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| - Saracens thrashed London Irish 40-12 in the English Premiership on Monday as they stepped up their preparations for European action. Saracens have already been relegated from the Premiership for repeated salary cap breaches. But they still have ambitions of European Champions Cup success this term, with a quarter-final against Leinster on September 19. Saracens were close to full strength against a London Irish side featuring nine academy representatives and the result was never in doubt. The line-out drive emerged as their most potent weapon with four tries plundered from the set-piece and, having exposed the Exiles' Achilles heal, they exploited it ruthlessly with two-try hooker Jamie George and England team-mate Maro Itoje at the heart of their dominance. Prop Richard Barrington also crossed twice, while there were additional touchdowns for Brad Barritt and Billy Vunipola with the bonus point secured in the 35th minute of another lop-sided Premiership contest. Knowing they must spend next season in the second tier of English rugby, Saracens' sole aim for the 2019-20 campaign is to retain the Champions Cup in a quest that resumes next month. Three Premiership matches remain until their trip to Dublin, offering opportunities to continue fine-tuning, but on the evidence of their trip to southwest London their line-out driving maul needs little work. "We're definitely not quite where we need to be for the Leinster game, although individually some of our players are playing really well," Saracens boss Mark McCall said. "We're building towards that and to play a game like this which has less meaning, it will always feel a little bit different." In Monday's other Premiership match, Wasps defeated play-off rivals Bath 27-23 despite losing four players to injuries. Thomas Young, Lima Sopoaga, Tommy Taylor and Gabriel Oghre were all forced off in the first 34 minutes. It meant the match going to uncontested scrums, so stretched were Wasps' front-row resources, yet Bath could not take advantage as the visitors claimed a gritty victory. It took Wasps back into fourth place and ended Bath's unbeaten run since the competition restarted after the coronavirus lockdown. Jacob Umaga and Tom West scored tries for Wasps, while Umaga kicked two conversions and a penalty and full-back Liam Sopoaga slotted a penalty. Ruaridh McConnochie and Jack Walker notched Bath's touchdowns and Rhys Priestland kicked 13 points. smg/jc
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