Saracens vs Wasps match report: Saracens topple Wasps to reach European Champions Cup final

Saracens 24 Wasps 17

Owen Farrell kicks a conversion for Saracens against Wasps (Getty)

Saracens powered their way to a second European Cup final in three seasons, winning the most one-sided seven-point match you could ever see.

Wasps came to neutral Reading on a scintillating run of 12 wins in 13 matches, and had the perfect start after 73 seconds when last weekend’s six-try hero Christian Wade was set free on the wing to set up a storming try for scrum-half Dan Robson.

But thereafter there were only sporadic breaks by Wade, and a try too late for the replacement hooker Ashley Johnson, to make Wasps believe they could be England’s first winners of this competition since they beat Leicester at Twickenham in 2007.

Instead it is Saracens who have earned a shot at going one better than their 2014 final loss to Toulon, and they will face the winners of the Leicester Tigers-Racing 92 semi-final in Lyon’s sparkling new Grand Stade in France on 14 May.

Billy Vunipola’s carrying, Owen Farrell’s granite-hard tackling and man-of-the-match Maro Itoje’s all-round snaffling were prominent features as Sarries penned Wasps in their own half for much of the 80 minutes.

If Farrell had not wobbled from the kicking tee - missing two penalties and the conversion of Michael Rhodes’s 29th minute try – the margin of victory would surely have been greater.

South African flanker Rhodes charged down Wasps’ fly-half Jimmy Gopperth after the Coventry-based club’s No.8 Nathan Hughes had been halted as he broke from the base of a scrum. Gopperth had escaped a possible charge-down earlier on but this time Rhodes was on him in a flash and grounded the loose ball before the Kiwi No.10 whose last-second kick won the quarter-final with Exeter could get back to tackle.

Michael Rhodes crosses the line for Saracens (Getty)

Sarries were 8-7 up at half-time, before two penalties kicked by Farrell from close to the halfway line after 42 and 46 minutes stretched the lead to seven.

Elements of pantomime and controversy pockmarked an exciting last half-hour as a pair of sin-bin incidents required multiple replays on the big screens, and prompted advice urged on the experienced French referee Romain Poite from all quarters: the television match official, touch judges and spectators.

Farrell was first to trot off, scowling in disagreement and needing a bandage around a cut ear, after he had caught Robson around the head with a typically full-blooded tackle that went awry as the Wasps No.9 stooped to retrieve a fumbled ball.

In the 69th minute, with a penalty by Gopperth for the Farrell offence having moved the scoreline on to 14-10, Wasps’ replacement loosehead Simon McIntyre allowed frustration to get the better of him as he kicked the head of Itoje, who had been holding onto his leg.

McIntyre was shown a yellow card and the resulting penalty by Farrell was followed by a penalty try for a collapsed maul as Saracens’ backs joined their forwards in a line-out drive that thundered 30 metres the right-hand corner. The conversion by Farrell meant the game was all but up at 24-10 with six minutes remaining.

Johnson forced his way over, and Gopperth converted, but a last desperate Wasps attack ended with Robson’s replacement Joe Simpson stripped of possession in the type of good close-quarters work by Saracens that makes them such witheringly difficult opponents.

It kept the reigning English champions on course for a Premiership-European double, and it may be they need to overcome Wasps again if they are to land the domestic title at the end of May.

Wasps’ director of rugby Dai Young reckoned Saracens’ big-match experience of recent years – including European knockout appearances every season since 2012 – had been one of the differences between the teams. James Haskell, the Wasps captain, said: “Credit to Saracens, they play that strangling rugby. They see an opportunity at every breakdown to cause a fight, and if you don’t get a lot of ball – as we didn’t – it’s playing into their hands.”

Saracens’ captain Brad Barritt praised his team’s resilience in response to Robson’s early try. “We speak about it at length,” said Barritt, “but more importantly we put it into practice. There are generals all over the pitch. We’ve edged closer and closer in the European Cup, and winning it would be the icing on the cake, but we’re not there yet.”

Saracens: A Goode; C Ashton, D Taylor, B Barritt (capt), C Wyles; O Farrell (sin bin 51-61), R Wigglesworth (N de Kock 77); M Vunipola, S Brits (J Saunders 75), P du Plessis (T Lamositele 77), M Itoje, G Kruis, M Rhodes (J Wray 63), W Fraser, B Vunipola.

Scorers: tries: Rhodes, penalty try; con: Farrell; pens: Farrell 4.

Wasps: C Piutau; C Wade, E Daly, S Piutau, F Halai; J Gopperth, D Robson (J Simpson 51); M Mullan (S McIntyre 61, sin bin 69-79), C Festuccia (A Johnson 69), L Cittadini (P Swainston 66), J Launchbury, B Davies, J Haskell (capt, T Young 61), G Smith, N Hughes (S Jones 69).

Scorers: tries: Robson, Johnson; cons: Gopperth 2; pen: Gopperth.

Referee: R Poite (France).