Saracens have reached the Premiership final for the third season in a row courtesy of a 44-17 victory over Leicester Tigers at Allianz Park this afternoon.
The newly-crowned European champions blitzed their visitors with 31 unanswered points in the first half before holding off a Tigers fightback in the second to put them one game away from a historic double.
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Leicester actually made the brighter start to the match and crossed over inside the first minute through Manu Tuilagi, but the score went to the television match official and was ruled out for a knock-on in the build-up.
From that point on it was all Saracens in the first half, though, with Will Fraser giving his side the lead after five minutes to spark a memorable display in the opening 40.
Chris Wyles was next on the board for the home side as they hit Leicester with a quick counter, and a third try swiftly followed as Billy Vunipola and Richard Wigglesworth combined to send Chris Ashton over for the score.
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Saracens finished top of the pile in the regular season and were well on course to add a second consecutive domestic crown to last weekend's maiden European success, with Owen Farrell nudging his side further ahead with a penalty just past the half-hour mark.
Sarries went over for a fourth try in the last minute of the half too as Wyles intercepted a pass and raced in to double his own personal tally, giving the home side a 31-point lead at the interval.
It was the biggest half-time margin any club had enjoyed in the Premiership all season, but Leicester did begin to fight back in the second half, with Telusa Veainu finally getting the 10-time champions on the board with an early try.
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Owen Williams cut the deficit further with a penalty shortly afterwards, but then missed another kick that would have seen the Tigers pull 13 points back inside the opening 10 minutes of the half.
Saracens were struggling to keep the visitors out, though, and after Fraser had been sent to the sin-bin Dom Barrow finished off a driving maul to raise Leicester's hopes of a remarkable comeback.
The home side did begin to get themselves back into the match as the half wore on, though, and after Farrell had missed one penalty and then been withdrawn, his replacement Charlie Hodgson knocked a kick between the posts in his last ever home game for the club.
That more or less killed the Tigers' challenge off, and another Hodgson penalty was soon followed by a fifth try of the afternoon for Sarries as Ashton went over again after chasing a loose ball with just under 10 minutes remaining.
That proved to be the last score of the game as Saracens booked yet another trip to Twickenham, where they will face either Exeter Chiefs or Wasps on Saturday, May 28.
Barney Corkhill
