15. Saracens 45-16 Biarritz; Vicarage Road, 12 January 2008

After coming so close at Parc des Sports Aguilera earlier in the tournament, when Dimitri Yachvili hoofed a 49-metre penalty in the last minute to give BOPB a 23-22 win, the Sarries players I met afterwards were all hell-bent on giving the Basques a beating in the return mach, and what a beating it was. The Video will paint the pictures better than I ever could.

Video: http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/erc_rugby_tv.php?medid=1125

14. Saracens 19-17 Leicester; Vicarage Road, 17 April 2005

This one could read Thomas Castaignède 19-17 Leicester as it was the Mercurial One who scored all the home points that afternoon, but it had so much more. Martin Corry getting his marching order for elbowing Richard Hill – a few days later they were at a Martin Johnson benefit dinner sitting next to each other and having a laugh. Speaking of Johnson, he was sin-binned for his scrap with Ben Russell, one of the most memorable on-field events of the whole season. “Good lad” Steve Diamond allegedly said to Sprout as he walked to the bench for 10 minutes. And he was.

PS. There was one other interesting(ish) stat from this one; Saracens was the only team that season to beat Leicester after trailing at half time.

Scorer: Castaignède bagged a try, converstion and four penalties.

Team: Bartholomeusz; Johnston, Sorrell, Harris, Vaikona; Castaignède, Bracken; Yates, Ibanez, Broster; Chesney, Hill, Seymour, Vyvyan.

Replacements: Cairns, Lloyd, Fullarton, B.T. Russell, Rauluni, Little, Bailey.

Report: http://www.guinnesspremiership.com/254_5680.php

13.  Bath 20-27 Saracens; the Recreation Ground, 15 September 2001

This was Timmy Horan’s finest Sarries moment. Just when everyone at a sun-drenched Rec thought that Saracens had settled for a 20-all draw, up pops Nick Walshe an aeon in to second-half injury time to run a quick tap penalty from just outside his own 22 metre line before feeding Horan who ran it all the way under the posts.

Much to my satisfaction, that try shut up the droning Bath bore standing behind us on the temporary terrace in the far corner who spent 80 minutes waffling about the merits of “that’s Barf rugby” when Bath had done absolutely naff all for their points. Shame, then, he had left by the time I turned around to do a bit of well-deserved gloating.

It wasn’t, however, Kieran Roche’s finest moment. Or 12 seconds, to be precise. Because it was for that minuscule period he was on the pitch before being sin-binned.

Scorers Tries: Sparg, Horan. Con: Smith. Pens: Smith 5.

Team: Winnan; Shanklin, Sorrell, Horan, O’Mahony; Smith, Bracken; Harbut, R.Russell, Phillips; A.Benazzi, Murray, Hill, Roques.

Replacements: Cairns, Parkes, Roche, K.Benazzi, Walshe, Sparg, Arasa.

Report: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/3012883/Saracens-lifted-by-Horan-gem.html

12.  Scarlets 36-32 Saracens; Stradey Park, 1 December 2007.

Although Sarries lost this EDF Cup tie, partly due to the gale-force westerly that stopped a Gordon Ross penalty attempt from 35m out about 20m from its target, and partly going behind 33-14, they still won the Pool.

Andy Farrell came off the bench early in the second period to play at outside half and galvanised Sarries who fought back in the second half and it was his brace of penalties in the last three minutes that put our team into bonus point range to put them into the semi-finals.

It was a final trip for the Fez to the legendary Stradey before its demolition and one that I am so glad I didn’t miss, even if we left soaked through, frozen and the team didn’t win.

Team: Saracens: F Leonelli (E Thrower, 53); R Haughton, K Sorrell (capt), A Powell, K Ratuvou; G Ross (A Farrell, 56), M Rauluni (A Dickens, 77); K Yates, F Ongaro (A Kyriacou, 63), C Visagie (C Johnston, 56), T Ryder, I Fullarton, P Gustard (K Chesney, 47), D Seymour, B Skirving.

Report: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/llanelli-36-saracens-32-gaffney-tells-england-not-to-discard-farrells-finesse-761388.html

11.  Bordeaux-Begles 24-25 Saracens; Stade Andre Moga, 12 January 2002.

Quite literally a sight for sore eyes, this one. First of all, Sarries played in the 125^th Anniversary shirts which some berk at (presumably) Canterbury though would look great with BLACK numbers which were completely illegible under the floodlights. Smart move. Not. Second, poor old Nigel Whitehouse the referee was seeing double three minutes from time when CABBG scored two tries with two different balls. Both were called back, of course, and Sarries held on to win by a point with the tries coming from Adey Winnan, Timmy Horan and Ben Johnston, and the goals from Luke Smith.

Afterwards at the converted former women’s prison that was the Frog & Rosbif the party went into the wee small hours, accompanied by Sky Sports news which had the rugby results scrolling by every 20 minutes or so. When Pool 8 came up, there was a build-up of noise which came to a crescendo as the Sarries came around again. And again. And again. Fab. Those sore eyes were followed by some sore heads the following morning, I can tell you.

Team: Winnan; Johnston, Sorrell, Horan, O’Mahony; Smith, Bracken; Flatman, Russell, Phillips; Murray, K.Benazzi; Roques, Cole, Hill.

Replacements: Sparg, Roche, Shanklin, Hooper.

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