SHAUN EDWARDS, London Wasps' assistant coach, was among the crowd of nearly 2,000 who turned up to rule the rule over Andy Farrell on his rugby union debut on Saturday.

Farrell's absence with a toe injury resulted in a slightly anti-climatic feel to proceedings at Goldlington Road and Edwards' dossier would have contained little he didn't already know about the Men in Black ahead of the curtain-raiser at Twickenham next weekend.

On the evidence of the disjointed 80 minutes against Bedford Blues, Saracens' aggressive defence and well-oiled set-piece look likely to form the cornerstone of their anticipated title challenge this season, while Thomas Castaignede showed why he will once again be at the hub of their creativity, with a vintage display from full-back, scoring one and making another for Richard Haughton with a sizzling break.

Although the attacking aspect of their game looked in need of some further work on the training ground, the lack of cohesion can be partly attributed to the raft of changes made during the course of the match.

Diamond and Mike Ford used all of the 25-man squad who made the short trip up the M1, yet Sarries still managed to win the game at canter thanks to tries from Castaignede, Haughton, Hugh Vyvyan and Matt Cairns, despite most of their kingpins sitting in the stands with minor injuries.

"I was fairly pleased," said Diamond on the 28-8 victory. "It was progression from the (probables v possibles) game we had in the week but we've still got a lot of work to do, which is good. We had a lot of ball, which we knew we'd get, but Bedford put up a great display."

Asked to highlight the positives from the game, Diamond replied: "The way we got out of our half more often than not, the way we controlled the ball to a large extent, but we just didn't manage to execute the final pass sometimes.

"We managed to give everyone a run out, looked at some combinations and it gives us a mindset to go into the game against Quins, which will be a hard game."

Diamond asked referee Rob Debney to be particularly harsh on his side during the final quarter of the match and he would have been encouraged by the way his side stood up to a withering late assault from the home side, that eventually yielded a try from Chris Rainbow with four minutes remaining.

Central to Sarries' defence effort was Alex Sanderson, who showed no signs of the neck injury that has kept him out for eight months when he hurled himself at Soame Touga'uila, the home side's giant loose-head prop, after 16 minutes.

The England flanker was withdrawn after 30 minutes but he marked his return on the hour mark with a shuddering tackle on former Saracen Joe Ross.

"He did alright," said Diamond. "He made a few good hits and threw himself around but one swallow doesn't make a summer."

Saracens team: Castaignede, Obi, Sorrell, Johnston, Haughton, Jackson, Dickens; Yates, Cairns, Broster, Vyvyan (capt), Chesney, Sanderson, Randell, Skirving.

Replacements (all used): Kyriacou, Lloyd, Ryder, Fullarton, Seymour, B Russell, Rauluni, B J Russell, Little, Mathius.