Saracens ruin Wilkinson's warming return

Sometimes, you have to wonder whether the penny is worth the candle. By the time Saracens played their rearranged Parker Pen Challenge Cup tie with Newcastle in Watford last night, they were a cool, not to say frost-bitten, £50,000 down on the deal.

Sunday's undersoil heating failure had been sorted – "a member of the groundstaff spent the night with the boiler," reported a club spokesman, a trifle mischievously – but the brief postponement resulted in one audience being reimbursed, with another being admitted free of charge.

There again, Jonny Wilkinson put in an appearance for the visitors, a development that made the first leg of this quarter-final extremely worthwhile from the point of view of the England management. The world's best outside-half had not been seen on a rugby field since the 50-point caning of the Springboks at Twickenham in late November, but with his damaged shoulder now back in one piece, he opted to begin his build-up to the Six Nations Championship a few days earlier than expected.

And very much at home he looked. His first shot at the sticks was the golfer's equivalent of a nine-iron to the flag, fully 50 metres from a position close to the left touch-line. Ridiculously, he did not remotely look like missing.

He was also up for the rough stuff, wading into rucks with his usual disregard for human safety, not least his own. Had Clive Woodward, the England manager, been among the crowd in the one occupied stand, he would have been purring with satisfaction.

A couple of minutes later, he might have been on his feet and punching the air. Wilkinson is not blessed with the softest hands, but he delivered two long cut-out passes of such pinpoint accuracy in launching an attack from his own 22 that the lively Phil Dowson ended up side-stepping his way to the Saracens line on the far diagonal. The struggling Geordies were good value for the try, and Wilkinson's inevitable conversion from the widest of angles, for they had performed with no little imagination in the opening quarter.

Andy Goode's second penalty pulled Saracens back to within four points at the break, while Wilkinson finally deigned to miss one, albeit from three metres inside his own half, at the start of the second period.

But with Johnny Marsters in the sin-bin for a technical offence on the floor, Newcastle had a heaven-sent opportunity to claim the next score and give themselves a decent chance of taking an unexpected advantage to Kingston Park for this weekend's second leg.

They did not grasp it. Instead, they made disciplinary errors of their own, as Craig Hamilton, their gangling lock, joined Marsters in the rest room, and then found Richard Hill and Kris Chesney, the powerful Saracens flankers, too hot to handle in the build-up to Christian Califano's try on 55 minutes. Goode added the extras and then dropped a goal from a handy position on the Newcastle 22 to give his side a six-point advantage that reflected their increasing control of proceedings.

Having been in the pink early on, Wilkinson was now in the mire with the rest of his team. He tackled his weight and found his accustomed touches, but he had little else going for him. When Stuart Grimes emulated Hamilton by earning himself a thoroughly merited visit to the cooler, Goode nailed the penalty and converted one of two late tries from Craig Yandell and the tireless Hill that pretty much settled the tie in Saracens' favour.

Saracens: Tries Califano, Yandell, Hill; Conversions Goode 2; Penalties Goode 3; Drop goal Goode. Newcastle: Try Dowson; Conversion J Wilkinson; Penalty J Wilkinson.

Saracens: A Winnan (B Sparg 80); T Shanklin, K Sorrell, T Horan, D O'Mahony (R Haughton 80); A Goode, K Bracken (capt); C Califano (A Croall 77), J Ross (M Cairns 57), J Marsters, A Benazzi (C Yandell H-T), S Hooper, K Chesney, R Hill, B Russell (A Roques H-T).

Newcastle: J Shaw; L Botham, J Noon, M Wilkinson, M Stephenson; J Wilkinson (capt), J Grindal (H Charlton 69); I Peel (J Isaacson 64), N Makin (M Thompson 76), M Hurter, S Grimes, C Hamilton, J Dunbar (E Taione 64), P Dowson, H Vyvyan.

Referee: J Dume (France).

* Neath gained a 23-18 win over Béziers in their twice-postponed Heineken Cup Pool One match last night, scoring two tries to the visitors' one before holding off sustained late pressure from the French side. Neath's coach, Lyn Jones, said: "We defended well against what was a typical French side that showed flair in handling from deep and in the end we showed our character to come back and win. Next Saturday (group leaders) Leicester will be another big challenge but we can go there and be highly competitive." In the Parker Pen Shield quarter-final first leg, Ebbw Vale beat Pau 29-3.