two minutes later, stretching out after being tackled on the line.

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It was Wood who got Northampton’s third try too stretching over after good play by Jamie Gibson.

Ben Spencer completed the scoring 12 minutes from time after Schalk Burger unlocked the Saints defence.

Cover Photo: Twickenham Stadium by Alessio Bragadini used under license by CC BY-SA 2.0.

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