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.

EDF Semi-Final 2 - Ospreys vs Saracens (30-3)

The second semi final was a painful thing to watch for the Saracens faithful, many of whom had travelled through sleet and snow in London to make their way to Cardiff for the game. I, for one, wondered why I’d bothered.

To be fair, the first half was pretty tight, with only Shane Williams‘ unconverted try and a penalty from James Hook giving the Ospreys an 8-0 advantage at the break. We also had a 10-minute spell of snow, leaving the supporters and players to rue the decision to leave the flaming roof open!

[Some idiot left the roof open... hadn't they heard the forecast for snow?]

I don’t know who had done the team talk for Sarries at half time, but I think it was the same bloke who made the one against Newcastle just after Christmas! Please stop already!

[Kris Chesney goes for Mike Phillips in the loose, as the snow falls]

Basically, the floodgates opened. Sarries buckled and the Ospreys made light work of scoring 3 tries and a total of 22 points to Sarries’ 3! NOT a good day at the office for the Men In Black, nor their supporters who trudged back to their buses in a dejected manner for the return trip down the M4. [right] Osprey Jonathan Thomas dominant in the lineout, just as the rest of his team were dominant elsewhere on the pitch.

The Ospreys are due at Vicarage Road in a fortnight for the Heineken Cup Quarterfinal against Saracens. Let’s hope they don’t get such an easy ride next time!

Two casualties of the game were Osprey Mike Phillips who sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury and will be out for up to six months. And Sarries’ Kiwi Lock Chris Jack who’s hand injury rules him out for the rest of the season. He will certainly be missed, on and off the pitch.

The Ospreys are now set for their EDF Final against the Tigers. And Sarries fans are praying The Gaffer can undo the damage to morale for the team. See more match photos from the game.

Saracens won an important victory against Sale to keep their Guinness Premiership playoff hopes alive.

The Men In Black went ahead by 21 points to 0 initially. Ben Skirving managed a try, as did Prop Cencus Johnston, who scored from a remarkable 20-metre run, evading three tackles to cross the line. Glen Jackson added five kicks to the score too.

[Sebastien Chabal, looking like Neanderthal Man]

[Richard Haughton makes a try-saving tackle]

Sale’s very own Neanderthal Man Sebastien Chabal scored a try, as did Oriel Ripol, but Richard Haughton managed to save another with this tackle above. The final score was 24-20. See more photos from this match.

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!

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

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:

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 was getting on for two months since I’ve seen any live rugby. My broken elbow is now well on the mend, and I’m able to drive again, so I booked up a few Saracens games the other day and enjoyed the Anglo-Welsh Cup game against Bristol at Vicarage Road on Sunday.

It was a bright sunny autumn afternoon, and not too cold for the spectators either. Sarries were on great form, and although things were a little slow in the first half, they lead 19-8 at the break. [Left, Lock Tom Ryder takes a lineout ball]

In the second half, the Men in Black really turned the screw, and ended up with a 45-15 victory. In scoring five tries, they earned themselves a bonus point to top their group after two matches. The best sign was the quick ball which they seemed to be getting – in no small part due to the phenomenal work of Mosese Rauluni. He had a great World Cup captaining Fiji, and seems to have returned to the team with all cylinders firing.

[A Saracen presents the ball quickly at a ruck]

The other thing I noticed was the way the whole team were passing out of the tackle, rather than going to ground with the ball. This speeded things up too, and made for some exciting to watch rugby. And an honourable mention must also go to 20-stone prop Cencus Johnston [leftt], who oustripped Bristol’s winger to catch the ball down the left touchline, and set up a pass and try for Kameli Ratuvou, who touched down twice during the game. This, after Cencus had been down injured a few minutes before, holding his ankle and hobbling badly when he first got back to his feet! He’s another player who had a good World Cup – and his colleagues in the Saracens Front Row were making mincemeat of the Brizzle boys for most of the afternoon. They even won a couple of scrums against the head, which doesn’t happen that often these days.

Listening to the other fans’ banter around me, I also picked up Dave Seymour’s new nickname – apparently he’s now known as My Little Pony, for obvious reasons! [See right]

I was also pleased to see some of the Saracens’ replacements making a nuisance of themselves when they came on the pitch. Adam Powell did well in place of Andy Farrell, giving Alan Gaffney a potential selection dilemma for next week’s Heineken Cup game against Glasgow. Neil de Kock was his usual scrum-bossing self, and No. 16 Andy Kyriacou was rewarded with 5 points when his forward mates drove him over the Bristol line from a close range lineout in the dying minutes.

[Andy Kyriacou crashes over after a driving maul]

It’s good to be back at Vicarage Road, and I’m looking forward to seeing our Scottish friends next week. Meanwhile, you can see the rest of my photos from Sunday’s game here. It was the 70th game I have photographed since February 2004 – how time flies!