Harry Ellis gave Martin Johnson a timely reminder of his quality with an impressive two-try display to help England Saxons ruthlessly sweep aside Portugal at Edgeley Park. The Leicester scrum-half returned to action after serving a six-week suspension for a spear tackle on Dan Carter during a Heineken Cup defeat at Perpignan in November.
Keen to make up for lost time, and with the Six Nations starting next weekend, the industrious 26-year-old stated his case for a place in the first XV for England's opener against Italy at Twickenham on Saturday by scoring in the 21st minute and adding another shortly before half-time.
Stuart Lancaster's young side took 20 minutes to warm up on a bitterly cold night in Stockport but once Ellis had broken the deadlock they made their superior quality pay, running in five tries on each side of the break as the scum-half's club-mates Tom Varndell (two), Matt Smith and Jordan Crane got on the scoresheet along with Adam Powell (two), Noah Cato and Dominic Waldouck.
Ellis set the Saxons on their way when he emerged from a thicket of players to cross the line from close range. Five minutes later, Ed Barnes' teasing grubber kick was grounded by Powell and Varndell added a third shortly after when he caught Nick Abendanon's delightful crossfield kick to score in the right corner.
The hosts were aided by a yellow card for the hooker Joao Correia in the 36th minute and Ellis soon claimed his second try with a similar effort to his first following another driving maul. Abendanon unselfishly ushered Cato over the line in the left corner shortly before the break to hand the Saxons a commanding 33-0 advantage.
The Saxons initially struggled to impose themselves as vigorously in the second half but Waldouck found the space to waltz through a static Portuguese defence for a sixth try shortly before the hour mark. Smith then added a seventh before Ellis left the action to generous applause from a crowd of 3,801.
There was still time for Varndell to score England's eighth try with another well-taken run down the right flank before Crane and Powell also grounded to take the Saxons into double figures.
