Jackson Wray hailed an ‘almost complete performance’ as Saracens ran in 11 tries during a 73-0 away thrashing of Coventry to seal their place in the Greene King IPA Championship play-off places. 

The five-time English champions set the tone early on at Butts Park Arena with Elliot Daly dotting down inside the first minute, the first of three scores on the day for the England international. 

Jamie George, Nick Tompkins and Sean Reffell crashed over in the first half, while the latter’s second and further scores from Sean Maitland (2), Tom Whiteley and Dom Morris put gloss on the scoreline. 

An eighth win in a row means Mark McCall’s men have secured a top-two finish in English rugby’s second tier, while a two-point victory over Hartpury next time out would clinch top spot in the standings.

And despite Sarries’ ruthlessness in attack it was their discipline in defence that most impressed back-rower Wray, who believes the three-time European Champions Cup winners can get even better in the weeks ahead. 

Wray, 30, said: “We’ve been searching for a complete performance, not in terms of accuracy all the time but in terms of attitude. For the most part of today I thought we had it. 

“Credit to Coventry - they kept coming. They’re big, they’re physical and they asked questions. I thought we had the answers to the majority of them, mainly with our attitude in our 22 with our defensive sets. 

“The fact we didn’t concede shows we were able to deal with those phases, get the ball and the momentum back, and put the pressure back on them. 

“We were in it throughout, we were alert to opportunities and when they came we were pretty ruthless. This result does good things for the league and we’re looking forward to next week.” 

Saracens Women made it a weekend to remember for the StoneX Stadium outfit, with twin sisters Bryony and Poppy Cleall both scoring twice to set up an Allianz Premier 15s final meeting with London neighbours Harlequins.

Zoe Harrison kicked all four conversions to help Sarries edge to a 28-24 win over Loughborough Lightning in the pulsating last-four clash and maintain the team’s bid for a third Premier 15s title. 

Player of the Match Sophie de Goede said: “We’ve got to work on our line-out maul defence but in open play I think we defended really well when we needed to, and I think that’s what got us over the line in the end. 

“Game management is going to be key against Harlequins. We need to make sure we’re playing in their end and using our kick-exit effectively, and we’re keeping possession when we have it.”