Rugby Mad Blog

What a difference a fortnight makes!

Saracens’ fans didn’t dare hope they might see such a turn around in their team’s fortunes, but they were surprised and delighted with the guys’ performance against the Ospreys at Vicarage Road.

It was one of the best games I have ever witnessed Saracens play, in my 4+ years of watching them. Everyone from 1 to 22 put their all into the game.

[Slippery Winger Shane Williams is tackled by ferocious Sarries defence. By closing him down so often, Sarries severely restricted the Ospreys' scoring ability]

The Ospreys started brightly enough, with James Hook slotting a penalty in the 2nd minute. Sarries’ Glen Jackson replied with two of his own in the 10th and 15th minutes. By the half hour, Sarries had lost both Brent Russell (hamstring) and Andy Farrell (shoulder) to injury. That could have proved to be unsettling for the team, but subs Francicso Leonelli and Adam Powell slotted in with barely a stutter.

Just before half time, Paul Gustard made a break but was brought up within inches short of the line, the TMO having to decide, much to the disappointment of the home fans.

[Fly Half James Hook was far from his usual best. Another factor in the Ospreys losing the plot]

Leonelli scored a crucial try in the 2nd mintue of the new half, with Glen Jackson having no trouble with the wide out conversion. In the 57th minute, Sarries were all but home again when Osprey Lee Byrne knocked on deliberately in a desparate attempt at defence. The ref had no hesitation in sending him to the bin for 10 minutes for cynical play, and Jackson slotted the extras to take Sarries to a 16-3 lead.

[Scrum Half Justin Marshall clears from a ruck, but wasn't able to marshall his troops as well as his name suggests - or with quite the aplomb of injured Mike Phillips]

After a raft of subsitutions for both sides, Osprey replacement Paul James managed to burrow over from close range for a score in the 74th minute. That meant a nailbiling last 6 minutes for Sarries, with only a 6 point advantage.

[Nick Lloyd goes for a trot. To a man, the Sarries boys were popping up all over the pitch in defence and attack, where you least expected them]

The Black defensive line held firm, and they even went on the attack again. Working themselves into the opposition 22, and up towards the 10m line with 2 minutes to go, Glen Jackson kept a calm head and true aim with the boot to drop a goal and put Sarries 9 points up. It was then a case of keeping possession, defending to the death and ticking the clock down.

[right - Hugh Vyvyan clutches the ball like a man possessed, watched by muddy Winger Richard Haughton]

With the crowd counting down the seconds, Sarries regained possession of the ball, hoofed it into the stands and propelled themselves into an historic Heineken Cup Semi Final against Munster at the Ricoh Arena on 27th April.

The sellout home crowd went nuts, such success all too rare in important games at Vicarage Road. Richard Hill, a master all afternoon of the dark arts of defence and disruption, was Man of the Match. Let’s hope the team can take him to greater heights in the next coupld of rounds, and perhaps see him lift the Heineken Cup before he retires at the end of the season. That would indeed be a fitting end to the great man’s career. Allez Les Noirs!

See more photos from the game.

Having lost their last two matches, one home and one away to Bristol, the Sarries faithful were hoping for better things when Biarritz came calling for their Heineken Cup pool match. For the first half hour or so, there were a few heads in hands as the Men In Black seemed to be letting things slide once more. Two paltry penalties were all they had to show for their efforts, while Biarritz had managed a try from Romain Cabannes [left], a conversion and two penalties.

Somehow, during first half injury time, Sarries woke up when Hugh Vyvyan [right] managed to get over the line, and Jackson converted. All of a sudden, things didn’t look too bad, going in at half time all square 13-13.

The Gaffer must have had stern words in the dressing room during the break. Saracens came out looking like a different team, and basically blew the Basques off the park in the second half! The floodgates opened.

Chris Jack scored with a taunting tongue before he put the ball down! [left, you can see Hugh Vyvyan celebrating already]. Then Rodd Penney crossed the line and Jackson converted. A few minutes later, Sarries were awarded a penalty which the sure-footed Jackson booted over with no trouble.

The forwards were dominating the scrum and Fabio Ongaro had obviously been practicing hitting the barn door during training last week, since most of his lineout throws went where they should.

The pack were also making plenty of big hits, running with the ball and generally making a nuisance of themselves as far as Biarritz were concerned. Prop Nick Lloyd showed great skill making a wonderful diving catch to keep the ball in play close to the Biarritz line. And although Cencus Johnston wasn’t flying up the wing this week, he was making some phenomenal hits in midfield:

[Cencus moves in for the kill, and batters Jérôme Thion into spilling the ball]

In the 75th minute, Biarritz Bruiser Serge Betsen infringed again, and referee Nigel Owens sent him to the sin-bin for ten minutes. The Basques were down to 14 men, and after Sarries brought on a flurry of replacements with fresh legs, they made short work of putting more points on the board. Chris Jack scored his second of the day. Unfortunately, Glen Jackson was limping badly by then, so Captain Neil de Kock took the conversion – which he missed. But by then, the 4 tries and 5-points were in the bag.

Just when you thought it wasn’t going to get any better, Saracens pushed deep into Biarritz territory during injury time, and the French knocked on. The Sarries scrum pulped their opposition – which kept collapsing the rolling maul Saracens were getting going 5m from the line. After 3 or 4 resets, each with the same result, Ref Owens lost patience with the Biarritz pack and walked to the posts to award Saracens a penalty try. Fullback Brent Russell took the kick and it sailed over to give Sarries a 45-16 victory.

Other honourable mentions must go to Man of the Match Hugh Vyvan; as well as scoring a try, he was all over the place, running the ball and making tackles. Andy Farrell, unselected for England’s upcoming Six Nations campaign, made a big impact in midfield, as did ever-present Centre Kevin Sorrell [left].

He has started 16 out of 18 games for Saracens so far this season. Of those, he’s played the full 80 minutes in all but two fixtures. And he came off the bench after 25 minutes in another game early in the season. The poor bloke must be knackered! No wonder the Sarries faithful call him Super Kev. He spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin at Bristol last week – probably a chance to have a bit of a rest!

So Saracens go into their final pool match at Glasgow on Friday knowing they will go through to the Quarterfinals as long as they can stop the Warriors getting a 5-point win – which is eminently feasible given how close recent games have been.

You can see more of my photos from Saturday’s game here.

Add: here are some post-match reviews from the papers:

Chris Hewett in the Indy
Mick Cleary in the Telegraph
Mike Averis of the Gruaniad
Chris Foy in the Daily Mail
David Hands in the Times

I have to admit, I had little enthusiasm for the idea of rugby on a pouring wet day, and as I set out to drive the 100+ mile round trip in a deluge yesterday, I sincerely hoped it would be worth my trouble. I had decided against going on the train (an equally appalling prospect from Chelmsford to Watford), so had to queue for half an hour for a car park space with all the Christmas shoppers. Thankfully, I’d left loads of time for the trip.

The rain was still lashing down when the game started, and I feared we were in for a dull kicking game with lots of handling errors. How wrong could I be! Within the first 2 minutes, Saracens had scored through new Fijian Flaker Sakiusa Matadigo [left], making his home debut for the club.

Most of the fans sat there in happy disbelief as Sarries proceded to score another four tries before half time, bagging the all-important bonus point with only half the match gone!

Two more new signings were also taking the field for the first time in First Team colours, having performed well in the A-Team’s 63-0 drubbing of Bath last Monday. Namely All Black Lock Chris Jack [right, with Hugh Vyvyan dwarfing Captain Neil de Kock during a break in play] and South African Utility Back Brent Russell.

CJ showed what a class act he is, stealing lineouts, running in broken play and setting up some lovely cheeky reverse pass offloads, one of which gave Kameli Ratouvu his first try during the match. Alan Gaffney has said the rest of the squad need to get into a higher gear so they can keep up with him – but from what I saw, they weren’t having much trouble!

One guy who definitely wouldn’t have any problem keeping pace with the big Kiwi is the aforementioned Russell [left, just about to kick the ball down the opposition Fullback's throat]. Whenever he saw half a gap, he was off like greased lightening. And he was solid under the high ball catches even with such tricky handling conditions. So money well spent, I reckon!

The rest of the team seemed to be working really well together too – there was plenty of quick ball and passing out of the tackles. The scrum was immense, winning at least three against the head and worrying the Italians on plenty of other occasions – but to give them credit, they rarely buckled and gave away penalties at the scrum – Viadana’s speciality seemed to be straying offside at rucks. Most of the time, the ref spotted it quickly and Sarries were awarded another penalty. Most were taken as kicks to the corner for a catch and drive move, and Glen Jackson only had one penalty attempt at goal all afternoon. He got that, and 9 out of the 10 conversions!

Cencus Johnston [right] came on for Cobus Visagie after the break, and got up to his usual tricks – he made good ground and has a lovely sidestep which seems to fool the opposition defences – they obviously don’t believe a 20-stone prop can be so mobile!

By the end of the match, poor old Viadana were looking rather tired and glad it was over – they did score one try of their own, by Fly Half Calvin Howarth [left], from a wayward Saracens’ pass which he intercepted and ran most of the way up field to score. Although he converted it, he hadn’t had a great time with the boot for the rest of the game – several restart kicks either didn’t go 10m, or went straight out into touch – and at other times, he failed to find touch when he needed to!

Other honourable mentions should go to Richard Hill – great to see him having a good game and scoring from a pushover, and Richard “Del Boy” Haughton who scored three tries. All in all, well worth the stinking journey round the M25 to see – Saracens’ highest win in their Heineken Cup history. Let’s hope they can get another 5-point victory next week – when they are away to Viadana. I’m sure they will have a good psychological advantage now!

You can see more of my photos from Saturday’s game here.

The other surprise of the weekend was Glasgow beating Biarritz 9-6 to take them to second in Pool 4 – with Sarries sitting nicely at the top:

It all seemed to be going so well as Heineken Cup rugby returned to Watford again.

Despite some early pressure from Glasgow, Saracens’ Hugh Vyvyan crossed the line in under 10 minutes, and they began to turn the screws, adding another two before half time, from Rodd Penney and Ben Skirving.

But Glasgow’ John Barclay clawed one back, and Dan Parks kept lining up the penalties, so Glasgow were only 25-11 down at the break.

[Dan Parks lines up another shot at goal, this time from inside is own half]

Things started to go down hill in the second half. Sarries defence lots its shape, and the fans were in for a nailbiting time as the clock ticked down. Kameli Ratuvou [left] crossed from a run up the wing, to bring up Saracens’ 4th try, so a bonus point was at least in the bag. But then Hefin O’Hare and Ally Kellock scored a couple of converted tries after some sloppy defence.

It was only Glen Jackson’s 79th minute penalty that saved the day, so the Men In Black went back into the dressing room 2 points up rather than 1 point down, but they were still kicking themselves for not being more clinical.

[Hugh Vyvyan rallies the forwards during a break in play]

Alan Gaffney is rightly spitting feathers about it. After all, even though they are top of Pool 4 at the end of round 1, they are away to Biarritz next week, which won’t be an easy task at all, especially if the defence leaks tries like they did on Sunday.

Cencus Johnston had another great game, and the scrum was still pretty strong, which will be important next week. And the other prop, Kevin “Po Po” Yates was seen sporting a rather fetching scrum cap for much of the game, which is not his usual style. Either he’s worried about getting Cauliflower Ears all of a sudden, or the medics were trying to hold on a dressing from a bash to the head early on!

[Yatesy's hat in evidence as Gordon Ross has a go at John Beattie]

You can see the rest of my photos from Sunday’s game here.

It seems ages since I’ve done a blog, so this will have to be a roundup of the last few weeks.

Saracens vs Glasgow Warriors, ECC Quarter Final, 1st April

[Simon Raiwauli is tackled by Dan Parks]

Sarries won 23-19 to take them trough to the ECC Semi-Final.

London Wasps vs Saracens, GP match, 8th April

The next match was away at the Adams Park stadium in High Wycombe, for a Guinness Premiership match against Wasps.

It was a fantastic sunny day, and there was a party atmosphere in the car park and plenty of ale was had by all. Sarries lost out 27-26, right at the death. [above, Richard Birkett, takes a lineout ball, with Tom Ryder trying to get a hand to hinder him]

Sarries vs Quins, GP match, 13th April

The next week, it was back at Vicarage Road for another Guinness Premiership game.

[Yatesy puts the ball up his jumper and goes for a trundle]

Sarries were on good form again, and won 33-19, putting them in a good position going into the final games of the season.

Saracens vs Bath Rugby, ECC Semi Final, 22nd April

[Danny Grewcock gets some unwanted attention from Kris Chesney]

It was a tough game, and Sarries just missed out, going down 30-31, and putting Bath through to the final with Cleremont-Auvergne.

Despite that disappointment, Sarries season ended on a high in 4th place of the Guiness Premiership, and putting them back into the Heineken Cup for next season – now the wrangling between the various factions has been ironed out!

The Men In Black had a great game against Narbonne on 14th January. They beat the French visitors by 47-20. Here’s a shot from the match:

You can see more pictures from that game at rugbypix.com, as usual.

So Saracens are on course for a great half term report, having won their pool in the European Rugby Cup, which means they get a home Quarter Final. They play Glasow Warriors again (having beaten them once in Watford and drawn the return leg at Glasgow), on the last weekend in March.

They also beat London Irish 19-8 at Watford on 28th Jan, meaning they move up to 5th in the Premiership table, heady heights indeed! Plus, they have one match in hand as they still have to play the postponed game against Irish at Reading on the third weekend of March.

Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to the Six Nations games this coming weekend. Especially with the return of Jonny at No. 10 and the inclusion of Andy Farrell at 12! Well worth watching. Dave Woods asks if Faz’s presence will encourage some of our League brethren to watch the match too.

Sarries have shored up their front row contingent by recruiting Italian international Fabio Ongaro, another Hooker, for next season. Ongaro was last seen at Vicarage Road on the other side of the scrum, when his current club Treviso paid a visit in the Heineken Cup pool stages. This photo shows Ongaro getting a ticking off from the ref before packing down for another scrum. Let’s hope he behaves himself when he’s on our side!

They’ve also signed up Samoan prop Census Johnson, but as yet, I don’t know anything about him, so I can’t comment. We seem to have plenty of grunt in the front row now, what with Cobus Visagie, Yatesy and Ben Broster being regular first teamers. Cobus and Broster are both Tightheads, so perhaps Mr Johnson is extra cover for Yates in the Loosehead position?