Goode's very good, Saracens are superb

ALEX Goode went on a three-day knees-up after Saracens beat Leinster in the European Cup final 16 months ago and he showed his dancing feet again in this quarter-final as the reigning champions defied the odds to bring the Irish side’s 25 match unbeaten run since then to a juddering halt in Dublin.

- NICK CAIN

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.