Saracens have had to wait a long time for this. A combination of circumstances has kept them away from their Vicarage Road home in the Guinness Premiership since mid-April and they lost their opening two games of this season by a handful of points, so five tries and a magisterial performance by Glen Jackson on a sunny afternoon were no more than they deserved.

They may also have done considerable damage to the fragile psyche of Newcastle Falcons, who did not create a scoring opportunity until there were five minutes left and Saracens were 44 points clear yesterday. Steve Bates, the Falcons director of rugby, may not share the pessimism that surrounds his club, but Friday evening's clash with Bristol has the look of a relegation battle.

Saracens played with far more conviction than we have seen in a Premiership fraught with anxiety because of the experimental law variations. Dean Richards refereed with authority and Saracens adopted a plan that allowed Jackson to play a territorial game (think Ronan O'Gara and Munster) yet left scope for counter-attack, which earned three tries from their own 22.

No other game at the weekend was won by more than four points. “We want to be a side that can play at the highest level; to do that you have to be robust at the set-pieces and in defence,” Eddie Jones, the Saracens director of rugby, said. “No one is prepared to go the whole hog, there's a great deal of tentativeness, but we played with a lot of conviction today.”

Steve Borthwick, his captain, reflected that principle, stealing the first Newcastle lineout and mounting an old-fashioned assault in that area throughout. Where he led, others followed, Adam Powell in midfield advancing his growing reputation and Michael Owen's subtle ball skills enhancing Saracens' zest for attack.

The first half included no tries, but it was an integral part of the process that wore down Newcastle and that led, midway through the second half, to the departure of Phil Dowson and Ed Williamson to the sin-bin, both men guilty of slowing the ball down with their line under threat. That the greatest applause of the first half was for a besuited Richard Hill walking in front of a crowded stand suggests that the patrons were not entirely gripped by the four penalty goals and the dropped goal kicked by Jackson before the interval.

Jonny Wilkinson's best work was done in defence and the fly half did well to bring down Kameli Ratuvou just short, but the Fiji wing would not be denied. When Chris Jack offered a delightful grub-kick through, Tom May dwelt too long over his kick and Ratuvou charged him down to score. He was there again to collect the softest of diagonal kicks from Jackson and send Kevin Sorrell in from halfway.

Powell, then Jack, were held short, but Newcastle's desperation was clear when Dowson and Williamson were given yellow cards, Hugh Vyvyan working his way over as Williamson trudged off. Neil de Kock made the most of the thin defence to sprint 70 metres before delivering to Rodd Penney for the fourth try.

When Jackson's replacement, Gordon Ross, dummied and sidestepped his way to the line, Saracens were looking at a half-century so they were disappointed that, in the last five minutes, Newcastle scored two tries. May set up the first for Wilkinson and scored the second himself. The nine points the England fly half registered here left Wilkinson five short of the Premiership career-record haul of 1,484, but that is the least of his concerns this week.