Pienaar finds something to smile about

They all came at Goldington Road where the Saracens director of rugby saw his team beat Bedford 54-24 in the Tetley's Bitter Cup.

To start with, star signing Tim Horan successfully came through his long-awaited debut, Pienaar's decision to rest internationals was vindicated by the result and, crucially, he had been able to blood youngsters who could be the key to sustaining the club's Premiership challenge.

Saracens entertain Worcester in the next round but Pienaar's focus is already on the resumption of their Premier-ship campaign at Gloucester on Saturday week and how the League leaders will cope without key players.

He said: 'In the second row Stuart Hooper made his debut in the second half, nicked three lineout balls and made tackles all over the park. And while Ben Hampson only lasted two minutes at scrum half before he was sin-binned, he too was making his first appearance.

'It was tremendous for those guys to come on because we're now going into tough matches without our internationals.'