Time was when the Six Nations ‘window’ meant Tigers suffering countless international call-ups. However, a glance at our list of international absentees this year wasn’t too alarming. Only Tom Croft, Whopper and Chutes were away with Ashford’s travelling circus, Castro was with Italy, Geordan was with Ireland and Big Jim McHamilton had been injured while playing for the clans. It meant we had just six players away. Putting out a strong side for the visit of Sarries should have been a formality. Unfortunately, when the list of those injured by friendly fire was added to those on international duty, it made for uncomfortable reading. The current queue outside the treatment room at Oval Park must look a bit like Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. What in God’s name are they doing to each other in training?
A paucity of fit second rowers meant Cozza had been named in the engine room alongside Louis Deacon. However, with Lewis Moody, Luke Abraham and Ben Herring all unavailable, Ben Pienaar was named to make only his second premiership start alongside Brett Deacon and Jordan Crane in the back row. This was the area in which I felt the main battle would be fought and when compared to Sarries’ strength from four to eight, it was a contest that made me nervous.
That feeling wasn’t helped by the fact that the match referee was Sean Davey. Some users of this site have accused him of bias but it’s not a view I subscribe to. Utterly incompetent? Yes. Biased? No.
Whatever the obstacles, this was a game we pretty much had to win. A loss to Worcester the previous week had seen us drop out of the Premiership’s top two and with a crucial EDF semi final against Wycombe Wasps just seven days away, the team needed the boost of confidence that only a good result can produce.

Early Bonus
A near full house watched Saracens get the game underway but when Andy Goode’s touch-seeking riposte was helped on it’s way out by the fingertips of their Fijian winger, Kameli Ratuvou, we found ourselves with a bonus lineout deep in enemy territory.
Within the first couple of minutes Tigers attacking ambition was revealed. The lineout ball was fed quickly across the back line, a break from Seru Rabeni led to quick recycling and Dan Hipkiss looked certain to score after being carried over the line with a posse of Tigers forwards. Unfortunately the ball was deemed to have been held up (and, in all fairness on this occasion Sean Davey was handily positioned to make the call) and what had looked a certain try became a five-metre scrum.
If anyone had any doubt about Tigers’ ability to scrummage effectively this first engagement settled that issue. Sarries fat lads were in trouble straight away and Marcos Ayerza was giving his opposite number, Census Johnston, all sorts of problems.
Unfortunately, while repeated Sarries infringements earned Tigers a free kick, Alex Tuilagi was unable to hold on to the ball and knocked on with the line at his mercy.
Now it was Sarries turn to show their ambition and from their scrum they elected to run the ball from deep. It might not have been the best decision. While their backs look great when they had time to move, Seru Rabeni flattened Richard Haughton with a thumping tackle that was to prove the Sarries’ winger’s last involvement in the game.
And things got worse for the visitors when, after popping up the scrum that resulted from Haughton’s knock on, Tigers were awarded a penalty that Andy Goode duly slotted. Three-nil and just three minutes on the clock.
The game was being played at a high tempo and Tigers had obviously brought the frustrations of the previous week’s loss into the fixture. Seru was in the thick of everything, seemingly trying to make up for five weeks on the sidelines in a single outing.
Marcos Ayerza came out of one ruck on the halfway line looking decidedly dodgy on his pins. One of the Crumbie wags reckoned that the conversation between physio and Marcos went something along the lines of “Cuántos dedos?” To which Marcos replied “Martes.”* Standard response for a prop and he was allowed to play on.

Naughty, Naughty Ben
On 10 minutes a promising Sarries break was snuffed out when Andy Farrell was brought down in front of the posts but Ben Pienaar couldn’t resist trying to snaffle the ball illegally. Sadly, while Sean Davey specialises in missing the obvious, even he isn’t that dumb and it came as no surprise when he awarded the visitors a penalty that was easily slotted by Glen Jackson. Three all.
Call me one-eyed but from where I was standing (just to the left of the dug outs if you’re interested) Tigers had completely dominated the opening 10 minutes of another game without taking advantage.
With the clubhouse clock showing 12 minutes played, another Sarries scrum collapsed and Sean Davey wagged his finger at Johnston and uttered a stern ‘this is your last warning’. History was to show that he was still wagging his finger at the Sarries’ tight head 30minutes later!
Although we had the Sarries scrum beaten all ends up we were beginning to let their backs into the game and things were looking far more even than you’d like. A threatening Sarries breakaway was thankfully called back for a forward pass before Andy Goode made a great break of his own. Unfortunately, another promising passage of play came to an end when Alex Tuilagi knocked on again. The passes he was dropping would have been ‘gimmes’ last season! It seems the huge Samoan is trying too hard.

Welcome Back Harry
Harry Ellis was having a great game though and while he’s had some able deputies, I think he’s the player we’ve been missing most in this stuttering season. Fast, clean passes, bossing his forwards and always with the eye for a gap. He made a terrific break but the support was slightly too long in arriving for the flowing rugby to continue. Thankfully Sarries were penalised for killing the ball and Andy Goode, aware that the penalty had already been awarded, slotted a drop goal to put Tigers back in front.
Ayerza was still wobbly and it came as no surprise when Boris Stankovich replaced the Tigers’ loose head. Census Johnston must have been relieved to see the back of the big Argentine but his relief would have been short lived as the next scrum resulted in his being penalised again and a penalty being awarded to Tigers. What was it Sean Davey had said about ‘last warning’?
Another great Ellis break came to nothing and another promising attack fell apart when Goodey passed the ball behind Johnne Murphy. Tigers looked hungry, sadly they also looked nervous and every time they gave themselves a good attacking platform, it fell apart because of the final movement. I’d already lost count of our knock-ons and the game was barely 25 minutes old!
It was exciting stuff though. Seru flattened Andy Farrell, our line out was functioning, our scrum was dominant, and our backs were ambitious. Louis Deacon almost got through only to be brought down on the line and pinged for holding on. Surely, it was only a matter of time?

Oops
Then suddenly Sarries were back in the game. Jordan Crane was yellow carded for playing the ball on the ground and Jackson made no mistake from the tee to make it six all.
Minutes later a sweeping Sarries attack involving several forward passes saw Dan Scarborough cross for a try in the corner. Jackson made light of a difficult, wide conversion and the score was 13-6. Implosion was the first word I thought of. Complete dominance followed by complete implosion. What the hell was happening? Down to 14 men and down by seven points.
Goodey pulled three points back with a monster of a penalty from wide inside his own half to make the score 13-9 but moments later it looked as though that ambition was going to be undone when Sarries’ full back Brent Russell ghosted through Tigers’ defence and seemed to have a clear run to the line. Johnne Murphy took off after him and somehow managed to drag him down inches from the line. It was a try saving tackle, probably a match saving tackle and how it wasn’t adjudged the tackle of the match Lord only knows.
The pressure was relieved when Russell was pinged for holding on (I can’t say I blame him, I’d have been aggrieved not to have scored from that break) and with Jordan Crane back on soon afterwards, it seemed that we’d weathered the storm.
We missed a chance to close the gap to a single point when Goodey, having converted the monster penalty a few minutes earlier, missed a much more straightforward kick at the posts from around 30 metres out and directly in front of the posts. The 40 minutes finished pretty much as they had started, with Tigers on top in the scrum and Sean Davey wagging his finger at Cencus Johnston.

That’s Better
As the teams trooped out for the second half, it came as no surprise to see Sarries’ replacement tight head, Cobus Visagie on for Johnston. It was going to be interesting to see if the former Springbok fared any better than his Samoan counterpart.
We didn’t have long to wait to find out and the answer was no. The first scrum of the half was reset three times as Sarries’ front row went up, down and sideways. I don’t know what we’ve been feeding to our props this week but it’s good gear. I can’t think of our pack being so dominant in a game for some time and it was great to see Stanko fulfilling his early promise.
Harry made another of his trademark breaks only for the attack to break down for what (to the Crumbie faithful) seemed a deliberate Sarries’ knock on. From the scrum Tigers never took a step backwards. It was pressure, pressure and more pressure. Eventually the Sarries defence broke and Seru was through for Tigers’ first try of the game. With Andy slotting a straightforward (straightforward for him, not for me you understand) conversion, Tigers were back in front at 16-13. However, the two points represented more than a simple conversion, they also made Andy the Premiership’s leading points scorer. Not bad for an average (and I’ve often longed for a more creative fly half in Tigers colours) footballer.
Minutes later Alex was through on one of his trademark bullocking runs but again, what seemed a deliberate Sarries knock on went unpunished. The Tuilagi motto must be ‘Why go round it if you can go through it?’ I’ve often wondered if they have doors in their houses?
Tigers' pressure from the resulting scrum eventually brought another penalty and Goodey slotted another three to stretch the lead to six points. 19-13 and things were starting to look more promising.

