Saracens fought past a highly competitive Cardiff Blues side in this afternoon's European Challenge Cup match. The three-time Champions Cup winners put five tries past the Welsh side in an entertaining 40-33 victory.
An end-to-end game saw both sides battling hard to gain the advantage in the first half. Following a series of penalty kick exchanges from Preistland and Farrell, Sarries extended their lead just before halftime with a try from Dom Morris. Shortly after, Wales international Tomos Williams touched down for one of his own.
It was not long after the break that the electric scrum-half Williams set winger Owen Lane up for one of his own. For Lane, this was redemption after dropping a relatively easy catch earlier on with the try line in sight.
The second half really opened up from this point on, with Max Malins breaking the line and setting up Maitland for the first of his two tries. The 70th minute saw Malins extend the Saracen's lead to fourteen points, giving the Blues an uphill battle to face. Malins has scored a multitude of tries versus the Blues over recent years, and today's effort was as important as ever.
The Blues fought back well, but the challenge appeared too much as they found themselves short at full time.
Dropped by England for the final game of this year's Six Nations, 25-year-old Malins admitted in his player of the match interview that "it was tough to take" not to have been involved in the final game of the tournament. Malins told BT Sport that "the only way to get better and be better is to do it on this pitch with Saracens"
Saracens move into the last eight of the competition as they travel to Kingsholm to face an in-form Gloucester side.
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