North Londoners beat Wasps in final on Saturday

The start of the new Aviva Premiership season may still be a few weeks away, but Saracens already have their first bit of silverware of the campaign.

Over the weekend, the north Londoners were in action at the Premiership Rugby 7s and returned with the trophy for the first time since 2010.

The Allianz Park outfit were drawn in Group B in the opening round-robin stage, alongside Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons.

Sarries lost 26-17 to Falcons in their opener, but recovered to beat Tigers 26-14, which was enough to progress to the knockout stages.

The north Londoners won 29-24 against Exeter Chiefs in the quarter-finals to set up a clash with capital rivals Harlequins in the final four.

In a thrilling game, the Allianz Park side held their nerve to triumph 29-21 and progress to the final, where they would meet two-time defending champions Wasps.

Sarries, though, continued their imperious form with a 33-12 success to claim the Premiership Rugby 7s title.

“I think as the tournament went on we clicked more and got there towards the end, captain Joel Conlon told the Premiership Rugby website.

“We hadn’t really trained for it that much and we arrived with a couple of new lads, so it took a bit of getting used to.

“Wasps were very strong, they kept hold of the ball, moved us around a lot and it was very tiring to defend against.

“It doesn’t seem to have been our strongest competition in the past, but we had a strong team out this year and everyone was really excited for it.”

Many of the squad selected for the competition were either young players from the academy, or older heads looking to prove a point.

Conlon fell into the latter category, having struggled for game time with Saracens in 15-man rugby last term because of injury.

But after skippering the north Londoners to sevens success, the 24-year-old hopes for more opportunities next term.

It was tough last season being out for nine months or so, but my back is feeling reasonably good now and I want to get a good pre-season under my belt and hopefully kick-on,” he added.

“I have got points to work on and hopefully I can push forward and get a first team spot.”