'Old-man' Itoje has Saracens buzzing

SARACENS' new recruits fitted seamlessly into their style of play to run out convincing winners at Kingsholm for the third year in succession.

- ROGER PANTING

Owen Farrell, Sean Maitland and the Vunipola brothers Maro and Billy were the major departures from the club in the summer but their replacements - Fergus Burke, Rhys Carre and Tobias Elliott - all showed that they will be hitting the headlines in the coming weeks.

There were also impressive performances from the old guard with flanker, Andy Onyeama-Christie, scrum-half, Ivan van Zyl and new skipper, Maro Itoje, all hungry for action.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said: "Maro looked as if he meant business today and remarkably at 29 he is now the oldest member of our pack by some distance."

Gloucester had the life strangled out of them for the first 70 minutes and looked set for an uncomfortable final scoreline but they showed some spirit to score two converted tries to earn a bonus-point.

Tomos Williams and George Barton were the pick of the home side but their much vaunted back row had a surprisingly quiet evening with Gareth Anscombe having an underwhelming debut at fly-half in the presence of Wales' attacking coach, Alex King.

As a result Gloucester's back division failed to function with recently recruited Christian Wade having little chance to add to his phenomenal try-scoring record.