Saracens finally settled the argument as to the identity of England’s top women’s club side with an emphatic victory in the Tyrrells Premier 15s final over the only team to have beaten them during the regular season.

Harlequins looked crestfallen at the end of a repeat of last year’s final, the climax of the domestic season. They had fancied their chances given that Saracens were without three of their England forwards, but one of the Red Roses pack who did take the field, the No 8 Poppy Cleall, had an outstanding game in their back row. Cleall and Zoe Harrison, the latter of whom controlled the game at fly-half, both scored two tries.

The Saracens forwards ruthlessly dismantled their opponents and on a chilly night in Northampton the game was to all intents over by the break, by which time they had run up a 27-point lead. Harlequins scored two consolation tries after the break but could not recover from their cold start.

Saracens made an early statement of intent when Cleall was driven over from a lineout with barely four minutes on the clock. The evening began to look ominous for Quins when another England forward, Hannah Botterman, supplied a scoring pass for the right-wing Sydney Gregson to go over in the corner.

Harrison scored a third try after a clever dummy and good work by the Saracens pack. A quarter of the match had gone and the champions already looked out of sight.

It was fortunate for Harlequins that Harrison continued to miss conversions but there was little respite for Rachael Burford’s side, with Cleall scoring her second try after another powerful drive by the pack. Saracens were down to 14 players when their flanker Jodie Rettie was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball and Quins briefly rallied but the one-way traffic soon resumed. Heather Cowell made a try-saving tackle on the Saracens captain, Lotte Clapp, in the corner but in the last move of the first half Harrison darted over for her second try, which she at last converted.

Harlequins replaced their fly-half Ellie Green at the break. The 18-year-old Green was the leading points-scorer in the league this season but the game had passed her by and Emily Scott took over as playmaker. Scott kicked a 30-metre penalty to break the Quins duck, but the points gain was wiped out by a Harrison kick.

One part of the Quins game that was working was the scrum and their forwards worked the England prop Vickii Cornborough over for a try that Scott converted.

The TMO Claire Hodnett confirmed that the try had been scored and Hodnett was called into action again, ruling that Burford had grounded the ball after forcing her way through a pile of bodies on the line. But the Quins rally was too late. Harrison then had the last word with her second penalty.

It was the perfect way for the Saracens scrum-half Georgie Gulliver to end her career. An emotional Gulliver left the pitch holding back the tears when she was replaced on the hour.

However it was Harlequins who choked on the day. “We just didn’t turn up in the first half and Saracens were relentless,” said their captain, Burford.