South African fly-half Jannie De Beer amassed a personal haul of 23 points to
ease Saracens through to the sixth round of the Powergen Cup at the expense of
former Zurich Premiership rivals Rotherham.
De Beer, returning to the starting line-up for the first time in six games
after a hamstring injury, scored two tries, five conversions and a penalty.
Saracens, who won the Tetley's Bitter Cup in 1998 as it was then called, now
face fellow Premiership side Northampton at home in the sixth round in a month's
time.
After some recent lacklustre league performances, Saracens started well by
dominating the National Division One table-topping side.
England scrum-half Kyran Bracken put Saracens five points ahead after a
16th-minute try.
His score came after captain Abdel Benazzi was held up on Rotherham's line.
The ball was then recycled as the home side kept the pack in and De Beer
followed up with the conversion.
Rotherham hit back through a Ramiro Pez drop goal but soon Saracens were 14-3
up after in-form De Beer went over for his own converted try.
The former Springbok then added his second converted try just before the break
- this time he had talented winger Darragh O'Mahony to thank.
The Irishman had made valuable space upfield before passing to Brett Sparg and
hooker Robbie Russell with the latter feeding De Beer to score.
Rotherham were not to be outclassed however and again bounced back with an
injury time try.
Winger Oriol Ripol cleverly kicked the ball upfield for Michael Wood to
collect and score, making the score 21-8 at the break.
De Beer however remained on form in the second half adding a penalty before
forward Tony Roques scored for the fourth try of the afternoon.
Number eight Ben Cole had taken the ball cleanly out of the lineout, setting
up a powerful drive that completely out muscled Rotherham.
But again Rotherham kept fighting and remained in contention with three
converted penalties reducing the deficit to 29-17.
However, Saracens pulled away in the dying minutes of the game with two
converted tries through Russell and young full-back Adryan Winnan.
Teams:
Saracens: Winnan, Sparg, Johnson, Sorrell, O'Mahony, De Beer,
Bracken, Flatman, Russell, Durant, A. Benazzi, Cheesebrough,
Hill, Roques, Cole.
Replacements: Arasa for Sparg (53), Smith for De Beer (78),
Walshe for Bracken (75), Cairns for Russell (75),
Phillips for Durant (53), K. Benazzi for A. Benazzi (46),
Roche for Cole (53).
Tries: Bracken, De Beer 2, Roques, Phillips, Winnan.
Cons: De Beer 5. Pens: De Beer.
Rotherham: Massey, Ripol, Keyter, Cannon, Wood, Pez, Harrison,
Thorp, Towes, Bunting, Parr, Kenworthy, Greeff, Spence, Tooala.
Replacements: Northey for Cannon (77), Dixon for Wood (63),
Scully for Harrison (62), Gravel for Towes (78),
Bone for Bunting (58), Schmid for Greeff (58),
Earnshaw for Spence (58).
Tries: Wood. Pens: Pez 3. Drop Goals: Pez.
Att: 2,403
Ref: A Roden (RFU).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook