Then one day the team travelled to France where they played a team who had a magician. The French team not only won but they were beautiful. Afterwards the rugby team from north London asked the Magician if he would come and help them be beautiful too but the magician said no because he liked living in France. However he did give them some magic to make them beautiful as well. But he warned them that the magic would not last forever and that every time they kicked the ball high into the sky a little of the magic would fall off. The rugby team from north London were very happy that now they too could be beautiful but when they took the field again they soon forgot what the magician had said about kicking the ball high in the sky and before long all the magic had gone and they were ugly once again.  

What they didn’t know was that they had a magician of their own if only they could see him.  

This was supposed to be the day when Saracens showed their true mettle. Top against bottom, first against last, winners against losers. This was the day we would show them we really can play, that we deserve to be top of the league, that everyone else needs to sit up and take notice. But this is no ordinary rugby football club, this is Saracens rugby football club and since when was anything at Saracens ever easy. 

On paper the team looked strong – probably our first choice 15 and the team we should have sent to France last week. They had to be too strong for the league’s new boys didn’t they? Didn’t they? 

As 3 o’clock chimed the mid day drizzle had passed and the sun shone on a lovely autumn afternoon (although the floodlights being on were a reminder of the dark days to come). Glen Jackson got the game underway and almost straight away a kick to the corner just beat Chris Wyles into touch. Shortly after, the first of a series of incomprehensible reset scrums (to Mr Rose at least) resulted in a Saracens penalty which Jackson should have kicked but didn’t. We probably should have guessed at this point that it was not going to be Glen’s day and let’s face it, when Glen has a bad game so does the rest of the team. From the drop out Sarries again attacked and Leeds conceded a 2^nd penalty which this time Jackson converted. 3-0 after 5 minutes. 

From the restart the ball entered the Sarries half for the 1^st time but not for long and Sarries were soon on the attack again. Another chip to the corner found touch on the 5m line with Cato in hot pursuit. From the resulting line out a succession of high balls did nothing much for either side and apart from a couple of breaks from Alex Goode it was all distinctly uninspiring. 

At the next scrum Leeds were awarded a penalty (some sort of pattern here) which Ceiron Thomas converted for 3-3. More uninspiring play, long clearances and dropped balls eventually led to a 2^nd Sarries penalty for not releasing which Glen converted for 6-3 after 20 minutes. Jackson had a kick charged down then failed to find touch from another penalty (26 awarded in all by Mr Rose apparently – 1 every 3 minutes!). Eventually Leeds cleared their lines and were awarded yet another penalty, I think for offside, which Thomas again kicked for parity. 6-6 Both sides continued to give the ball away and the play was decidedly dull. On 22 minutes Marshall was replaced (apparently a calf strain although he played happily with his little boy at half time) and de Kock at least injected a sense of urgency into the play.  His pass out wide to Wyles was knocked on due to pressure from the excellent Fourie and Leeds were awarded a scrum on the their own 5m line. Surely the time for our mighty front row to exert themselves. But no, we then watched numerous collapses and resets before Leeds were awarded a penalty (after all, it was their turn!). 

Sarries managed a bit of attacking play with the ball being passed out wide and back again. On 33 minutes, Ratuvou collected and was almost through before he was illegally stopped. Thomas was sent to the bin for 10 minutes. Sarries opted for an attacking 5m scrum, Saull pealed off the back with the ball and was almost over. The ball was recycled and quick passing from Goode found Cato on his wing and heading for the line. A superb tackle from Seru Rabeni clattered him into the corner flag and the ball was knocked on. Leeds again won a penalty from the resulting scrum (think Mr Rose miscounted because actually it was Sarries turn) but with their fly half off the pitch, Leigh Hinton made a hash of the clearance. Leeds just won the line out but with scrappy ball and good work from Sarries prevented them from getting the ball clear. Eventually Brits (who was otherwise excellent) knocked on and Leeds were awarded a scrum. 

Leeds believed they had scored a try when Fourie thought he had pounced on a lapse by Goode in failing to touch the ball down from Hinton’s kick on but Touch Judge Maybank ruled in Goode’s favour. From my view point in the south stand it was impossible to see what happened but Leeds felt aggrieved. Sarries finally cleared the ball back into their own half which Brits picked up and ran through the middle showing Leeds a clean pair of heels. He passed to Jackson who passed on to Goode and out to Ratuvou who handed off 2 tacklers before evading Hinton and finally went over in the corner on the stroke of half time. Jackson missed the conversion but at half time Sarries led 11-6 and there was just a glimmer that maybe the second half would be better. 

As the second half started the couple in front of me had already voted with their feet and departed. On 42 minutes Leeds were awarded a penalty for not rolling away which Thomas converted for 11-9. (The more numerate among you will have worked out that 42 minus 33 is only in fact 9 so perhaps he shouldn’t have been back on the pitch?) From the restart Sarries attacked and were awarded a penalty which Goode took quickly but as the ball was then knocked on was retaken due to Leeds not being 10m. Jackson turned down the kick at goal and kicked for the corner to much applause. From the line out Sarries formed a maul which rumbled deep into the Leeds 22 before the ball came out to Barritt and on to Ratuvou who went over for his 2^nd try. Jackson converted for 18-9. 2 tries scored, 23 minutes to go maybe the bonus point was on afterall. There was an air of anticipation among the crowd. Come on Sarries!!! 

