Rugby Union: Pienaar leads rout
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.THE SARACENS director of rugby, Mark Evans, admitted their surprise defeat by Harlequins had affected his side before they coasted to a 52- 3 victory at Premiership strugglers West Hartlepool last night.
"We were a little bit anxious, we didn't want to make any mistakes after last Saturday," said Evans. "But this was a very, very important win for us. That was probably some of the best rugby we have played this season."
Francois Pienaar led the recovery operation as Saracens shrugged off their defeat by Harlequins with a seven-try destruction of West Hartlepool.
The player-coach marked his first starting appearance of the season by breaking the deadlock with a 23rd minute try that set the bottom club on the road to their seventh defeat of the season.
Saracens looked far from convincing in the first-half, but romped to victory after the break with second-half tries from Tony Diprose, Richard Wallace, Kyran Bracken and replacements Richard Hill and Kevin Sorrell.
Northampton rested all their eight fit internationals for their Anglo- Welsh friendly against Swansea and went down 34-18.
Swansea scored a try in each half from No 8 Lee Jones, and added tries from winger Matthew Robinson and scrum-half Rhodri Jones to seal their victory.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments