Onyeama-Christie stars for Saracens

By DAN STOKES

Bedford …………. 17pts

Tries: Arthur 30, Frost 39, J Garside 42

Conversions: Matavesi 31

Saracens ……… 47pts

Tries: Willis 15, Jackson 45, Onyeama-Christie 55, 79; Penalty 62, Hallett 65, Hall 80+2

Conversions: Burke 16, 56; Johnson 65, 80, 80+3

ANDY Onyeama-Christie inspired Saracens to victory at Bedford but they had to fight hard to survive a mighty challenge from Mike Rayer’s side at Goldington Road.

In the end, the scoreline got away from the Championship side but they were more than a match against superior opposition for the majority of the contest – and, backed by over 3,500 supporters, almost sprung an upset.

Rayer’s Blues led 17-7 just after the break but ultimately couldn’t match the Premiership side in terms of intensity for the full 80 minutes, although they should feel proud of holding their own for so long.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall cut a pleased figure at the final whistle as his side came through unscathed with lots of food for thought posed by the raft of debutants handed out at Goldington Road.

Back rower Onyeama-Christie scored twice on the night, as part of seven tries in total, in what felt like a one-man crusade.

Sarries controlled the set-piece, largely down to their barnstorming blindside, who stamped his authority on the game from minute one and was easily the best player on the park.

Saracens No.8 Tom Willis opened the scoring with a nice snipe from the base of a scrum, before Bedford turned things on its head to lead at the break through tries by Jac Arthur and Luke Frost.

When Jake Garside extended Bedford’s lead with his first touch following a half-time introduction, and Saracens centre Alex Lozowski was sin-binned for chatting back to the referee, it looked like all the momentum was with the home side.

But after Brandon Jackson ran the distance following a Bedford knock on to halve the deficit, the floodgates started to open, and Saracens scored 40 unanswered points to dominate the scoreboard.

Onyeama-Christie’s first levelled the scoring before a penalty try edged them in front. Josh Hallett and Angus Hall added gloss to the performance late on.

Bedford director of rugby Rayer said: “Over the full 80 minutes, it was a really tough battle and you would probably expect Sarries to put a bit of icing on the cake at the end. Nevertheless, I’m delighted with the lads for their physicality and there are lots of positives to take.

“We’ve worked on things a lot these past few weeks to ensure we were ready to face Premiership opposition in backto-back weeks. Some of that came good tonight and it’s about finding that consistency ready for the league campaign. We’ll be okay if we find that physicality shown tonight.”