Christian Judge admits he almost did not know what to do when he powered through for his first Saracens try, as they beat Cardiff Blues 51-25 in the Heineken Champions Cup.

The prop, on loan to the Premiership champions from Cornish Pirates, came off the bench and crashed on to a pop pass from Nick Tompkins to score in the closing stages.

Saracens, the 2016 and 2017 champions, now have three wins from three in the European tournament, topping Pool 3 with 14 points – the joint-most of any club in the competition.

“I got the ball, saw a bit of space, didn’t really know what to do but just put my foot down and managed to score so lucky day for me I guess”, Judge told the Saracens official website.

“We’re hugely pleased. After half-time we felt like we had more to give and we came out with real intent in the second half.

“We always know within ourselves we can push ourselves to the next level in this competition and in the league as well. We’re always trying to step up.

“The message at half-time was that we could take it up a level and we had more to give; I think we did that pretty well.”

Richard Wigglesworth’s try and two Owen Farrell penalties were all Saracens had to show from the first half.

But the introduction of Ben Earl turned the game as he scored twice in quick succession, before Sean Maitland (2), Judge and Ben Spencer ensured Saracens moved back above Glasgow Warriors – who beat Lyon on Friday night to temporarily top the group.

Blaine Scully, Matt Morgan and Olly Robinson all crossed the whitewash at Allianz Park for the PRO14 club, who had the best of the game in the first half.

Saracens will face Cardiff again on Saturday in the Welsh capital as the Londoners look to cement their place as front runners in the pool.