• Sarries humbled in first Championship game

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    Saracens slumped to a humiliating 25-17 defeat against Cornish Pirates in their first English Championship game of the season in Cornwall on Saturday.

    Saracens – four-times Premiership champions and three-times European Cup winners in the last five years – were automatically relegated to the English second division last season for repeated breaches of the salary cap.

    But on Saturday, their bid for what was widely assumed to be a near-automatic immediate return to the English Premiership suffered a stunning setback as they suffered a shock loss against Cornish Pirates in their first game of the Championship season.

    Saracens were without their England contingent, but still fielded a XV which had seven internationals boasting 165 Test caps between them, including World Cup-winning Springbok prop Vincent Koch.

    Yet, despite star power at their disposal, Sarries were unable to put Pirates away and ultimately they were made to pay.

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    Saracens led 17-15 early in the second half after tries for current and former Scotland internationals Sean Maitland and Tim Swinson and one for Alex Lewington.

    The Pirates, however, playing their first competitive home game for over a year, were always in the game through tries by Tom Duncan and Dan Frost and the goalkicking of Luke Scully and they deservedly took the prized scalp when Rhodri Davies touched down after a superb counter-attack.

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    Photo: Simon Galloway/PA Wire

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    SA Rugby magazine