A Switch in Nines saves…

I’m not a great fan of reading newspaper reports about sporting occasions: you’re either left feeling disenchanted and disappointed by the lack of detail, or struck by the fact that the journalist appeared to be watching a different match to you. I prefer to draw my own conclusions about the game I’ve witnessed, even though others will inevitably disagree with the interpretations you apply or the conclusions you reach. In that respect, sport is very much like politics - everyone has an opinion regardless of whether you’ve played the game at the highest level or served as a Member of Parliament.

Nevertheless, I can guess the headlines that made it to press on Saturday, following Sale’s narrow victory over Saracens: they’d be as predictable as the rain that falls on Edgeley Park. “Late Hodgson Drop Goal Rescues Sorry Sale” or “Charlie’s Kicking Rescues Stale Sharks.” They would, of course, be accurate and technically correct – that drop goal in the eleventh minute of stoppage time did hand an unlikely, some may even say, undeserved victory to Sale, but that doesn’t really tell the whole story. From what I could see, the result was determined by two half back substitutions, one enforced and the other tactical: had neither of these changes happened, it’s arguable that the result may well have been very different.

If the intention had been to hit the ground running and ‘atone’ for the sins of the London Irish match at the end of last season, then I’m afraid the plan didn’t work. Right from the kick off, Saracens had Sale on the back foot. In fact, they kept Sale penned pretty much in their own half for the first 24 minutes. De Kock and Jackson caused untold damage with their quick thinking and slick passing.

Sarries hit every ruck ferociously and committed numbers to retrieving or stealing the ball at every breakdown. Even Chris Jack playing as a back row forward was putting himself about, scavenging on the ground like a dog that gets a whiff of truffles, or offering himself up as the spare man in one of the many overlaps Saracens managed to conjure out of invention and endeavour. I know many Fezheads aren’t convince that this is his best position and would much prefer Vyvyan at blindside, but Steady Eddie Jones knows a thing or two about rugby: he didn’t get to those dizzying heights of international acclaim without showing more than a little nous and tactical acumen.

Sale’s only answer to this wave of consistent attacking rugby was to kick away possession. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one feeling that hopeless sense of déjà vu. We did too much of this last season and it didn’t work then either. Sure, by hoofing the ball up the park you at least relieve the pressure, but it’s actually quite a negative tactic and the relief it brings is only temporary. Inevitably if you don’t chase after it, it’s going to come straight back at you, particularly when you’ve got as clever and inventive a half back pairing as De Kock and Jackson.

If you also gift the ball to someone as tricky and slippery as Richard Houghton who seemed to be able to evade the majority of tackles that came at him by swivelling and dodging, you’re asking for trouble. All you need to do is to look at the Opta statistics so far this season to get a grasp of this particular problem: Sale are pretty much top of the charts when it comes to kicking out of hand, but in the bargain basement when it comes to the  total number of metres made. That pretty much says it all. Sometimes it might be better to take the hit and go to ground and recycle, or even take a ‘punt’ on our star-studded backline and let them have a run out.

You could, I suppose, blame the ELVs for this, by not allowing a defending team to kick for touch if the ball is passed back into the 22. I see that as a bit of a cop-out myself: you might as well blame the goblins too. The rules have changed, like it or lump it, and you have to play the game within the new boundaries, and look for different ways to interpret these laws and exploit them to your advantage. Saracens certainly did.

What you’d have to say about the first 25 minutes is that defensively Sale are a force to be reckoned with. In spite of the consistent pressure from the lively Sarries’ backline and the combined bludgeoning force of Johnson and Borthwick, Sale refused to buckle. There’s almost seems to be a sense of defiance about the Sharks this season -  a challenge as if  to say, go on try it, you’re not going to get through us. Bodies were put on the line with little thought given to safety. Inevitably though, last ditch defending invariably results in giving away the occasional penalty. It kind of comes with the territory I suppose.

Sarries took the lead after the referee blew for not rolling away from the tackle. Jackson despatched the penalty efficiently and Saracens took a deserved lead after 9 minutes. This was followed by 2 further penalties – one for coming in from the side and the other for handling on the ground. After 24 minutes Saracens had a 9 nil lead and Sale had hardly ventured outside their own half. There’s little point in having a pop at the referee or the other officials: you can’t possibly be all things to all people and, let’s face it, they’re not there to try and win popularity awards.

All you can ever hope for from the officials, unless you’re in possession of certain embarrassing photos or are on nodding terms with the Cosa Nostra, is consistency and a clear interpretation of the rules – nothing more, nothing less. Fair play to Mr Debney, he was consistent, well actually I suppose you’d actually say he was consistently inconsistent, if that’s humanly possible – a rare achievement that united both sets of supporters in their condemnation, and that in itself is no mean feat. Not many officials manage to alienate everyone: you can generally find someone who’s happy somewhere, but I suspect you’d have to search long and hard on that score. Maybe his assistants should’ve been more of a help. Actually no, scrub that, that’s only going to make things messier – as you were Sir.

