Saracens expected to put in convincing display says Billy Vunipola
Ziad Chaudry
Saracens' Billy Vunipola (right) and Vincent Koch warm up - Credit: PA
Billy Vunipola admits Saracens were expected to put in a convincing performance that pretty much turned their Greene King IPA Championship play-off first leg encounter with Ealing Trailfinders into a forgone conclusion on Sunday.
It is safe to say The Fez Boys will return to the top flight of English club rugby this September after hammering the hosts 60-0 at a sun-drenched Vallis Way in west London.
As soon as captain and British Lions tour-bound Owen Farrell successfully kicked the first of his 18 points from a penalty in the fourth minute it gradually developed into a one-sided affair.
Vunipola himself scored two of Sarries eight tries, with Lions Maro Itoje and Jamie George also going over along with Aled Davies, Nick Tompkins and Sean Maitland, with a penalty try awarded by referee Wayne Barnes making up the total.
"I think we were building towards a performance like that," said the 28-year-old number eight and England international Vunipola.
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"You saw In our last two games against Nottingham where we didn't let them score and against Coventry as well where we fought hard to keep our line from them scoring. We've brought that attitude today and also just intending our carries and everything we did around the maul.
"We challenged ourselves, especially the forwards, to take them on up front and we did that.
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"Not to be too graphic but we talked about keeping our foot on their throats and just keeping that pressure on."
With their Premiership return done and dusted, the return fixture at StoneX Stadium on Sunday (June 20) is virtually a dead rubber but Vunipola believes Sarries will want to complete the job in similar style and give home fans at their Hendon base a rousing finish to their Championship-winning campaign.
"We're excited to get back to StoneX, get our fans in there and hoping to finish the season off on a high," he added.
"We've also got a few boys leaving which is always an emotional time for us as a group because we enjoy being around each other so much and that's something to go after.
"In respect to Ealing we want to put a performance that is worthy of a double leg final. It's not about resting on our laurels now, it's about recovering and enjoying this win and going again next week."
