Saracens qualify to set up Ulster clash

Saracens secured their place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals with a convincing 40-7 bonus-point win over Edinburgh at Vicarage Road.
They will host Ulster in April following Leicester’s 9-5 win over Toulouse which saw the French being knocked out of the competition.
For their last game at Vicarage Road before they move to Barnet, the 2011 Premiership Champions knew they had to score at least four tries to be in a running for a home quarter-final but in difficult weather conditions it took them longer than they might have expected with Charlie Hodgson scoring the salvaging try with only five minutes to go on the clock.
Before that, it was all about Saracens and their basic skills. With the snow coming down hard on the Vicarage Road’s pitch, controlling the ball was never going to be easy so they relied on their power up front while Hodgson pulled the strings superbly from fly-half.
They controlled the scoreboard in the first half with the boot of Owen Farrell and a try from Chris Ashton before putting their foot down in the second half and score three more tries to claim the bonus-point win.
Edinburgh never gave up and tried to fight back all game but, playing on the back foot most of the time, they could never live up to Saracens to find gaps in the defence and build pressure.
Farrell kicked three penalties to build a 9-0 lead before Ashton made it 14-0 just before the half-hour mark when the England winger pounced on a clever chip-kick behind the defence from Richard Wigglesworth for his first touch of the game.
Soon after though, Wigglesworth couldn’t cope with a kick from Greg Tonks and, after football-like footwork the Watford fans would have been proud of, the Edinburgh full-back dived over to reduce the gap to seven points at the break.
Ashton proved his outstanding finishing qualities with his second try to put Saracens 19-7 in the lead early in the second half.
While it looked certain, Farrell was going to take a shot at goal from in front of the posts, he called the winger to send a perfectly weighted cross-field kick and see Ashton score in the corner.
At this point, Saracens had the try bonus-point in sight and they scored their third try soon after when, after a powerfull catch-and-drive, Matt Stevens went over.
Farrell added the easy conversion and the home side were now leading 26-7.
Brad Barritt came close from the scoring the try bonus-point but was held up by Dougie Fife over the line before Hodgson sent the crowd off their feet with five minutes to go.
Full-back Chris Wyles went over on the last play of the game to assert the win and reach the 40-points mark.
For Saracens
Tries: Ashton 2, Stevens, Hodgson, Wyles
Conversions: Farrell 3
Penalties: Farrell 3
For Edinbuugh
Try: Tonks
Conversion: Laidlaw
Saracens: Wyles; Ashton, Farrell, Barritt, Strettle; Hodgson, Wigglesworth; Vunipola, Brits, Stevens; Borthwick (capt), Kruis; Brown, Fraser, Joubert.
Replacements: Smit, Gill, Du Plessis, Botha, Fenton-Wells, De Kock, Tomkins, Taylor.
Edinburgh: Tonks; Fife, Cairns, Scott, Visser; Laidlaw (capt.), Rees; Hislop, Lawrie, Nel; Gilchrist, Cox; McInally, Basilaia, Talei.
Replacements: Titterrell, Allan, Cross, Denton, Grant, Francis, Atiga, Jones.
Referee: Jerome Garces
Star-man: Charlie Hodgson – Saracens
NICK VERDIER
You can relive all the action from Vicarage Road here.