Exeter inflict record defeat on champions Saracens

Josh Hodge scored as many tries as he did in the entirety of last season in the Premiership

New-look Exeter scored 11 tries as they inflicted a record league defeat on Premiership champions Saracens at Sandy Park to open their season in style.

Olly Hartley's try for Saracens early in the second period gave them hope.

But four tries after the break - as Josh Hodge got a hat-trick - ensured an understrength Saracens were thrashed.

The loss, by 55 points, beat Saracens' previous worst-ever defeat - a 50-point margin in two 60-10 losses to Wasps - the most-recent coming in February 2020 after relegation for salary cap infringements.

And it would have been worse had Exeter not missed six of their 11 conversions.

The loss was the biggest suffered by Saracens since a club record-equalling 60-10 defeat at Wasps in February 2020

It was Exeter's first league game since 11 of the players that had been the backbone of the side that had challenged Saracens at the top of the Premiership between 2016 and 2021 left over the summer.

But Saracens - shorn of World Cup stars such as Owen Farrell, Nick Tompkins, Maro Itoje and Jamie George - were the ones who looked as through they had never played together.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso flew in down the right wing after just 73 seconds, after Josh Hodge's break sent Harvey Skinner through, and he set up the Welsh winger for his first Premiership try.

Alex Lozowski saw yellow five minutes later for making contact with Hodge's head as the full-back was being tackled, and with the extra man Exeter thrived as Greg Fisilau was mauled over from a five-metre lineout.

It got better as Ethan Roots crashed in from a couple of metres four minutes later, as Exeter flowed up the field thanks in part to a jinking break from scrum-half Tom Cairns.

The bonus point was secured as Lozowski waited to return - Cairns' box kick was brilliantly handled by Henry Slade and Hendrickson was on hand to sprint in - had Slade been more accurate with his kicking the advantage could have been 28 points rather than the 22-0 scoreline Exeter led by after 18 minutes.

Slade intercepted a poor long pass from Alex Goode to canter in for the fifth try, and Saracens' first half got even worse as Aled Davies was yellow-carded for a head-to-head collision on Skinner in the build-up.

Player of the match Hodge has taken over from retired former Scotland and Lions star Stuart Hogg as Exeter's full-back

Goode summed up Saracens' first half when he kicked for the corner from a penalty and put it the wrong side of the flag, and soon after Sarries were further behind - Feyi-Waboso's kick over the top was fumbled by Tom Parton in the in-goal area and Hodge dived on the loose ball.

The Exeter full-back scored the pick of the first-half tries as he showed off his speed, footwork and power to get past four men and dot down in the left corner to give Exeter a 41-0 lead at the break.

Saracens improved, relatively speaking, after the interval as Hartley capitalised on Alex Lewington's run to go over in the corner after Exeter had Tom Wyatt yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle on Rotimi Segun in the build-up.

Fisilau had a second try from a line-out maul chalked off as television replays could not judge if he had grounded the ball, but Exeter did not have to wait long for try number eight as Hodge showed his trademark strike running to gallop in from inside his own half, leaving five Saracens defenders in his wake.

Rus Tuima scored from close range for Exeter's ninth try - after eight phases on the Saracens line - with 20 minutes to go, before Sean Maitland replied for the visitors following a nice four-pass move.

Ross Vintcent got Exeter's try count into double figures as he got on the end of Niall Armstrong's kick, and a few minutes later Armstrong got try 11 after Skinner's break from inside his own half set up the replacement for a score on his Premiership debut.

Andy Christie's late try for Saracens was disallowed for an infringement in the build-up, as Mark McCall's men were left to pick over the pieces of a chastening afternoon.

Exeter: Hodge; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Hendrickson; Wyatt, Skinner; Cairns, Sio, Yeandle (capt), Painter, Tuima, Pearson, Roots, Vermeulen, Fisilau.

Replacements: Norey, Keast, Iosefa-Scott, Davis, Vintcent, Armstrong, Haydon-Wood, Hammersley.

Saracens: Parton; Segun, Lozowski (capt), Hartley, Lewington; Goode, Davies; West, Adejimi, Riccioni, Hunter-Hill, Isiekwe, McFarland, Knight, Willis.

Replacements: Hadfield, Adams-Hale, Clarey, Stonham, Christie, Bracken, M. Vunipola, Maitland.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe

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