Saracens marketing and sales teams were under pump too – a 90,000 seat stadium would have been an imposing challenge for a team whose regular clients rarely number over ten percent of that figure. It was a challenge that, clearly, was grabbed with both hands. 44,832 was the official figure announced yesterday, a great achievement in anyone’s book.

So what of the new Wemberley? Well I like it. It’s a fabulous Stadium. Yes, the beer was too much (£4.40 for a can of Guinness) and the stewards clearly a bit too minded towards football but these are quite minor gripes. For a tenner it was tremendous value to get in to this iconic ground so paying over the odds for a few beers didn’t hurt. And the seats! Super-comfy, loads of leg room.  <rant mode on> You’d think that the home of Rugby would have sufficient space and leg room for a fat, out of shape rugby type like yours-truly wouldn’t you? Sodding Twickenham. <and…. Relax> Wembley had ample space for my large posterior – very impressed.

The pre-match featured a scene-stealing decent from the Stadium roof by Sarrie the Camel assisted by The Royal Marines, music from local(ish) band The Lightyears (two of whom went to college in Henley with Mrs H as it happens), Dance from pre-teen-shriek-magnets Diversity, a tug-of-war between Saints fans and the British Tug-of-War Champions cunningly disguised as Saracens fans and a Silent Conductor who left everyone in the crowd speechless......

Good start then; fine crowd with well supported opposition, a nice sunny day, now for some spectacular Rugby Union. 

Not quite.

The first half may not have carried on the razzmatazz from the pre-game but what it lacked in flowing backline moves it more than made up for in some pretty brutal collisions around the park. Saints Captain Dullan Hartley set the tone with a fine chase and hit on Alex Goode, not to be out-gunned the Fez’ tackled and tackled and tackled with Van Heerden, Ratuvou and Brits to the fore.

The game limped to half-time with Sarries 9-3 in the lead. Both teams having pretty much tackled each other to a stand-still. Only a chip and chase from Alex Goode which was patted dead by Saints second row Kruger stood out as a genuine scoring chance. Kruger was lucky not to be sent to the bin for this professional foul.

With half-time came another visit from the Silent Conductor, that’s already enough about him.

The second period started with a bang. Saints looked to be pressing for the first try of the game with a potential four man overlap, Noah Cato stepped in, tackled Hartley, man-and-ball, gathered the loose ball and raced home from 85 metres. The decidedly off-colour Foden had no chance giving chase.  Jackson converted giving Sarries a 16-3 lead.

Saints struck back immediately through John Clarke, a flowing move went through several sets of hands before the man previously tipped as a natural successor to Will Greenwood for England dotted down in the corner. Geraghty converted. 16-10

Two penalties for Saints and one from the boot of Jackson saw the scores nervously close going into the last 15 minutes at 19-16. Sarries saw dynamic hooker Schalk Brits sin binned for lazy running – something that infuriated Coach Brendan Venter. Not because he was angry at his new signing getting binned for the second game in a row. His frustration was more directed at Saints scrum-half Dickson for what he saw as a deliberate act of throwing the ball at the retreating Brits to con the referee.

It did appear a curious decision given the number of occasions the Saints had sinned in Sarries’ 22 but never mind.

Saints huffed, they puffed but they just couldn’t break down the dogged Fez defence. That was until a few minutes from time when giant loosehead prop Soane Tonga’uiha burst around the edge of a ruck a couple of metres from the home line to score. Saints players jumped around excitedly, confident that the try had been scored and that they had got out of jail for the second week on the bounce.

Referee Martin Fox sent the decision to the video ref for the decision and much to confusion of most neutrals watching at home on Sky, a knock-on was given and Sarries awarded the scrum 5 metres from their own line.

Sarries retained the ball from the scrum, Saints infringed at the subsequent ruck (hands-in) and replacement fly-half Hougaard cleared up towards half-way. All Sarries needed to do was catch and drive, retain through a couple of phases and boot the ball out.  This didn’t happen, much to shrieks of despair from the mentally-exhausted fez. The ball was thrown long, the line-out turned over and with Saints in possession you couldn’t help but fear that they were about to rain on the Sarries parade. Luckily the ball was tossed wide and the man at the end of the line bundled into touch.

Phew!

Saints will be disappointed not to have come away with a win, their big runners, whilst mostly neutralised provide a significant threat and their backs have plenty of fire-power. Shane Geraghty had a fine game save a pretty straight-forward penalty miss early on. Lee Dickson, cheat or not is a sharp little player and will take advantage of things like lazy running. In Tonga’uiha Saints have their very own (slightly slower) version of Census Johnston, I remember a pre-season game against Bedford a few years ago where he gave Kevin Yates a torrid time and wondering if he was on his way up to Saints. He is a monster around the park.

Sarries will be pleased, a win at Wembley in front of quite a few potential new fans was essential. There is still a lot of room for improvement; the scrum, whilst better than last week still looked at times unstable but this, along with the lineout is a work in progress – the set piece will improve!  Cato seems to have grown in confidence over the summer and now doesn’t make you quite as nervous seeing him fielding a high ball or being the last line of defence.

The marketing team did a great job and I hope that they get the rewards through new fans that their efforts deserve. Fingers crossed that we see the fruits of their labour on the 27^th against Gloucester at Vicarage Road.

Star Men –

Ernst Joubert. Second game on the trot where I thought that he stood out. In the right place at the right time. Every time! 

Kameli Ratuvou – Full-blooded in contact and did enough to put doubt in the TMO’s mind for the Tonga’uiha try that wasn’t.

Saracens: Try Cato; Conversion Jackson; Penalties Jackson 3; Drop goal Jackson. Northampton: Try Clarke; Conversion Geraghty; Penalties Geraghty 2; Drop goal Geraghty.

Saracens: A Goode; N Cato, K Ratuvou (R Haughton, 52-59), B Barritt, C Wyles (Haughton, 74); G Jackson (D Hougaard, 67), N De Kock (J Marshall, 78); R Gill (T Mercey, 52), S Brits, C Nieto (R Skuse, 65), S Borthwick (capt), H Vyvyan (M Botha, 52), W Van Heerden (M Owen, 58, F Ongaro, 76), A Saull, E Joubert.

Northampton: B Foden; P Diggin, J Clarke, J Downey, B Reihana; S Geraghty, L Dickson; S Tonga'uiha, D Hartley (capt), S Bonorino (B Mujati, 52), I Fernandez Lobbe (C Lawes, 52), J Kruger, P Dowson, S Gray (N Best, 62), R Wilson.

Referee: A Small (London).

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon