England wing Chris Ashton was at his brilliant best according to Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall after his second-half try marched them into the Heineken Cup semi-finals.
The 26-year-old, who scored just the one try as England finished as runners-up in this year’s RBS 6 Nations, touched down just after the hour in the 27-16 quarter-final defeat of Ulster.
And it was a trademark Ashton try as well as Alex Goode broke from his own half before Brad Barritt fed the England wing who burst through a tight angle and sprinted to score.
He finished with a swallow dive to make it 27-9 to Saracens with Will Fraser scoring in the first half and Farrell converting that try as well as slotting five penalties.
Ulster only had three Ruan Pienaar penalties to offer up to that point but added a late converted try from Iain Henderson with McCall hailing Ashton’s performance.
“Chris has had a lot of stick but he’s been great for us in the past three weeks and he not only took his try brilliantly, but also defended superbly,” said McCall.
“In truth, our defensive display in general was unbelievable against the best team we’ve played this season.”
