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.

After last week’s debacle at the Millennium Stadium, Sarries fans were looking for a decent performance from their team for the visit of Premiership whipping boys, Leeds. They have won a couple of games, but are basically deep in relegation territory and heading for the drop next season.

[Paul Gustard is tackled by the Leeds defence, but it doesn't make a lot of difference]

[Tom Ryder amid a sea of yellow jerseys, hangs onto the ball]

[left, Brent Russell is scragged by Kearnan Myall]. Saracens put some decent runs of play together. The midfield were running some good lines, and the tries kept coming. Eleven in all, for the Men In Black, and a consolation try for Leeds’ Captain Stuart Hooper from an intercepted pass late in the game. Sarries put the norhterners to the sword to the tune of 66-7. And although Leeds have been beaten by most of the other sides in the Premiership this season, no-one has put that many points over them so far. At last, The Gaffers‘ words must be sinking in for Sarries.

The team and fans know that the team visiting next week, Wales’ Ospreys, will be a different prospect and much harder to beat. But the win today must have given the boys a welcome confidence boost for the next crucial match. See more photos from the game.

Yesterday’s game against Bath was a cracker. Saracens were without talismans in their team – Chris Jack has briefly gone back to NZ for a family commitment; Kevin Sorrell will be out for at least another 3 weeks with an ankle injury, and Captain Neil de Kock was pulled from the squad at the last minute to prevent a hamstring injury getting worse if played on, his place taken by Scrum Half Alan Dickens.

But despite facing a formiddable Bath side, the replacements and rest of the Saracens team held their hands (and heads) up to a man. They were strong in the tackles, dominant at the scrum (even scoring a couple against the head, despite being 6Kg lighter than the Bath bruisers). Glen Jackson was on song with the boot, scoring 6 out of 6 attempts at goal. And Brent Russell scored a brace of tries to help the Men In Black to an important 26-20 win.

[Brent Russell (the Pocket Rocket) shows Bath defender Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu a clean pair of heels]

There was plenty of adventurous play from both sides, and some great fast passes out of hand. Plus some big hits as usual!

[Bath hooker Pieter Dixon has trouble heading his way - in the form of two charging Saracens - Kris Chesney and Paul Gustard]

The much-vaunted new Bath signings Butch James [left] and Michael Claassens [right] also took to the pitch. James scored a lovely try in the 25th minute, but in the process dislocated his shoulder and will be out for 6 weeks. Ouch! Claassens was harries well by opposite number Alan Dickens, who has been short of game time for Sarries recently, but played a great match. (You can see more of my match photos here)

There were other casualties during the 80 minute too – temporary Captain Andy Farrell popped a rib and went off; Flanker Dave Seymour sustained a leg injury and forwards Fabio Ongaro and Hugh Vyvyan also took knocks. Due to Six Nations action next week, Saracens next game isn’t until 10th February, so there’s a few days to get the boys patched up before they face 11th-placed Worcester in Watford.

[Dave Seymour, another of the game's casualties, gets the ball out of a ruck]

Meanwhile, the Sarries coaching staff have made another big signing for next season, back rower Michael Owen [left] who will be leaving the Newport-Gwent Dragons for North London. Home-grown Ben Skirving has also extended his contract with Saracens until 2010. Initially overlooked by Brian Ashton for upcoming England squad, he’s now been called up after another injury hit the team – good luck to him over the next few weeks!

Talking of which, the Six Nations is nearly upon us once more. A lot of water under the rugby bridge since the last one. I’m pleased to say I’ll be going along to Twickenham for England’s first game against Wales next weekend. And I’ll be keeping a close eye on the other games too. Expext more posts soon!

With Saracens’ recent form, I think most folks were expecting an easy victory against the visiting Newcastle Falcons. But we all know what comes before a fall, and Jonny Wilkinson & Co pulled off their first victory at Vicarage Road since 2001, and also their first away win in the Premiership in over a year.

As has happened in recent weeks for the Men In Black, the first half was a bit of a disaster. A fortnight ago in Viadana, they managed the comeback-from-the-dead, turning round a 26-3 deficit at half time, into a miraculous 26-34 win by final whistle. The travelling fans were naturally ecstatic. Those of us at home following the game online were left nursing our bitten fingernails!

The biggest casualty of the game was Hooker Matt Cairns [above] who suffered a broken arm during the match, and has since had a metal plate inserted to aid recovery, but he will be out until at least the end of March. The Gaffer is naturally worried about Hooking cover during the Six Nations, as Fabio Ongaro is likely to be called up by Italy for the duration. We all hope Cairnsy has a speedy recouperation!

The Christmas fixture on 22nd December saw Sarrie and his team travel away to Harlequins. Yet again, the first 30-odd minutes were pretty dire from all accounts. I was unable to follow this one online as my broadband connection was broken for 10 days over Christmas! Very annoying. Still, Sarries managed to pull back a 20-27 win.

I think the Christmas holidays must have been relaxing for the guys, since they seemed to come out of the tunnel for the Newcastle game thinking they were easily going to beat the Falcons. Within 3 minutes the defence was caught napping and Matthew Tait beat Brent Russell to cross the line for a try.

[Look Who's Behind You! Jonny Wilkinson is manaced by Lock Chris Jack]

Whilst Jonny’s playmaking skills seemed fine, his placekicking left a bit to be desired. He missed at least two kicks at goal, and Saracens’ Gordon Ross, starting the first half, wasn’t a lot better. Odd, since it wasn’t particularly windy, even though the rain appeared for a while.

The Falcons’ Scrum seemed to stand up at every opportunity, and I’m surprised referee Sean Davey didn’t ping them for it more often. Saracens have been having a good scrum of late, so there’s no reason to think just because Carl Hayman was gracing the Newcastle Front Row that things would change dramatically – Kevin Yates left] and Cencus Johnston are pretty good masters of the dark arts themselves!

Another thing that wasn’t going too well for Saracens was their lineout. Several were stolen during the game, which doesn’t happen often. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised, give the statistics that Newcastle’s Lock Mark Sorenson is the top lineout stealer in the Premiership, and is 3rd for catching his own team throws. No wonder Hugh Vyvyan [right], looked so surprised to have caught this one!

Sarries woke up in the second half and played some good rugby, scoring two tries (Vyvyan and de Kock) plus having another judged to have been held up over the line by the TMO.

They even went into the lead briefly towards the end, but Newcastle’s Jamie Noon put the nail in the coffin scoring in the 78th minute, with Jonny Wilkinson [left] hammering it further in with the conversion.

One thing I did find confusing was the Falcons’ away strip, which seems to be a direct ripoff of England’s gear from a couple of years ago. Perhaps they got them in a closeout sale?

At least losing by only 3 points meant Sarries pick up a bonus point, which might well come in handy later in the season. And they are still 3rd in the Premiership table at present. Next weekend’s away trip to Brizzle will see if they can climb any higher in the near future.

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

Next time I’m at Vicarage Road will be for the Heineken Cup tie against Biarritz on 12th January – hopefully it won’t be quite as dark as it was for the Newcastle game! And a victory then would certainly help Sarries towards a HC Quater Final place.

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: