North Londoners beat Leicester Tigers 29-21 at home last weekend

Saracens go in search of a second win in this season’s Premiership Rugby Cup on Friday night when they visit Sale Sharks.

The north Londoners kicked off the new competition last weekend with a 29-21 victory at home to Leicester Tigers.

Sione Vailanu scored a brace of tries, as Schalk Burger also dotted down and Max Malins kicked 14 points.

The match also saw hooker Tom Woolstencroft make his debut for the Allianz Park outfit after joining from London Irish in the summer.

And the 24-year-old was pleased his first outing for Saracens proved to be a victorious one, telling the club website: “To get my first-team debut means everything to me and for it to be with a great bunch of boys as well is great.

“The last few weeks have been tough and we’ve been grinding it out to get that shot; everyone was together and it was class.”

Saracens had to hold off a brave Leicester fightback to make it eight straight wins in all competitions this term.

And Woolstencroft hailed the north Londoners’ determination in holding on to win their opening Premiership Rugby Cup match.

“I thought the boys put in a massive shift. It was a physical game from start to finish, but we executed the game plan well and we’re pleased with the result,” he added.

“It was tough. We all brought ourselves in together and realised there was ill-discipline and once we adjusted that, things seemed to go a bit smoother.”

Next up for Saracens is the trip to Sale and the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday night as they look for more joy in the Premiership Rugby Cup.

And despite winning their opening game against Leicester, senior academy coach Adam Powell knows where the north Londoners can improve.

“We did enough to win against Leicester in terms of our performance, but it’s not where we want to be,” he told the club website.

“There’s a lot to work on and that’s exciting for me to see where we can actually go. We know what we’ve got to work on now.

“We have a good win behind us, but we gave away too many penalties in the second half. We’ve got to work on our discipline and on our exit game, then hopefully we will put in a better performance.”