A record Guinness Premiership victory for Saracens has put them in a better frame of mind for their Heineken Cup quarter-final against the Ospreys on Sunday, although an injury-ravaged Leeds Carnegie side could hardly have been easier meat.

It was Leeds' biggest league defeat, in terms of points conceded and margin, superseding their 64-14 reverse against London Wasps in 2001 and, given the absence of a clutch of key forwards, they will be hard pressed to regroup this week for a difficult European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Bath.

After Worcester Warriors' win over Gloucester 24 hours earlier, indeed, it was a beating, too, which almost certainly signals the end of their hopes of clawing their way out of the relegation place at the foot of the table.

With five full internationals on their bench, it was clear from before the first whistle that Saracens were likely to have far too much quality for denuded Leeds - despite the home team having won only one of their previous six matches and the Yorkshire side coming into the game on the back of victory over Newcastle Falcons and a brave draw away to Worcester the week before.

Yet few neutrals would have expected Saracens to produce such a flowing brand of rugby at Vicarage Road, even if by the second half a disillusioned Leeds team looked like they might have struggled against the Saracens Sensations cheerleaders, let alone Glen Jackson and his cohorts.

Jackson was in sparkling form at fly half, scoring the ninth of Saracens' ten tries - the most they have scored in two decades of league rugby. Francisco Leonelli, the Argentina wing, marked his first tries for the club by completing a first-half hat-trick in 16 minutes, with the second finishing a particularly eye-catching move that began with the effervescent Matt Cairns slashing through midfield for Paul Gustard to give Brent Russell the space to draw the final Leeds defender with a beautiful, long pass.

Clever kicks ahead by Kameli Ratuvou, the big Fijian on Saracens' other wing, created second-half tries for Hugh Vyvyan and Russell, and the powerful Ratuvou was rewarded for a fine game with a try just after the hour.

Nick Lloyd, the impressive Adam Powell and Tom Ryder, who came on after only 21 minutes when Kris Chesney suffered an asthma attack in the spring sunshine, also crossed for rampant Saracens, while Stuart Hooper at least gave his outclassed team-mates some consolation late on when he collected Mike MacDonald's short pass and galloped to the posts.

“I regard this as a huge win for us because of the confidence the players will gain from such a performance,” Alan Gaffney, the Saracens director of rugby, said. “After getting to 33-0 at half-time, it could have become a bit of a free-for-all, but we talked about the need to keep it tight and controlled, and we carried that through the entire game. We showed again that we can play good rugby and, although we opened up space out wide, we had to do the hard yards up front first. Mathematically, it is difficult to see us getting into the top four play-off places in the Premiership, but we just have to keep winning and see what happens.

“But more important in the near future is what this display can do for us going into the Ospreys match. It has certainly made selection in quite a few areas far more difficult.”

Stuart Lancaster, the Leeds director of rugby, said: “Today was very disappointing indeed following all the effort we have put in during the past fortnight, but as a team and a squad we have to put this quickly behind us and move on into our preparation for the challenge of playing Bath in the European Challenge Cup.

“Injuries took their toll today and we looked a tired side. We are devastated at losing like this, but there is nothing wrong with the spirit or the effort.”

Scorers: Saracens: Tries: Lloyd (5min), Leonelli 3 (19, 31, 35), Powell (22), Vyvyan (45), Ryder (52), Ratuvou (64), Jackson (69), Russell (80+1). Conversions: Jackson 8. Leeds Carnegie: Try: Hooper (77). Conversion: Brooks.

Scoring sequence (Saracens first): 7-0, 14-0, 21-0, 26-0, 33-0 (half-time), 38-0, 45-0, 52-0, 59-0, 59-7, 66-7.

Saracens: B Russell; F Leonelli (rep: D Scarbrough, 70), K Sorrell, A Powell (rep: A Farrell, 63), K Ratuvou; G Jackson, N de Kock (rep: M Rauluni, 57); N Lloyd, M Cairns (rep: F Ongaro, 63), C Johnston (rep: C Visagie, 36), H Vyvyan, K Chesney (rep: T Ryder, 21), P Gustard, D Barrell (rep: D Seymour, 70), B Skirving.

Leeds Carnegie: L Hinton (rep: J Goodridge, 53); A Satala (rep: L Burrell, 41), R Vickerman, J Holtby, T Biggs; J Brooks, J Bedford (rep: D Edwards, 53); M MacDonald, R Rawlinson (rep: J Parkes, 46), A Hopcroft, S Hooper, E Lund (rep: P Bouza, 52), K Myall, H Fourie (rep: M Lock, 46), R Oakley.

Referee: R Debney.

Attendance: 5,986.