By Jason Harris
December 16 2002

A try apiece from James Parkes and Darragh O'Mahony and 18 points from the boot of Thomas Castaignede saw Sarries through their Parker Pen Challenge Cup tie against Colomiers 30-19 on the night and 46-25 on aggregate. On a chilly, breezy night and played in front of a very vocal Sarries support - boosted by the presence of some equally vocal Edinburgh fans in town for their side's match against Stade Toulousain the following day - the Men in Black put on an efficient, workmanlike display to keep their hosts at a comfortable distance.

The ten point advantage accrued from the first leg never really looked in any danger, even though Saracens were down to 14 men for a quarter of the match due to the sin-binnings of Craig Quinnell and Tim Horan.

In a tight first half, Saracens penned Colomiers in their own half for long periods but failed to cross the try line. Their reward for all their hard work was 9 points, courtesy of three Thomas Castaignede Penalties.

Colomiers drew level through three goals from David Skrela and the score going into half time was 9-9. Both sides' defences were ferocious and it was difficult for either side to breach the opposition's rearguard.

Quinnell's sin-binning came just five minutes into the second period. Sustained Colomiers pressure inside the Sarries half meant that the Welshman could only stop the hosts' progress by illegal methods and was rightfully dispatched to the touchline.

The remaining seven forwards rallied round and helped win the possesion that led to the first try.

Bracken instigated a sublime threequarter move with his pass to Castaignede. The ball went from the outside half to centre Horan who fired a flat pass which was ran onto by fullback Adey Winnan at breakneck speed.

The Cornishman was through into open field and sprinting towards the Colomiers line. Darragh O'Mahony was up in support and took the scoring pass as Winnan took the tackle. Still with some work to do, the Irish wing got to the line and touched down despite the attention of four Colomiers defenders. Sarries had acheived a rare feat - a short-handed try.

Although Castaignede missed the conversion, he was on target straight after the re-start. Sarries rumbled into kicking range and the Frenchman put his side 17-9 up with a smartly-taken drop goal.

Tim Horan was the next Saracen to take a ten minute breather after he illegally brough to a halt a dangerous Colomiers attack just a couple of metres from the line. Skrela added three points from the resulting penalty, but Sarries - though once again down to 14 - were relieved that it was three points and not seven added to the home side's total.

The one man disadvantage didn't trouble Sarries. Castaignede added two more penalties to make it 23-12 and with Colomiers needing 22 points to win the tie with time running out, the hosts had a mountain to climb.

The arrears were reduced to four points a couple of minutes before the end of regulation time, when Colomiers prop Laurent rumbled over from a few metres out. Skrela added the extras.

Saracens were not quite finished, however. In injury time, Tim Horan booted a long punt up the left touchline and the chase was on. With O'Mahony and Horan bearing down on him, Colomiers fullback Sadourny gathered the ball and looked up to see a wall of white shirts in front of him and no blue support whatsoever.

The ball was turned over and replacement flanker James Parkes was given a free run to the line and he duly put the ball down just to the left of the posts. Adey Winnan, taking over from the now departed Castaignede, slotted the two points and Saracens were through comfortably to seal a date with Newcastle Falcons in January.

The draw to determine who will have home advantage in the first leg of the quarter final will be made on Tuesday.