Sarries scramble through

David Strettle on the burst for Saracens

Saracens became the only English club to make it into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals with a hard-fought 26-20 victory over Treviso on Sunday.

With just a single point required to ensure passage into the last eight, time after time the reigning Premiership champions tried to put distance between themselves and their Italian rivals.

But again and again Treviso fought back, posing some serious problems for the Sarries defence, who struggled to contain their hard-running counter-attacking game.

In the end though, it came down to a magnificent defensive effort at the death to deny Treviso as they continued to hammer the Sarries line in search of the win.

Relief will be the principal sentiment the Londoners will take away from the Stadio Comunale di Monigo after they were pushed to the wire by their Italian hosts.

And with the prospect of much tougher French opposition in their home quarter-final, Mark McCall's men will need to dig deeper if they hope to remain a beacon for English pride in European Rugby's flagship competition.

Audacious

Owen Farrell put the Londoners in front in the10th minute with a well-struck penalty from long range.

Treviso's reply came immediately though, as the Italians pushed deep into their guests' territory and Robert Barbieri crashed through four defenders to touch down.

Fly-half Kris Burton converted to make it 7-3 after 13 minutes but the Saracens response came almost as quick to wrest back the advantage.

It was Mouritz Botha who barged his way over for the try, after a strong drive off the back of a lineout had taken the Sarries forwards to within yards of the Treviso line.

Farrel made it 10-7 with his 20th minute conversion but within two minutes the Italians had hit back yet again.

Barbieri was involved again, with hard work from the forwards giving the hosts good field position to spread the ball wide and send winger Tommaso Iannone over in the corner.

Burton converted on 23 minutes to give his side a 14-10 lead and two minutes later slotted an audacious drop goal to extend the advantage to seven points.

Struggling

Three minutes before the end of the first half Treviso were penalised within shooting range for an infringement at the scrum and Farrell was able to close the gap by three points to take his side into the break 17-13 down.

Sarries flew out of the blocks at the restart, with Botha charging down scrum-half Tobie Botes's box kick seconds after Charlie Hodgson had resumed proceedings.

Winger David Strettle pounced on the loose ball and burst through the Treviso defence to power over for the try just 30 seconds into the half.

Farrell converted to make it 20-17 but Treviso, who had replied to everything Sarries had thrown at them so far, came back yet again five minutes later.

The hosts opted again to run the ball straight back at their guests and with the Sarries struggling to contain the counter-attack, the pressure paid off with a penalty for the Italians.

Burton levelled the scores with a three-pointer but back came Sarries straight from the restart, Farrell showing a cool head beyond his years to regain the lead with a fine penalty.

Treviso were far from done though and their hard-running game continued to trouble the Londoners' defence.

Magnificent

Brendan Williams was brought down inches short on 56 minutes after the ball was spread wide from the lineout and seconds later lock Antonio Pavanello crashed over but was held up by a magnificent tackle from scrum-half Pater Stringer.

Just a minute later, Botes blasted down the blindside and dived over, only to be denied, somewhat unfortunately, by the tv official.

With news of Biarritz's bonus point increasing the already intense pressure on the visitors, it was Farrell who had the next say, extending the lead to six points and giving his side some breathing space with a composed penalty.

Treviso continued to push hard as the game entered the final quarter of an hour, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the visitors as the clock ticked down.

But Sarries stood firm to secure the win and earn themselves that all-important home quarter final.