Within a minute Sarries conceded yet another penalty for not releasing and Thomas narrowed the deficit to 18-12. Sarries replaced Gill & Nieto with Aguero & Skuse . Another fine run from Brits won Sarries a penalty. After considerable discussion with Borths and the referee Jackson went for the posts – and predictably missed. Amid more substitutions including the welcome arrival of Vyvyan, Sarries lost the ball which was picked up by Ma’asi and chipped deep into their own 22 – and was touched down safely by none other than the versatile Brits. Jackson’s 22 drop out went sideways and didn’t leave the 22. Mr Rose awarded a scrum to Leeds. I am not qualified to comment but it seemed an odd decision. That was enough for the good Doctor to replace Jackson with Hougaard and for once the substitution of Vicarage Road’s favourite no 10 was greeted with applause. Cato tackled Gomez well as he set off for the Sarries line and Sarries made things even worse for themselves by loosing their own line out on their own 22. For perhaps the first time in the match Leeds looked capable of scoring but good Sarries defence & more good work by Brits prevailed. Leeds compounded their error by missing a penalty kick. 20 minutes left for Sarries to show their true colours.  

But all they produced was more of the same – more long kicks, more knock ons, more errors. Brits was replaced with the loudest round of applause by Reynecke. Leeds won a penalty and went for a long touch which was acrobatically kept in play by Wyles on the far touch line. Sarries set up a promising maul which seemed to have been pulled down but instead Leeds were awarded a knock on. More trouble at the scrum and it was Leeds’ turn again to get the penalty. Melck replaced Saull.  

Leeds again looked dangerous as Rabeni attacked through the middle but the move disintegrated with a penalty to Sarries for not releasing. A promising move resulted as Goode passed the ball out to Joubert who headed for the line but was caught before he saw Cato outside him and knocked on. Meantime Goode was almost garrotted off the ball.  

With 10 minutes to go Sarries were at least still trying to go for the bonus point whilst never really looking like getting it. With just a few minutes left Hougaard made an appalling hash of a drop goal but he already had been awarded the penalty which he duly converted to put Sarries 21-12 ahead. Leeds won a scrum from a forward pass and everyone in the stands could see Thomas lining up for the drop goal which he duly converted to give Leeds a well-earned bonus point. Perhaps Sarries felt they deserved it too. 

With just 30 secs left on the clock Hougaard went off with a tight hamstring and at last Alex Goode, the magician’s apprentice stepped up to fly half. But even he couldn’t conjure anything up in such a short time and de Kock kicked the ball out for a win that felt more like a defeat. 

In the post match interview Borth’s admitted “we were wasteful, we got away with it today but we need to be more ruthless. We didn’t build an innings”.  “Today we were good enough to win, we weren’t great today. We need to be better in the future.” 

So are we being over critical. After all we have won 6 out of 6 and sit proudly at the top of the Premiership. But it isn’t pretty to watch and every time it has been a struggle. The Coronary Care Unit at Watford General will be receiving plenty of business if this continues throughout the season. Of those 6 victories we have only once denied our opponents a losing bonus point (against Quins away) and our winning margins have been 4, 3, 13, 3, 7 and 6. On the other hand we have scored 10 tries (only Irish Wasps & Saints have scored more) but conceded only 3 (only Leicester have conceded less). Only Irish (96) & Wasps (55) have a better points difference and we have more points overall than the lot of them. 

With the Autumn Internationals coming up and the EDF allowing us a bit of experimentation, I think it’s time to give Goode a run at 10. We will never know if he has that bit of magic unless we give him a chance. The experiment with Jake Sharp was interesting but surely Goode is our (and maybe) England’s future number 10. Jackson hasn’t had a great season so far. Hougaard is a far more adequate deputy than we have had for some time but Goode has to be the way forward. Come on Doctor, time for the magician’s apprentice to take centre stage. 

Scores:-3-0 3-3 6-3 6-6 11-6 11-9 18-9 21-9 21-12 21-15 Scorers:-

Saracens: Tries Ratuvou (2), Convs Jackson, Pens Jackson (2) Hougaard

Leeds: Pens Thomas (4), DG Thomas 

Saracens:-Goode, Cato, Ratuvou, Barritt, Wyles, Jackson (Hougaard, Tagicakibau) Marshall (de Kock) Gill (Aguero) Brits (Reynecke) Nieto (Skuse) Borthwick Botha (Vyvyan) Van Heerden, Saull (Melck) Joubert 

Leeds:-Hinton (Paul), Welding, Rabeni, Barrow, Blackett (Fa’afili), Thomas, Gomersall (Mathie), McGee (Hardy), Nisen (Ma’asi), Gomez (Swainston), Murphy (Lund), Wentzel, Myall (Clark), Fourie, To’oala 

Attendance 7,123 

Man of the Match: Kameli Ratuvou 

Referee :    David Rose  

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