17 points in arrears after just 15 mins of the game, apart from a few minutes of good rugby after Shane Geraghty and Juan Leguizamon went off injured at the start of the 2nd half when Delon Armitage scored a scintillating try to the right of the posts, LI as a team was second best most of the game.

A curious situation because to my eye, individually there were some very good performances from LI players. Delon at full back, the wingers, Nils (named LI Man of the Match), Sheila, Riki, Tonga, Robbie Russell, Hudson, Big Bob, Magne and Murphy all had very good games. There were moments such as Delon being stood up by Ratuvou for the 1st try, Hudson not looking where he was passing to destroy a 4 to 1 overlap at the start of the 2nd half and Big Bob setting off up field by himself after generating a great turnover when LI had what looked like a 6 to 1 to the right.

As a team however we made very few clean breaks, were guilty in the first half of not making enough 1st up tackles and of seemingly playing the wrong game plan. Against what looked like a very heavy Sarries pack, the idea seemed to be to move them around the pitch by throwing the ball wide and in one sense, given the number of penalties awarded to LI it worked. But if the aim is to tire the opposition forwards, you have to have a game plan which exploits them tiring. If we did it wasn’t evident last night.

Curious also was the contrast between the frenetic activity on the pitch when LI had the ball in hand and the lack of pace put on the game by LI at lineouts , 2nd phase delivery and general play. If you want to speed up the game then you need to know what to do without the huddle. Maybe LI should take a leaf out of the American Football play book with a ‘no huddle’ offense. It may even make referees like Chris White more conscious of the opposition slowing down tactics and be keener to reach for the Yellow Card in a game when the ratio of Penalty Kicks went heavily against Sarries in favour of LI. Not quite as bad as Wasps but bad enough.

Lastly, if our major attacking option is the offload from the tackle then our handling needs to improve substantially. I lost count of the number of our attacks which ended with knock-ons.

My sparse notes show the following events as the key moments of the game (times from the Countdown Clock):

37 mins - Sarries score in the corner after a dummy run holds the LI midfield defence and Delon is stood up by Ratuvou one on one. G Jackson misses the conversion. 0 - 5

35 mins – 1st PK to LI for foul play by K Chesney in LI 22

32 mins – 2nd PK to LI as K Chesney doesn’t roll away from the tackle but S Geraghty hits the post with the kick. Sarries clearing kick is partially charged down but SG misses with a drop goal attempt

30 mins – 3rd PK to LI for in at the side and not rolling away but from the subsequent play, Sarries hack a dropped pass down the East Stand touch line and the ball eventually bounces up and T Castegneide is put away to score. G Jackson participates in the Soccer A.M. crossbar challenge and gets the T-Shirt. 0 – 12
From the restart, we miss the 1st tackle and it takes a brilliant tackle by Sheila on Ratuvou as he kicks ahead. I’m surprised Ratuvou gets up. I know I wouldn’t have been able to. As the game goes on Sheila’s tackling gets fiercer and fiercer. What a shame Tiesi is injured. I hope we see them together in the centre next season. They can have their own competition on who tackles hardest!

25 mins – 4th PK to LI for in at the side. However, we contrive to lose possession and miss more 1st tackles until G Jackson scores on the left. As he lines up the conversion the scoreboard shows LI 0 – Sarries 0. Wish it was. 0 – 17

19 mins – 1st PK to Sarries for collapsing the scrum. Looks like a slip but Chris White has just spoken to the front rows and maybe Tonga didn’t hold back enough on the reset.

18 mins SG nearly throws an interception pass because we’re trying to force the pace of the game in broken play

14 mins – PK to LI for more foul play by Sarries loose head which SG kicks well into the corner but we lose the resulting lineout

8 mins – brilliant kick by T Castegneide takes Sarries to 5 metres but LI defend well.

2 mins – G Jackson misses a drop goal opportunity

Half-Time

My notes say that while we’re running the ball, SG is not playing flat enough.
38 mins – good defence play by Delon and Tagi

37 mins – one of the most astonishing plays I’ve ever seen by a 10 as SG doesn’t just make a break, he has the Sarries defence parting like the Red Sea. LI end up with a 4 to 1 on the right but Hudson doesn’t look where he’s passing and JL (I think by the war dance afterwards) drops the pass. SG has crocked his leg and limps off. If it’s from the break then he needs to be careful – he’s putting his ligaments and tendons at serious risk.

33 mins – Mordt is on and Flutey moves into the 10 spot. He’s immediately up on the gain line and we look more threatening. JL is tackled on the left and is carried off to be replaced by Spud. The LI game lifts further and we power in on the right as Delon breaks a tackle and steps through to score and convert his own try. The start of a fight-back? 7 – 17

25 mins – 2 LI kicks ahead see both Flutey and Delon blocked by Sarries players stepping into their paths but C White isn’t interested and Sarries break forward. Hudson makes a brilliant tackle and forces a knock-on to stop what looks like a certain Sarries try.

19 mins – DA tries a penalty from the half way line but misses just to the left

5 mins – Sarries get the bonus point despite DA’s cracking shoulder charge as Sarries chip into the corner. Good skill to score. 7 – 22

Summary
We were beaten by the better side – Alan Gaffney is no mug having been involved with Munster from 2002 to 2005 and has made Sarries the perennial underachievers of recent years into a force to be reckoned with. He certainly seems to have outthought our team twice in the last 8 weeks.

We could have done so much better – 1st up tackling, knock-ons, better decision making but mostly if we want to put pace on a game then it involves doing everything quickly and not just when the ball is in play. Time for the ‘no huddle, hurry up’ offence.

RT

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