Slick Saracens blow away Harlequins in front of bumper crowd at Tottenham

Just when you think they might be losing a bit of their mojo, languishing in fourth place, eight points off the lead, Saracens remind us of one of English rugby’s seemingly eternal truths. They are the best team in it. By quite a way.

Another 50-point hiding was meted out, in front of 60,000 here, against some hapless stooges. That the stooges in question were Harlequins, riding high until then in second place, apparent title contenders, simply underlined the reality of Saracens’ dominance of this era of English rugby.

Tries from Alex Lewington, Theo Dan and two from Sean Maitland put Sarries 24-0 up at half-time. After the break, Dan scored his second before Alex Dombrandt replied for Quins. However, Lucio Cinti, Juan Martín González and replacement Alex Goode put the gloss on the victory for Saracens.

This was Saracens’ eighth win in a row over Quins, having dismantled them at the Stoop just after the World Cup. Before we eulogise the champions too extravagantly, this apparent issue Harlequins have with playing Saracens ought to be dwelt upon, because this was not the performance of credible challengers. The visitors have long been a byword for unpredictability, as brilliant as they are flaky, but even by their standards this was an inexplicable dip in performance. An embarrassment, really.

Expect them to be unplayable next Saturday at home to Bath. This weekend, though, they did not play at all, submissive without the ball, flat and fumbly with it.

These are never qualities to take into a match in as competitive an arena as the Premiership, but against Saracens they are disastrous. Saracens duly gorged themselves, rattling up eight tries, four within the first half-hour to cruise past the vanquished into second place, suddenly only three points off the leaders, Northampton.