Saracens will head to the tiny village of Colomiers in France on Saturday defending a precarious ten-point cushion, although Buck Shelford's men should have had this Parker Pen Challenge Cup tie sewn up by half-time after completely dominating the opening 40 minutes, settling in the end for a 16-6 victory.

However, after poor handling and unforced errors had restricted the Vicarage Road outfit to a Darragh O'Mahony try and three penalties, when Shelford's men could have been at least 30 points ahead, the men in black again succumbed to their newly acquired habit of badly falling out of the game in the second-half. Two David Skrela penalties were just reward for a Colomiers team who dominated after the break, without showing any real cutting edge.

Saracens began impressively, with Thomas Castaignede, starting at fly half for the first time, releasing Sorrell who broke through the Colomiers ranks only for the supporting Tony Roques to knock on when a try looked inevitable.

Adryn Winnan, taking over kicking duties in the absence of Andy Goode, did slot over a penalty in four minutes and doubled the lead soon after, although on both occasions seven points looked on the cards before deliberate French infringements.

With Saracens completely dominate, Winnan passed up two penalty opportunities, before Castaignede assumed kicking duties and increased Sarries' lead to nine points.

With the men in black's scrum also looking as solid as it has done in some time, and the line-out working well to provide a solid attacking platform, Sarries continued to press and, after Colomiers' hooker Thibaut Algret again infringed yards from his own goal-line, he was shown the yellow card and the hosts took full advantage.

After stretching the Colomiers defence from wing to wing, Kyran Bracken played O'Mahoney in with a clever pass and the Irish international fed the Colomiers' defence a delightful dummy before sprinting over from 20 metres out with Castaignede adding the extra points.

This was as good as it got for Saracens though, and how they managed to control a game so easily for the opening half before finding themselves on the back-foot after the break will puzzle many, not least Shelford.

In truth, the men in black's defence held firm under fairly intense pressure, although individual mistakes presented Colomiers with their most likely avenue back into the game.

Former French international Jean-Luc Sadourny did light-up proceedings for the visitors with a couple of all too sparse moments of magic, but it was Colomiers' fly half Skrela who caught the eye with some inventive play and his two penalties, the second from just inside Sarries' half will have given the visitors a real boost ahead of the return leg.

Saracens: Winnan, Sparg (68), Johnston (62), Sorrell, O'Mahoney, Castaignede, Bracken (68), Califano, Cairns (74), Marsters (48),

Benazzi, Yandell (45), Chesney, Roques (74), Hill.

Replacements: Parkes (74), Croall (48), Ross (74), Quinnell (45), Williams (68), Goode (62), Arasa (68).

Colomiers: Sadourny, Noutary, Viard, Mabilon (40), Lhande, Skrela, Culinat, Rondinelli, Algret, Esposito (50), Moro, Lorenzi, De Giusti, Magendie (60), Clement (30).

Replacements: Laurent (30), Tomuli (50), Cheron, Rolland, Ntamack (60), Foissaci, Giannantonio (40).

December 9, 2002 13:30