Former Australia coach Eddie Jones had a tough debut at the helm of Saracens who lost their opening English Premiership fixture of the 2008/09 season 24-21 at home to Harlequins on Saturday.

Defending champions Wasps also started their campaign with a defeat, losing 26-14 to London Irish at Twickenham, though Ian McGeechan's team are known to be slow starters.

The champions' frailties at the lineout were exposed by Chris Hala'ufia and Richard Thorpe who crossed for Irish after capitalising on errors at the set-piece.

Harlequins' David Strettle took just 53 seconds to remind England boss Martin Johnson of his try-scoring prowess.

Strettle was dropped from the senior England squad after a difficult summer tour to New Zealand, but he took less than a minute to make his mark on the new season.

Debutant fly-half Nick Evans kicked 11 points and Strettle's fellow winger Ugo Monye sauntered over for a second-half try as Quins held off a determined effort from Saracens.

Adam Powell and Neil de Kock ensured Saracens remained in touch but their refusal to attempt a late drop goal eventually cost Jones' men in a tight Twickenham clash.

Strettle was warned as to his future conduct by the Rugby Football Union after being the subject of a kiss-and-tell story in a red-top Sunday newspaper during England's ill-fated tour to New Zealand.

McGeechan felt poor refereeing cost Wasps a bonus point as they began life without Lawrence Dallaglio.

Wasps were dispatched 26-14 with final-quarter tries from Tom Rees and Eoin Reddan sparing their blushes on the scoreboard after Irish had amassed an unassailable lead.

But director of rugby McGeechan was dismayed by the decision not to award a late penalty try for Peter Hewat's tug on Joe Worsley which denied Wasps any tangible reward for their revival.

"In the end we could have scored three tries. The touch judge had put his flag down," he said. "When your attacker is pulled back by the last defender, it's a pretty strong argument for a penalty try.

"I don't know who made the decision, whether it was the touch judge or referee, but the advice was wrong. We came back well, scoring two good tries and if we had got one there we would have had the bonus point.

"Irish were hanging on at the end but when you have built up that sort of lead it doesn't really matter. A bonus point would have been fair reward for our endeavour in the second half."

AFP

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