The first surprises of the evening came with the team announcements; the return of Andy Goode at 10, the appearance of Paul Bailey on the right wing, Richard Haughton moving to full back and the return of Thomas Castaignede on the bench all seemed to suggest that there was a masterplan to get at least something out of the game.

The first 20 minutes of the game were pretty forgettable, 2 penalties from Braam van Straaten giving Sharks a 6-0 lead. Virtually no flowing rugby was being played, both sides struggling to get to grips with the freezing temperatures. Sarries briefly threatened before our far-too-frequent failing of not defending the rolling maul gave Sharks a 13-0 lead, Chris Jones being picked up from the bottom of the pile.

A penalty from 40 metres out for Andy Goode gave us some hope at 13-3, this being matched by Van Straaten, following a Ben Russell sin-binning, to give Sharks a 16-3 halftime lead.

The second half exposed all of Sarries’ failings, again. For the record, the Sharks scored two tries through Stewart (rolling maul from a lineout) and Cueto (Haughton failing to gather a grubber from Hodgson), van Straaten adding the conversions and a penalty to take his personal haul to 18 points and make the final score 33-3. The Sharks’ 8-9-10 of Jones, Walshe (then Redpath) and Hodgson controlled the game for the Sharks and gave their fans a glimpse of the potential for the rest of this season. Both scrum halves were electric, Hodgson ran the game – assertive play from players at the top of their games.

We could only really take two positives from the game; firstly, we wore the right kit this year. Secondly, the performance of TC when he came on at half time (for an obviously not fit Andy Goode) showed he still cares about his performance and the club, massively. He tried to get things moving, making breaks and trying to get over the gain line every time – his injection of enthusiasm and pace was as good as it got. If he is going to play like that every week, then he will be a mighty addition for the rest of the season.

However, it was the Saracens performance over the whole game which gave massive cause for concern. As an attacking force, we seem to have plan A (give it to Haughton) and, well, that’s it really. The players are all putting in the effort, no doubt, but the decision-making is poor and the execution of those decisions is worse. There is no real excuse. At the end of the game, 9 of the 19 players who Sarries had used have been capped by their countries – you don’t get to that level without showing exceptional mental and physical ability. Sad to say, not one of those players is currently showing international form in Sarries colours.

Other perennial problems include the line-out, on our throw and the opposition’s, the proliferation of missed first tackles and the constant sideways running lines of backs and forwards alike. A period of play just before half time summed it up – we had a line out on our 10 metre line. We won it, having scrabbled around on the floor to tidy it up and then went through roughly 10 phases of recycled possession. The whistle went for a knock-on still on our 10 metre line, but right by the touchline on the other side of the pitch. That was symptomatic of the evening – no penetration from the runners, no drive and no success.

The phrase “it’s lucky Rotherham are in the league” has never been truer than it is now. Many more performances like the one at Edgeley Park and Roth may be a lot closer to us next May than people believe.

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