SARACENS got their pre-season preparations under way in front of a bumper 1,600 crowd at Vicarage Road on Saturday, with an emphatic 54-12 victory over Welsh side Caerphilly in a match played over four 20-minute quarters.

Although Sarries got off to a slow start, they eventually opened the scoring ten minutes in when skipper for the day Abdel Benazzi bulldozed his way through after a rolling maul.

Benazzi claimed his second try ten minutes later after showing good hands to collect a Tom Shanklin pass before going over unopposed.

Sarries' lack of match practice was evident throughout, although Jannie De Beer looked particularly impressive in marshalling the side with some superb place kicking.

The South African's penalty kicking was almost faultless as he went on to kick all but one conversion.

Once Sarries found their rhythm in the first half, they looked as if they could score with ease, with the centre pairing of Kevin Sorrell and Shanklin providing a solid foundation for the team.

Sorrell got himself onto the score sheet on the half hour, finishing off a well constructed move, before Richard Haughton added another on the stroke of half-time.

Sarries fielded a number of youngsters in the second half, and although tempers flared with each team losing two players to the sin bin, the youth players acquitted themselves well, with Sean Phillips, Sean Hardy and James Bailey all claiming tries, while Tony Roques also picked up a deserved score.

Bailey's try enthralled the crowd after he showed lightning pace to race 80 yards down-field, in what was his first senior start.

Sarries now travel to Edinburgh to take on Reivers on Saturday in their second friendly, with the start of the new Zurich Premiership season only a month away.

August 9, 2001 12:11

Marc Dodd