Sarries seal maiden European Cup in Lyon

Sport360 staff 22:28 14/05/2016
Saracens beat Racing 9-21 in Lyon to win the European Cup.

Saracens became the first English club to conquer Europe for nine years as Owen Farrell kicked them to Champions Cup glory.

Farrell booted seven penalties from seven attempts in a 21-9 success, outshining his revered opposite number Dan Carter at Grand Stade de Lyon and taking Saracens to the summit of European rugby.

The New Zealander departed injured just two minutes into the second half – Racing had already seen his half-back partner Maxime Machenaud go off – and three Johann Goosen penalties were their solitary scoring contributions during a final that Saracens never seriously looked like losing.

Their triumph ended a run of Irish and French dominance in Europe, while Saracens also became the first team in the competition’s history to stay unbeaten, winning nine successive games, including six pool matches.

A 58,000 crowd witnessed a try-less final, but Saracens will not care less as they compensated for defeat against a Jonny Wilkinson -inspired Toulon two years ago when the French heavyweights completed the second stage of an eventual European title hat-trick.

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