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Rugby Union

Saracens down Wasps at Twickenham opener

16/09/2007

Saracens took advantage of a depleted Wasps side to beat the European champions 29-19 at Twickenham.

Tries from Hugh Vyvyan, Adam Powell and Neil de Kock were enough to overcome Wasps who fought hard in the second half but were too far behind mount a serious comeback.

Gordon Ross and Danny Cipriani exchanged penalties in the opening ten minutes but the Saracens pack soon established their dominance which resulted in Vyvyan's try after 17 minutes.

Saracens then extended their lead as Powell touched down in the corner despite a high tackle from Cipriani.

That incident appeared to spark the match into life and Wasps were able to get some points on the board through Cipriani's boot.

Wasps' Tom Ryder was then sin-binned just before the break and his side went in facing a 16-9 deficit.

At the start of the second period De Kock raced around the side of the maul and beat two Wasps tackles to score Saracens' third try and put the game beyond reach.

Joe Ward grabbed a consolation try for Wasps but they could not penetrate a stout Saracens defence in the final 15 minutes.

Bath went top of the table thanks to a 29-15 win over Worcester. Two tries from Jack Cuthbert, one from Michael Claassens and one from Daniel Browne proved too much for the Warriors.

Elsewhere, Harlequins ran-in four tries in the opening fixture of the London double-header against London Irish.

Tries from Olly Kohn and Jordan Turner-Hall gave Quins a half-time lead before David Paice scored for Irish after the break.

Hal Luscombe extended Quins' advantage once more and despite tries from Steffon Armitage and Richard Thorpe for the Exiles, Dean Richards' team held on for the win.