Saracens powered their way through a spirited Blackheath effort on Wednesday and set themselves up with the prestige tie of the fifth round against Leicester.

A shock was never really on the cards, despite the fact Sarries were missing many internationals involved in training with England and Ireland and that Blackheath took the early lead with a penalty and drop goal.

However, class soon began to show as Saracens inexorably moved towards a 59-31 victory. Three tries, the third from the returning Phillippe Sella following efforts from hooker George Chuter and Steve Ravenscroft, put Saracens into a position from which they never looked like being deposed.

The impressive Ben Sturnham, who had a fine game at number eight as a replacement for regular skipper Tony Diprose, went over for a pushover try and when Ryan Constable was obstructed when bearing down on the Blackheath line after kicking ahead, the referee had little option but to award a penalty try and a kick under the posts.

Despite a try from home winger Mark Griffiths, the half-time score of 33-14 in Saracens' favour really summed up who held the upper hand in the game and illustrated the yawning gap in league status and class.

A try in the early stages of the second period from Blackheath scrum-half Mark Percival was answered with scores from the colossal Francois Pienaar and Matt Singer, both of which were converted by Michael Lynagh, who was soon replaced by Andy Lee.

Pienaar was played in by Olsen for a try that replicated his earlier effort, after Blackheath hooker Colin Ridgway had gone over and the scoring was completed by Constable in the closing stages.

It was an impressive display considering the Men in Black were without such influential players as Richard Hill and Diprose. Their absence, however, brought out the best in Pienaar, who had an excellent game. Ben Sturnham also took advantage of his opportunity and the power of the Sarries pack was just too much for the oldest club in the world to cope with.

The other big plus was the re-introduction of Sella after his lengthy lay-off.

Director of rugby Mark Evans said that he brought the French star off after he suffered a slight groin injury but the initial response was that it was not serious and his confidence would have been boosted by the try.

Evans said: "I thought Ben Sturnham had an excellent game at number eight. He had an opportunity tonight with Diprose on the bench and I thought he took it very well.

"Francois also had a good game. He was very powerful and led by example."

He was also complimentary to his opponents when questioned about the gap between the two sides.

He said: "Without being patronising, I thought Blackheath played some good rugby and they have some good players but they are not full-time and that is bound to make a difference.

"Obviously the game against Leicester in ten days time is huge and it's the tie of the round. It will be another opportunity for the people of Watford to have a first-class game on their doorstep and I hope they will come out and support us."

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