But their opponents were rarely able to threaten the Saxons’ goal line and were constantly knocked back in contact in both attack and defence. The pressure told, and with their scrum also under pressure Preston started to cough up penalties or to kick the ball away, feeding time & space to the counterattacking Saxons threequarters who scored 4 classy second half tries interspersed with a brace for lock forward Nile Dacres.

The Saxons starting lineup showed several changes from the Caldy game, veteran loosehead Adam Sturdy and hooker Scott Wright making their first starts of the season while Nigel Mukarati reclaimed his back row spot. With Gary Dipple unavailable and Nathan Bressington resting the 10 jersey went to Sione Tu’ipolotu, Stefan Cooksammy also got his first start of the season on the right wing. Sam Baker took Sione’s slot on an otherwise unchanged bench.

The Saxons kicked off defending the north end of a well grassed, dry pitch with little wind and broken cloud that caused them some early missed catches as Preston intelligently fired high kicks that found the sun in the eyes of the hosts’ kick receivers.

The Saxons struck almost immediately by counterattacking from a Preston kick ahead. A half break was set up by Stefan Shillingford’s pass out of the tackle, quick ruck ball was worked to James Rodley who intelligently drew the last line defender and put Shillingford clean through. With options both left and right he in turn drew the cover defender to put Hearn in to score, though his conversion attempt rebounded off the post. 2min 5-0.

Preston’s clearance kick pushed the Saxons back to their own midfield where Scott Wright’s lineout throw was picked off and captain Robbie Hurrell was penalised at the tackle in the drive that followed. Preston outside half Lewis Allen slotted the penalty kick, 9min 5-3. The Saxons twice drove into the Preston 22 in the next 10min, but on both occasions were halted by referee Gareth Holsgrove who penalised the ball carrier for holding on in the tackle. A further defensive indiscretion at the tackle then allowed Allen to kick Preston to a narrow lead, 20min 5-6.

The next ten minutes were barren, but the Saxons forwards continued to impose themselves in the tight and forced a penalty from Preston’s under pressure front row. The 3 point option was spurned, it was kicked to the corner where a Hurrell catch set up a driving maul that Mukarati shepherded from the base before crashing over to score a try that and Hearn converted. 35min 12-6. Preston fluffed the restart and were penalised again at the scrummage but the Saxons’ attack stalled when they were again penalised for holding on in the tackle, enabling Preston to clear their lines just before the halftime whistle sounded.

As the coaching staff doubtless pointed out, the majority of the pressure the Saxons had been under first half had been self-inflicted, good work in the tight and contact areas undone by poor tackle area discipline and penalties conceded. Credit to the players who responded positively, not a single penalty was conceded in the 3rd quarter.

The Saxons were quickly back into action, a wave of attacks culminating in Hurrell spilling a pass with the line at his mercy but advantage was being played for an offside and they kicked to the corner again, the ball worked to Ben Barkley who was just held out but set up quick ball for Nile Dacres to crash through the fringe defences. Under pressure for time, Hearn’s conversion kick was uncharacteristically wayward, 45min 17-6.

The Saxons had hit top gear and Barkley was straight back into the fray winning a turnover in the tackle that was worked to Hearn who made big yardage down the left side. The ball was recycled back to Tu’ipolotu who spotted the defence rushing up and placed a neat chip kick that bounced nicely for Cooksammy who raced away to score the bonus point try in the corner. 49min 22-6.

A Preston break forced a tackle penalty that was kicked to the corner before being moved left, but some effective Saxons counter-rucking forced a turnover that was hoofed downfield by Shillingford. Preston tried to counter with a chip over the advancing defenders but Pete White had covered that option and countered, the ball worked left to Farrington who had more than enough pace to outstrip the tiring cover. Hearn’s conversion found the woodwork again as the Saxons’ replacement bench was emptied, 64min 27-6.

Further good counter-rucking work by replacement Chris Depper forced another turnover which saw Dacres gain a lot of ground and hauled down just short of the line. Preston appeared to have secured a turnover in the ensuing ruck but the alert Dacres pounced on some indecision as the ball was worked back into ingoal, managing to ground the ball first to bag his second try. 67min 32-6.

Baker was caught just short of the left corner following good ball in hand work by Uzoigwe and Mark George, but his attempted offload went loose and was grabbed by a defender. He made amends though by wrestling it clear from the ensuing maul before a long Lucas Roy-Smith cut-out pass was worked to Farrington whose switch move put Cooksammy in for his 2nd try. 75min 37-6.

With Preston unable to generate any momentum in attack they again kicked downfield where Baker fielded the ball and worked it right. Farrington reached the Saxons’ 10m line where he offloaded to Ben Barkley who arrived at pace and broke clean through a tiring defence. To the loudest cheers of the day he ran 60m to score under the posts, Baker added the extras and the final whistle sounded, 44-6.

Coach Mike Umaga commented : ‘That was a good hard-fought win, our forwards did a lot of hard graft in the 1st half that paid dividends by way of six 2nd half tries. We knew it’d be a tough start, I was pleased the way we weathered that without panicking. My man of the match was Eji Uzoigwe who worked hard throughout and was particularly dynamic in attack’.