Here are our five takeaways from the StoneX following a 50-17 win for Saracens over Bristol Bears in their Saturday evening PREM fixture.
The top line
After Pat Lam spent the week talking down his injury-hit Bristol, his Bears were totally dominated in the collisions by Saracens who had the four-try bonus point bagged by the 38th minute of a disappointing one-sided match.
Saracens needed only 133 seconds to take the lead, Theo Dan crashing over from a lineout move. They were celebrating again in the sixth minute, Nick Isiekwe starting and finishing a sweeping, multi-player move that began in their own half with a lineout catch.
Owen Farrell, who converted both tries, added a 17th-minute penalty for a 17-point lead and he was on the tee four minutes later when Max Malins one-twoed with both man of the match Tom Willis and Ivan van Zyl to shred the Bears defence.
With referee Christophe Ridley soon injured and replaced by assistant Dan Jones, the tempo slowed for the next while, but a 38th-minute Bill Mata yellow card – immediately followed by Nick Tompkins’ grabbing the four try bonus point – rounded off the first half with Saracens 31-0 up and cruising.
Bristol scored a worldie of a try just two minutes into the second half, Louis Rees-Zammit breaking from his 22 and finding blindside Joe Owen in support to fire off a sublime offload to allow Kieran Marmion to finish.
That was only a fleeting riposte as scrum ball around halfway was the prompt for another flowing Saracens move, this one culminating with Jack Bracken going over on his first Premiership start. The youngster soon bagged his second before Marmion replied with his second to leave it at 43-12 with 18-minute remaining.
Marmion added his third before Hugh Tizard registered Saracens’ seventh try. The match then ended with further frustration for Bristol, Harry Thacker spilling the ball near the line to deny them a four-try bonus point.
Pure poetry 💫 pic.twitter.com/0V6UDanFuB
— PREM Rugby (@premrugby) October 4, 2025
Collision-shy Bears culled
Bristol have our sympathies. It was horrible how key backs trio of AJ MacGinty (achilles), Harry Randell (hamstring) and Gabriel Ibitoye (hamstring) all had to have surgery on PREM Round One injuries sustained in last Sunday’s, but the damage was brutally added to in Round Two.
Bad enough losing newcomer Tom Jordan at half-time after damage to his ribs and Joe Jenkins before that with an overstretched hamstring, but it was agonising seeing another new signing Rees-Zammit helped off down the tunnel with a toe injury with 14 minutes of this hammering remaining.
“We’ll see how they are… and find out if they are up for next week or not,” said Lam in the aftermath about Jordan and Rees-Zammit. That sounded hopeful, as the potential loss of more players for a chunky period of time would essentially be one disaster after another and further expose the lack of depth the deeper you go into their squad.
Rees-Zammit, for instance, had been gutsy before his exit, creating two second-half tries with trademark bursts of speed following an opening half where his every step was shut down. Bristol’s problem in London, though, wasn’t injuries; it was the all-round lack of appetite for the collisions.
Fans would have salivated with how Mata felled Charlie West in the closing minutes of the match, but the No.8 and everyone else were marked absent in a result-defining first half that finished 31-0 to Saracens. Mata even saw yellow for one misguided attempted tackle.
Their collective lack of defiance, when there was a live contest to battle in, was a terrible look. They will point out how they came within a whisker of a four-try bonus point at the very end, but garbage time rugby isn’t a sound foundation for a genuine title charge.
Back home. pic.twitter.com/W6Xe8RFu0O
— PREM Rugby (@premrugby) October 4, 2025
Farrell’s home comfort
Willis walked off with a deserved player of the match award, but our focus was firmly on how the returning Farrell coped in his first StoneX match since May 2024. Back at home after an unfulfilled year at Racing, he looked the part in the No.12 shirt he retained from last week’s win at Newcastle.
Kingston Park was the first time in nearly a decade that he had worn the No.12 shirt for Saracens, but it fitted snuggly and did so again on Saturday evening. Whereas the Sarries he left were an aging team that had run out of road, the group he has rejoined is full of youth and rejuvenated, experienced players.
Playing outside Fergus Burke, he helped the backline purr when the match was there to be won in the first half. His defence was also good, as was his kicking off the tee. Seven out of eight kicks were nailed for 15 points, his only miss coming when he was wide after getting timed out on the shot clock.
For a 34-year-old who has seen it all before, he certainly was no slouch in putting himself about and the speculation will now ratchet up surrounding whether he can force his way into the England equation for the November window, especially with his encouraging form as a 12 offering versatility.
Asked post-game about his Test recall prospects, he said: “It’s two games. I just want to enjoy my rugby as much as I can. I’ll do that here and see where that takes us.
“I don’t know (about staying at 12 at Saracens). There is people injured, there is people coming back. We have got a few 10s here as well. I am just happy to play my part in the team. I am happy to fit wherever, I’m enjoying it.”
As for the old dog learning new tricks, he added: “It’s been exciting because these lads who have come through, they are ready to have a go… There is a group of them here at the minute. People still have lots to learn, but they are causing problems in training.
“It’s been really fresh, but it had been nice to come see it through a fresh pair of eyes, being away for a year, and try and help as much as I can and give as much as I can to that. It has been brilliant so far.” It sure has.
Bracken steps up
It’s only 14 months since England won the World Rugby Junior Championship with a victory over France in Cape Town, but the rich seam of talent mined by Mark Mapletoft continues to flood through higher up the ranks.
Henry Pollock, of course, is the calling card from the Class of 24, but Jack Bracken, who scored a hat-trick against Argentina at that age-grade tournament, has now taken that class into the PREM.
His first league start for Saracens showcased the soon-to-be 20-year-old’s wheels, and his finishing for his two tries in four minutes after half-time was clinical. It was lovely to see, and that flourish was added to by the sub appearance of his brother Charlie.
The scrum-half, who featured at the age-grade World Cup in 2023, also has genuine gas. Check out his try-saving tackle on Marmion, who thought he was set to score with the line approaching. With production line talent like this, the future is bright in North London.
Referee’s early exit
The first half at the StoneX was certainly busy on the touchline with multiple changes. Saracens had the first two inside 13 minutes, with Willis off for a HIA that he was to pass, and Dan defeated by a back spasm, before the hamstrung Jenkins followed shortly after.
Little could the rampaging Willis have predicted on his return, though, that he would be involved in the collision that soon ended the participation of referee Ridley.
Saracens were already 24-0 ahead when Willis went hunting for me, carrying in the opposition 22. His run invited a tackle from James Dun, and the consequence of them falling to the floor was to catch out the leaden-footed Ridley, who was upended after running into them.
There was no hanging about with treatment and all the rest. Wiped out, Ridley called it quits and it resulted in Dan Jones giving up the flag in the touchline and taking charge of the whistle.
His first decision was to award Bristol a scrum penalty, but this change in referee wasn’t the cue for a Bears fightback.
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