• Pool 1: Saracens 20-14 Toulouse

• Rotimi Segun also scores twice for Prem side

Even for the world’s best rugby player it is not all glamour. As he sniffed the damp air on a blustery, cheerless Sunday night in north London, Antoine Dupont must privately have been wondering if this was some sort of fiendish Anglo-Saxon conspiracy. Any similarity with the classic cathedrals and comforting familiarity of the Stade de France in next month’s Six Nations was conspicuously lacking.

For a defiant Saracens, though, this chilly, sodden evening delivered the most beautiful of outcomes and a result that transforms the mood of their previous flagging season. They fully deserved this rousing victory, two first-half tries from Rotimi Segun and a barnstorming display from man-of-the-match Tom Willis laying the foundations for the hosts’ best performance of the season which has sharply improved their Champions Cup knockout qualification prospects.