Defensively as mentioned earlier, Sale were immense. Offensively Sale were not that clever. The scrum struggled during the early stages and couldn’t cope with the power and aggression of the Saracens front row. Big Ted may not have had to face his nemesis in Cobus Visagie, or should that be visage, but Census Johnson proved to be equally problematic. Sale conceded two defensive scrums against the head when Sarries got the shove on.  Even when the scrum did its job, there was little forward momentum and a tendency to turn the ball over in contact.  No wonder Wiggy struggled to get the ball into the scrum, as by the end of the half when viewed from up in the Cheadle End, the set piece looked more like two mating spiders crabbing their ways sideways.

The line out didn’t fare much better either. Sure enough, the percentage ball to the front of line worked efficiently enough as Chris Jones managed to take most of them cleanly: the  long throw to the back of the set piece was less successful: on the 2 occasions that Bruno tried this, Borthwick managed to steal the ball. Unfortunately even when Sale retained the ball they couldn’t manage to generate any attacking threat off the back of this as Sarries backline pushed up quickly quashing any threat. The contrast in the set piece was startling. Every time Borthwick managed to secure his own line out, the ball was down and zipped out by De Kock to Jackson with lightening speed, putting Sale immediately under pressure.

Unfortunately for Saracens an injury to the outstanding De Kock forced them to shuffle their deck. He came off second best in a challenge with Lamont during a rare Sale foray into enemy territory. That enforced substitution as far as I could tell completely changed the nature of the game. Moses Rauluni is no mug yet he doesn’t seem to play with the same speed of thought and adventure as De Kock. Nobody ever likes to see a player get injured, but from a personal point of view I was glad to see the ex-Saffer international leave the pitch. Had he stayed on, then who knows, but with the way he was playing you’d have to suspect the worst.

As Saracens struggled to come to terms with the change in personnel and the change in tactics, Sale began to take some initiative. Both Tait and McAlister began to run the ball out of the 22, much to the relief of the home crowd. The backline that has many a rugby fan drooling started to tantalise, whilst not necessarily delivering what everyone wanted. Anyway, at least we were playing in their half and that was a start. Exerted pressure from the Sale midfield caught Jackson napping and he kicked to touch, forgetting the ball had been passed back into his own 22. From the resulting set piece on the Saracens 10 metre line, Owen was pinged for killing the ball. Charlie duly despatched the penalty, finally getting Sale on to the scoreboard after 32 minutes.

The pressure that Sale began to wield started to tell on the nervy looking Saracens defence. Bolstered by the momentum, Sale and especially McAlister began to open up a little. A beautifully double-miss pass from Big Mac took out both Sorrell and Powell, leaving Doc in acres of space on the wing. Unfortunately he didn’t quite have the legs to finish the move and he was snagged by Rodd Penney’s despairing lunge.

Both Lamont and Tait began to gradually exert more of an influence on the game. In fact it was Rory who forced the knock on that gave Sale an attacking scrum on the Saracens’ 10 metre line. Charlie moved to full back, with McAlister covering the 10 channel and Tait switching to outside centre. The ball was moved quickly through the scrum and out to Tait.  He was brought to ground and turned over the ball, but Jack was penalised for not releasing. Charlie converted and narrowed the deficit, but Saracens began to recover some of their earlier composure and once more started to take the game to the Sharks. Johnson powered his way up the centre into Sale’s 22 and Andy Saull took the ball on from there, sidestepping Cockbain. It looked to all intents and purposes that he’d scored beside the posts, but fortunately, from a Sale perspective at least, Mr Debney adjudged that the ball had been knocked on.

Hodgson did get one final chance to even the scores before the whistle blew for halftime. Owen was penalised by the referee for killing the ball, after an attack involving Charlie, Big Mac and Lamont. Unfortunately his kick drifted wide of the uprights, but at least they left the field with the scores looking slightly more respectable than they had 16 minutes earlier.

McAlister took over kicking duties and restarts in the second half. Little seemed to have changed tactically, save for extra height on the ball at restarts, allowing Seabass and Abraham more opportunity to get up the park and challenge for the ball, even if ultimately they didn’t win it. At the back of the scrum, which still struggled against the power and aggression of Saracens, Seabass began to act more conservatively, opting to secure the ball first and foremost, rather than using his body as a battering ram - a tactic Saracens were prepared for. It paid dividends almost immediately as Saracens were penalised twice in the first 6 minutes for killing the ball. McAlister converted both penalties, the second from virtually on the halfway line.

With the score in Sale’s favour, you kind of hoped that we’d take the game to them and try to seize the initiative. Saracens though are a team that shouldn’t be underrated. They are often criticised as being a team of underachievers, but you sense that this season under Steady Eddie, that may be about to change. They don’t wilt under pressure and I suspect will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. They immediately hit back with a penalty of their own after Wiggy was pinged for feeding the scrum. How many times have we all seen this happen without any consequences? Lots, I hear you say and I have to agree, but old eagle-eyes Debney spotted it and called it. In fairness to Wiggy, how he was supposed to get the ball into the scrum when it was travelling quicker sideways than he could run backwards, I don’t know, but that was effectively his last involvement in the game. He was replaced by Peel after Jackson slotted over the penalty and evened the scores once again.

