It’s shooting practice for ace Farrell

By GARY FITZGERALD

Brive ………………….5pts

Tries: Tuicuvu 14

Saracens ……….55pts

Conversions: Farrell 22, 37, 41, 58, 72, 76

Penalties: Farrell 6

Tries: Christie 10, Mawi 21, Iswieke 36, Van Zyl 41, Earl 57, Segun 62, George 70, Harris 75

CAPTAIN Owen Farrell resumed service as Saracens' singleminded driving force to help the club book a place in the Challenge Cup last 16 to play Cardiff.

The England skipper provided firm evidence that he is back up to speed and power after the lengthy ankle injury absence which left him a Six Nations supporter, and threatened to undermine his club's bid for more silverware success.

Farrell, who kicked 15 points in the strong wind, was outstanding in both defence and attack in an eight-try demolition of a poor Brive outfit who had shown their hand by resting some key players for important domestic duties, and were taught a severe rugby lesson by Mark McCall's men.

By the end, this Pool C contest at Stade Amedee-Domenech had become little more than a training exercise with Brive down to 14 men for the final ten minutes following fullback Axel Muller's sending off for a dangerous shoulder charge to the head of Ben Harris.

Sarries carved out a 22-5 half-time lead as Farrell kicked, probed and led his team on the front foot from the start. He missed the Premiership trip to Sale last week due to undertaking the return to play HIA protocols from the head injury received on his comeback from the ankle injury against Bristol.

And Farrell, making his Challenge Cup debut, showed just how important he is to a Sarries' side which is challenging for honours on both fronts.

His early penalty got the scoreboard ticking before Andy Christie showed why Scotland granted the young forward a first Six Nations cap, charging down Tedo Abzhandadze's clearance and grounding the ball for the opening try.

Brive responded with Fijian centre Seta Tuicuvu racing through and shrugging off prop Alec Clarey to power his way over for a try. It was the only moment of cheer for the home fans who soon became frustrated with their team's inability to compete against highly energised English rivals.

Prop Eroni Mawi reached out a long arm for the second try following strong Sarries pressure. Lock Nick Iswieke was unstoppable from close range for the third try and Elliot Daly broke from inside his own half to feed the supporting Ivan van Zyl for another score.

In the groove: Owen Farrell kicked 15 points

PICTURES: Getty Images

ROUND OF 16 FIXTURES

April 15/16/17 April (with rankings in brackets)

Lyon (1) v Worcester (10)

RC Toulon (2) v Benetton (9)

Edinburgh (3) v Bath (16)

Gloucester (4) v Northampton (15)

Saracens (8) v Cardiff (11)

Biarritz (7) v Wasps (12)

London Irish (6) v Castres (13)

Newcastle (5) v Glasgow (14)

It was one-way traffic with the visitors keeping up the momentum and pressure, and replacement Ben Earl surged over from close range for a try, and wing Rotimi Segun just had to stroll across from Farrell's wide pass out to the left flank for another.

England hooker George, on for head injury victim Tom Woolstencroft, cantered through for the seventh as Brive wilted and Muller lost his head completely with a hit on replacement wing Harris which was more an assault than an attempted tackle – jumping into his rival shoulder first and smashing him in the face, sending Harris crashing.

Muller saw red and Harris showed his toughness and resilience by picking himself up and racing over for the eighth and final nail in Brive's coffin.