By Bonso
April 26 2015
There has been much talk of the rights and wrongs of this fixture but here it is and it seemed that people arrived in numbers and made the best of it and in doing that had a jolly good day in the sunshine. I found the organisation in the stadium very friendly and welcoming and the bar service although far from perfect was much better. On the whole the experience was much improved from the Munster game.
Saints 25 Saracens 20
Personally my journey to the game worked very well using the shuttle buses from the train station and people I spoke to seemed to have had a good trip on the clubs buses. However on observing the chaos caused by the local road closures I have some reservations about how they will cope with the world cup games, bearing in mind that a good proportion of the crowd travelled on the organised club buses.
The match itself was as intense and close as we have come to expect between ourselves and Saracens but nicely without rancour. Initially, Saracens started like a train with Chris Wyle’s scoring in the corner after a maul had dragged in Saints defenders leaving the flank open for Wyles to stroll over. At that point it seemed as though it might turn out to be a long afternoon, but Saints kept their composure and despite a creaking set piece gained two penalties and were just about gaining some parity when Wyles crossed for his second after Saints got turned over faffing about in their own 22. Saints didn’t panic and crafted a try for themselves with Manoa on hand to score from Burrels bullish break Then it could have got worse as Billy Vunipola charged down Myler’s clearance and looked like he had scored, but careful examination showed he had lost control of the ball prior to the line. This I feel was the first of four crucial turning points in the match. Had Vunipola scored it would have been very hard for saints to come back. That was virtually it for the big number 8 as shortly afterwards he rolled his ankle in a tackle. This I feel was turning point number two as Vunipola was seemingly Saracens main carrying threat and they started to struggle from that point on. This loss was further exasperated by turning point number three when Jackson Wray on for Vuniploa had to leave the field with a nasty concussion from a collision with Joubert's knee. So at half-time Saints seemed to have weathered Saracens storm and went in only 4 behind trailing 17 points to 13.
The second half resumed with a shirt change for Saracens and a 3 pointer for Hodgson, but there was a subtle change as Saints started to be effective in the scrum changing Ma’afu for the increasingly effective Denman. Turning point number 4 happened soon after with Itoje being carded for tackling Khan without retreating from a quick tap penalty. Saints then piled on the pressure
and added another 2 penalties before Itoje’s return. Momentum was now with Saints who were now starting to dominate the set-piece. It is a moot point whether Saracens efforts last week were now starting to come into play, personally I think Saracens were tiring and some of the decision-making that had been so correct in the first half began to go awry. Another 2 penalties from the boot of Myler and Saints now had added another 2 penalties before Itoje’s return. Momentum was now with Saints who were now starting to dominate the set-piece. It is a moot point whether Saracens efforts last week were now starting to come into play, personally I think Saracens were tiring and some of the decision-making that had been so correct in the first half began to go awry. Another 2 penalties from the boot of Myler and Saints now had a 4 point advantage and had chances to pull further away. The ground was now rocking and even despite Myler causing a flutter or two hitting the post and giving Sarries one final chance.
So Saints came away with the points and Sarries a losing BP which in all fairness was richly deserved. We all generally had a good day out and much negativity was dispelled about performance and venue, although there are clearly some issues still to be resolved for the stadium organisation for the world cup. Saints' performance though was resilient and will do the team and supporters much good as we get to the climax of the season
Jim Says:
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