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Max Malins was hailed as a "young Beauden Barrett" as the Saracens fullback scored two scintillating tries in a record victory against Bristol Bears to bring Mark McCall's side to within 13 points of wiping out their 35-point sanction for breaching the salary cap.
Malins, 22, was making just his second start since recovering from a broken foot he sustained in September and his performance lit up the afternoon with the kind of performance that will not have gone unnoticed by England head coach Eddie Jones.
There was a majestic display too from Saracens' openside flanker Ben Earl, whose second half try, his fifth in the league, clinched their first bonus point since they were hit with their salary cap sanction last month.
England are hardly short of options at openside flanker these days, Earl, 21, is another of Saracens' academy recruits to be taking significant steps forward in their development this season.
Nick Tompkins, another of the club's exciting young English talent, also caught the eye, crossing for two tries.
This was Saracens' most compelling performance of the season, their third successive league victory since the points deduction left them rooted to the bottom of the table, scoring seven tries and 33 unanswered points in the second half against a Bristol side who had started the day in second place.
It was some dancing feet by Malins that broke what had been stout Bristol resistance with a try in first-half stoppage time to put Saracens in front for the first time in the match.
And he showed a finisher's instinct crossing for his second, Saracens' fifth, when grabbing the loose ball that had rebounded off a Bristol player after a fine break by Sean Maitland.
"He is an interesting player – he started life as a fly-half and came through school and England grade ages there and was his preferred position," said McCall.
"But he reminds me a little bit of a young Beauden Barrett who wants to play fly-half but played 15 in the early years for the Hurricanes and All Blacks.
"Max has got an acceleration that not too many have and the ability to make things happen really fast – like the try he scored. He can play 10 and 15 at a high level.
"That relationship that he has with Owen Farrell on the field is really encouraging too. He makes good decisions in the back field and is a runner rather than a kicker."
Saracens star Max Malins. Photo / Getty
And Earl? "I think he gives you something different because of his carrying, his explosiveness and power," added McCall. "He is a special ball carrier and his timing and ability to contribute in attack is good.
"You forget how young he is, he has just turned 21 and you get better being surrounded by good players."
The victory means Saracens now trail Leicester Tigers' by 17 points, and on this form they should be off the bottom of the table before the end of February.
It was a tough afternoon for Bristol, who for 35 minutes had appeared to be on course to properly test Saracens' ability to dig themselves out of their current predicament by deservedly taking a 13-7 lead.
If their first try by Luke Morahan from a cross-field kick by Callum Sheedy came against the run of play, they responded impressively when Saracens levelled the scores with a try by Mako Vunipola, with Sheedy adding two penalties.
Bristol looked to have repelled a sustained period of pressure just before halftime when they won a turnover penalty on their line but then conceded a penalty from their own line-out – the first of four penalties as Saracens' maul exerted severe pressure and Malins put them in front, jinking inside three defenders.
Max Malins of Saracens tries to evade the tackles of Steven Luatua and some other Bristol blokes. Photo / Getty
Two more tries within the first eight minutes of the restart, by Tompkins and Earl, took the game completely away from Bristol and with Maro Itoje delivering the standout performance of their established England players, the second half was a completely one-sided affair, with Brad Barritt also crossing for a try.
"Our 10 minutes after halftime were the worst 10 minutes we have played all year," said Pat Lam, the Bristol director of rugby. "You cannot give them anything, you have to go toe-to-toe with them because once they get two scores ahead, their machine gets going and they are very difficult to stop and unfortunately we conceded soft scores after halftime.
"They play with a test match intensity. They are a team that has been in finals, they have played in Champions Cup finals and Premiership finals and a lot of them have played test matches for England. We knew the build up this would be 100 per cent up for this game because this game was probably more important than any final they will play. So we knew what was coming."