That’s Better
From the restart, Martin Corry went high to collect but Sarries piled in while the Tigers’ skipper was still in the air and Sean Davey didn’t need the howls of protest from the home crowd to persuade him to award another penalty. Goodey produced one of his very best kicks from hand and from a narrow angle set up an attacking lineout just 10 metres from the Sarries line.
Tigers piled on the pressure again (the lineout had looked good all game) and Sarries were all hands to the pump in keeping the forwards out. However, being busy keeping the forwards out was always going to leave a gap elsewhere and some quick ball from Goodey to Johnne Murphy and on to Alex T saw the giant Samoan cross in the corner with a Sarrie hanging off of him. With Goodey making a difficult conversion and the score at 26-13 it looked as though Tigers were on the way to a comfortable win.
Not that comfortable. Sarries were forced to play with ambition and if their forwards had looked second best in the set piece, their backs had looked dangerous every time they had the ball. A Saracens breakout had Tom Varndell putting on the afterburners to tackle back but the referee adjudged his tackle to have been high and awarded a penalty to Sarries. The tackle wasn’t high, Tom’s arm was across the player’s shoulder and down across his chest, not around the neck. That’s what drives me mad about Sean Davey; he was behind play struggling to catch up and couldn’t see where Tom’s arm had been so he guessed.
From the penalty, Sarries set up an attacking lineout and at first it looked as though our forwards had snuffed out the danger. They won the ball in the air but then turned it over again. Thankfully the scrum wasn’t too worrying. Visagie had taken a knock and gone off to be replaced by Johnston and we already knew that Stanko had the measure of him.

Uh Oh
Midway through the second half, Brent Russell got the try his individual performance deserved. He’d been Sarries best back all game and after collecting a poor, bouncing pass, weaved through the Tigers defence to record his side’s second try. With Jackson adding the extras it took the score to a too close for comfort 26-20.
Then, when Goodey missed touch with a clearance it was run straight back by Sarries and Alex knocked on trying to intercept. It could have been given as deliberate, as could the two Sarries ‘offences’ in the first half but in fairness to the referee on this matter he was consistent.
With Jackson notching a fifth successful penalty, the scoreboard showed 26-23 and things were looking ominous. It was another dominant Tigers performance that had every chance of going completely pear shaped. I kept thinking back to the Sale game that we’d lost with the last movement a few weeks previously. Tigers had always looked in control but now, with just one score in it, the nerves were beginning to fray.
Thankfully, as the clubhouse clock showed 40 minutes, Sarries were penalised for being offside and Andy Goode made no mistake with the three-pointer. The ball just crept inside the post but at 29-23 it meant Sarries would have to score a try to take the points.

Thanks Sean
Thankfully that didn’t happen. Instead, a chip and chase saw Tom Varndell steaming after a lost cause and when Dan Scarborough failed to ground the ball, Tom pounced to record Tigers third try! It shouldn’t have been given, Tom’s downward pressure seemed to be little more than brushing the ball with his elbow but Sean Davey gave it nonetheless. He really is clueless but this time I certainly wasn’t complaining. Andy added the extras and at 36-23 it was all over. A welcome win.
Plus points? All the Tigers players produced good, passionate displays. Harry Ellis looked sharp, Jordan Crane grows with every game and Andy Goode demonstrated what he is capable of sandwiched between a good scrum half and a solid centre. Johnne Murphy is Ireland’s next long-term full back. A great performance worth man of the match. He didn’t get it, that honour went to Seru but maybe those in the Crumbie seats saw a different game to the one I saw from the terrace.
Minuses? We should have been three tries to the good by half time and that should have been the springboard to a bonus point. I can’t believe the number of times Tigers knocked on and a team with a good scrummaging unit will surely punish us for turning over ball so easily. We need to tighten up on the basics of ball handling if we’re going to retain any silverware this season. We’re fortunate that the forwards were able to win possession back so easily, so often. That won’t happen against Wasps next week.

* “How many fingers?” “Tuesday.”

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