Connacht beat Saracens 45-36 in the European Rugby Champions Cup on Saturday evening. The hosts took full advantage of a sell-out crowd to open their campaign with a statement victory. Saracens paid for a sloppy opening and found themselves chasing the game for large stretches.
And here's the thing about this fixture — you'd expect the visitors to have more edge on paper. But Connacht got their substitutions spot on and stretched the back line until Saracens could no longer contain them. The scoreline tells you everything about how the momentum shifted after the first half.
To be fair, Saracens had shown promise earlier. They'd beaten Bristol 30-7 just last week and looked sharp against Leicester Tigers in a 40-38 thriller. But by then the Connacht defence had found its rhythm and stopped giving ground.
The home side sits top of the table after one game with four points. Saracens occupy fifth place with zero points from their opening match — a stark contrast to their recent form.
We'd given Saracens a 73-per-cent chance of winning on paper. The match went differently, and Connacht's physicality in the middle thirds proved decisive. One mistake ends it at this level, and the visitors made too many of them.