The introduction of Peel gave Sale the kind of edge that Saracens had had when De Kock was strutting his stuff in the first half. His speed of thought and quick, one-movement pass give Sale an advantage and an extra yard of time. His sense of anticipation is such that he’s on the spot before play has broken down and seems to know what he wants to do with the ball before he stoops to pick it up. When everyone is tuned in to his wavelength and knows his game inside out, Sale should have an extra string to add to its bow. The exerted pressure of high octane, non-stop attacking rugby will force many opposing teams into making mistakes in future, or you’d hope so at least.

The difference he made to the speed and direction of play was immediately obvious. Ball retention went up by a considerable margin and Sale at last were able to string together multiple phases of play and stretch Sarries in all different directions. Still, they couldn’t break the resolute opposition defence. The Fezheads are obviously just as adamant that their defence won’t be breached as the Sharks are. Sale were awarded another penalty 20 minutes into the half when Borthwick took out Chris Jones in the air at an attacking 15 metre line out. Big Mac converted and restored the 3 point margin, but Sarries were soon back on level terms after a bit of handbags between Faure and Visagie when Sale had already been penalised for killing the ball in their own 22. Jackson converted and it was even-stevens again.

As the game moved into its final moments, both teams struggled to find their cutting edges. Saracens were able to string together good periods of play where they managed to keep the ball through several phases, but they couldn’t quite find their teeth. Twice Jackson opted to go for the banker and nail a drop goal, rather than retain the ball and probe for the opening. Fortunately for Sale, both his attempts skewed horribly wide.

Sale too were adept at keeping hold of the ball. In the last 10 minutes each team tried to find that little gap, that chink in the armour that would give them the final advantage, and with it almost certain victory. But like 2 heavyweights, neither side was prepared to yield first. It seemed like the officials had sealed the fate of the match when the assistant referee – remember him, the one I said should become more involved – flagged for what he deemed to be an offence, Serves me right really: next time I’ll keep my thoughts to myself. After a relatively innocuous coming together between Big Mac and Penney, Sale were penalised for deliberate obstruction.

Yes there was a collision, but I think to call it deliberate is a bit rich. McAlister stood his ground that’s all. The ref didn’t call it and seemed happy to play on, but his assistant was adamant. Now Penney did go down rather spectacularly – so much so that one would’ve thought he’d been shot. A quick glance round the stadium revealed that there were no snipers with telescopic sites though. Penney was back on his feet and laughing and high-fiving his colleagues after a quick rub down with the magic sponge. No harm done then? Well actually there was - a kickable penalty in the dying minutes of a closely fought game. Jackson missed by some margin, so maybe justice was done after all. Maybe the little prayer I whispered did the trick, or maybe it was just a rotten kick. Who knows? Who cares? The scores were still even.

With a last throw of the dice, Sale replaced Coxy with new boy Kris Ormsby. The Kiwi immediately showed what his game is all about as he gathered the ball and stormed up the field. From that small cameo, you sort of get the impression that this is a guy who won’t take any prisoners. In the dying minutes of an eternally long stoppage time, Sale threw everything including the sink at Saracens. The volume in the stadium escalated, as the crowd roared on the team hoping to give them that final advantage. It was heart in mouth time, and though exciting to watch, I’m not sure my ticker could put up with too much of that every time.

With the final play of the match, Ormsby seized the ball and burst clear of the despairing Saracens defence. They tried to bring him down, but the guy just kept on going. Finally Sarries managed to stop his momentum, but before they could re-gather and organise their defensive shape, Peel dug the ball out and in no time the ball was out with Charlie under the posts and he dropped the winning kick.  There was genuine elation, not just amongst the fans, but on the pitch too – you could be forgiven for thinking the team thought they’d won the cup or something. They were delirious – I needed a paper bag to overcome the hyperventilation.

So, 2 wins in 2 games. I defy anyone to say that’s not a good start to the season. Even those who aren’t always best pleased might have to accept that we’re doing quite well – even if they do so begrudgingly. Having said that though, there are obviously issues that need to be addressed. Why can’t we dominate a team? Why are we finding it so difficult to score tries? Why isn’t our backline scoring for fun and running riot? Well, those are questions that those in charge will have to answer and find solutions to. A win is a win and that’s fair enough, but sometimes you’d just like more. If we can play quite poorly at times and still win, then maybe, just maybe, we’ll play well one day and win with style. We’ve got the players for it: all we need is the performance that everyone knows we’re capable of delivering.

By the way, that’d better not happen at a match that I’m absent from.

Read Joe's blog here: http://joe90column.blogspot.com/

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