Goode, who was deputising at fly-half following Owen Farrell’s high-tackle bad, was the first among an army of Saracens heroes after finishing with a 19point haul from a try, a conversion and four penalties.
However, Goode would be the first to acknowledge that it was the Saracens pack that paved the way as they produced a display that was bristling with pride and intent – and showed an utter refusal to bow meekly to Leinster after having to weather a season of grim adversity following their relegation for breaking premiership salary cap regulations.
The Saracens pack had Leinster on toast at the scrum, with their Springbok tight-head Vincent Koch immense, and England front rowers Jamie George and Mako Vunipola not far behind.
This quarter-final demonstrated above all that, properly refereed, the scrum is still a hugely potent force in the game, and rightly so.
Saracens’ overwhelming scrum superiority, which yielded them seven scrum penalties to one against from French referee Pascal Gauzere, was also a critical rallying point for the visitors as Leinster launched a fierce second half attempt to turn around a 22-3 half-time deficit.
The Irish side came close to succeeding after scoring second-half tries through tight-head, Andrew Porter and full-back Jordan Larmour , which reduced the deficit to 22-17 with 18 minutes left to play.
This story is from the September 20, 2020 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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This story is from the September 20, 2020 edition of The Rugby Paper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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