Double delight for Saracens

Chris Ashton and Chris Wyles both grabbed doubles as Saracens secured a bonus-point win over Harlequins in front of a world-record crowd at Wembley Stadium.

The match attracted 84,068 fans at the home of English football for the clash of the two London Premiership rivals, a world record for a club rugby match.

Jack Clifford's try inside 30 seconds gave Quins the perfect start, but Wyles and Ashton both went over for Sarries before the interval as they opened up a 21-8 lead.

Ashton grabbed a second soon after the break, Wyles' late score secured the bonus point and Billy Vunipola grabbed a deserved fifth to move Sarries back above Exeter Chiefs and into second in the table.

Quins' last win over their London rivals came at Wembley three years ago, and they were given a 39-0 thumping at the Stoop at the start of this season.

But it was O'Shea's side who were handed the perfect start when Clifford charged down Neil de Kock's clearance, collected the loose ball and dived over in the right corner for a try inside half a minute.

Evans missed with the extras but both sides were enjoying plenty of possession in a fast-paced open start to proceedings.

David Strettle, against his former club, looked extremely sharp coming in off his wing and Sarries had their reply in the 10th minute.

Marcelo Bosch made the initial bust and when the ball was fed from Ashton to de Kock and finally to Wyles the American dived over under the posts for Sarries' first try.

Hodgson's conversion put them in front and it got worse for Quins moments later when Ugo Monye was isolated in scrambling to collect Strettle's clever kick and forced to concede a penalty for holding on.

Referee Wayne Barnes sent the wing to the sin bin for good measure and Hodgson – playing his 100th game for Sarries – slotted his first penalty of the game to stretch their lead to 10-5.

Evans got a penalty back almost immediately for Quins to make it a three-point game and while Hodgson was off target with a long-range effort of his own Sarries were now the dominant side.

And it was Ashton who cemented their ascendancy with a fine second try, chipping the ball ahead and beating Danny Care in a foot race to dive on the loose ball.

Hodgson's conversion was off target and after that Alex Goode took over the kicking duties and the fullback slotted two penalties before the interval to stretch the lead to 21-8.

Quins needed to score first after half-time to have any chance of mounting a comeback and after a fine Care break Evans slotted a penalty to make it 21-11.

But up the other end Sarries had a third and Ashton a second in the 50th minute, Wyles making a fine break after being put into a hole by Hodgson and then feeding the wing.

Goode's conversion from the right touchline was straight and true and at 28-11 the victory was effectively secured with half an hour still to play.

Quins fought hard up to the hour mark but despite plenty of possession and territory in the Sarries half they rarely looked like breaching the defensive wall and had to settle for an Evans penalty to make it 28-14.

The final quarter of an hour was about whether Sarries could secure a fourth try and a bonus point but their job was made a lot harder when Ashton saw yellow for a dangerous tackle on Matt Hopper.

But despite the numerical disadvantage there was still time for Wyles to secure the all-important fourth try, the centre diving onto Strettle's hack through to ground the ball over the line despite the attentions of Marland Yarde.

And No.8 Vunipola barged over at the back of a rolling maul to cap off a superb day for Sarries at Wembley that puts them in a great position to secure a semi-final spot.

The scorers:

For Saracens:

Tries: Wyles 2, Ashton 2, B Vunipola

Cons: Hodgson, Goode 3

Pens: Hodgson, Goode 2

For Harlequins:

Try: Clifford

Pens: Evans 3

Yellow cards: Ugo Monye (Harlequins, 14), Chris Ashton (Saracens, 71)

Teams:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Chris Wyles, 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jacques Burger, 6 Jackson Wray, 5 Alistair Hargreaves (captain), 4 George Kruis, 3 James Johnston, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.

Replacements: 16 Scott Spurling, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Biyi Alo, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Kelly Brown, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Nick Tompkins, 23 Catalin Fercu.

Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Harry Sloan, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Jack Clifford, 5 George Robson, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Joe Marler (captain).

Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Matt Shields, 19 Netani Talei, 20 Luke Wallace, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Ben Botica, 23 Charlie Walker.

Referee: Wayne Barnes

Assistant Referees: Paul Dix, Roger Bayliff

TMO: Geoff Warren