By Gregory P
March 29 2015
On a grey day in a grey suburb of London the score was black and white: Sarries were emphatic victors by 42 – 14. While we could grumble about Chris Ashton’s grounding of the ball for one of his tries or maybe some obstruction for the other, the score board didn’t lie and Quins got tonked by a tough old unit. Watching Quins this season has been like a trip to the dentist – necessary but likely to be painful. As the second half wore on this was root canal work without the anaesthetic. Only my match reporting duties stopped me making for an early exit.
Unexpectedly the match exploded into life like a champagne cork out a bottle as Jack Clifford charged down de Kock’s clearance and controlled an awkward bouncing ball to touch down with only seconds gone. Maybe, just maybe, it was time to end (according to Planet Rugby) a run of 13 – yes a baker’s dozen – of losses against the men in black. The last win was in the glory year of 2012 and our failure to beat Saracens since then in any competition surely encapsulates the club’s narrow recruitment and budgetary policy?
Nev found the touchline kick too difficult, but Sarries shrugged off the start and began to throw the ball around. It felt a bit like England and France from a week ago. Quins matched Sarries for ambition and soon worked an opening in Sarries half. Yarde spilt the ball with a bigish gap – and probably the line – beckoning. The failure to take chances has been a feature of the season. Sarries bounced back with the human rubber ball Strettle finding space and beating men with ease. Ominously big Billy V began to truck it back at us from the many aimless kicks we hoofed towards the Sudbury area. Nev, Yarde-y and Chis all took it in turns to play kick tennis. Alex Goode - and at club level he really looks class – decided we needed a tie break and finally ran it back at us from an aimless punt from Ugo. He slipped it to Bosch who saw he had Charlie Matthews in front of him and skinned him like a rabbit. Quick hands and good support lines saw off the Quins’ cover in the blink of an eye and Wyles finished it under the posts. Charlie Hodgson added the extras and 7-5 it was.
Quins hit back quickly with some time in Sarries red zone but it cratered with a fumble from Hopper – frankly he’s not had a great season and he’s spilt more than BP in the Gulf of Mexico. Strettle picked up the loose ball and ran it back at us. His kick on forced Ugo to clear up and hold on too long in our 22. Ping went Barnes and Ugo went to sit in economy class for 10 minutes. Hodgson added the goal for 10-5 at 13 minutes in. To our credit there was a quick reposte – a Dave Ward turnover – and how many times have we said that this season – and some pressure on Sarries gave us a penalty for not releasing. Nev did the honours and 12-8 it was.
Quins then conceded a penalty on about half way but Wayne Barnes gave Sarries a further ten for either the ball being kicked away or something Marler or Robshaw said. Either way, it was brainless and took the kick into Charlie Hodgson’s range. He missed the kick but from the drop out Sarries produced quick ball and handled it wide. Ashton knowing that the full back was where the bench warming winger should have been, and no one was at home behind, dinked a classy chip over and outgassed everyone to the touch down. From 120 yards away it looked it a bit messy and maybe worth a review with the TMO. The ref just stuck his arm up and that was that. A replay that I saw on the big screen after the game showed a clear fumble on touch down but Ashton deserved his luck with a top drawer finish. Stuart Lancaster – are you watching? The conversion was missed and 15-8 at 26 minutes gone.
We then had a comedy moment as Dave Ward, Wayne Barnes and George Kruis formed a very unlikely threesome by falling over each other in midfield. Barnes was thankfully unhurt and on the resumption Quins parked themselves in Sarries 22. Like an errant bank customer we spent a long time in the red zone without showing any sign of getting out of it and into the black. Again, how many times has that been said this season? If we’d have scored – and there were chances – it would have levelled it at 15 all and maybe made it a different game? It fizzled out with a holding on penalty to Sarries – with full credit to their defence. From then on most of the action seemed to take place in Quins’ half and on 32 minutes the dominance was converted into a penalty for not rolling away in our 22. Just for a change Alex Goode knocked it over and suddenly the Sarries rear lights were moving away from us at 18-8. Sarries have plenty of kicking options with Hodgson, Goode and even Bosch for the howitzers from long range. We only have plan A – Nev – and maybe we need to think about that? Goode added another three points – albeit it went like a drunk 5 iron – but 21-8 it was and stayed that way until half time. During the last few minutes of the half Kyle Sinckler went off injured and Matt Shields came on. He’s a big lad and may well turn into a good addition to the squad but the first scrum went pear shaped as soon as he was on, and we struggled on our ball from then on. Barnesy was having no back chat and marched up us back another ten and we were definitely creaking as the first 40 expired.
If the first half began like a champagne cork out a bottle, the second – from Quins’ point of view – was the gentle hiss of a bottle of light ale being opened and then slowly going very flat. The second 40 felt so one sided they may as well have painted one way signs on the pitch rather than sponsor’s logos. That said we had a moment of righteous indignation when Goode blocked a Danny Care kick and chase. Barnesy – maybe feeling guilty for not giving us that one – soon gave us a penalty in range for Nev which took it to 21-11 at about 46 minutes gone. Maybe it was losing Clifford temporarily – easily our best forward, again – or Wigglesworth injecting some pace, but we seemed to spend the rest of the game firmly on the back foot. From a Sarries line out quick ball was sent wide through hands and – give or take a possible obstruction in mid-field – Sarries cut a massive hole through our first phase defence and Ashton finished in style. Goode added a difficult conversion to make it 28-11. Quins again had a quick reply, and following another tryless spell in the red, Nev converted a penalty to make it 28-14 with 57 minutes gone.
At this point the game as a spectacle fell apart: a number of substitutions were made; treatments for injuries; much general farting about took place and then two scrums seemed to eat up four or five minutes in which precisely bugger all happened. Sarries – perhaps sensing the scrum equivalent of Ground Hog Day- finally ran a free kick rather than re-setting the scrum to end the tedium. The consequence of the delay was both savage and inevitable – like a Genie out of a bottle Senor Wave appeared with a vengeance. Say what you like about them – and we usually do on the message board – the crowd made a good, nosiy job of it.
Back at the sports fixture that was interrupting the Mexican Wave Sarries kicked a penalty to the corner…..and now let’s all play “Guess the outcome”. Well, I’d have lost a lot of money on it as Sarries failed to roll the resulting maul over our line and in the end gave up possession. It led to a counter attack from Quins being ended by Chris Ashton deciding to plant Matt Hopper into the Wembley turf. It wasn’t the worst spear tackle I’ve seen by a long way and Hopper was no worse for it, but still a bit brainless. Barnsey produced yellow and Ashton, with less than 10 minutes left, could allow himself the luxury of an early bath and a good reminder to Mr Lancaster in the bag.
We couldn’t get out of our half with the resulting penalty and crisp work from Sarries – with only fourteen on the pitch - saw Dave Strettle follow up a hanging kick from Wigglesworth with an improbable but highly effective volley. Harry Kane: who are you! Wyles, benefitting from that session with Giroud in midweek, dribbled on the loose ball (no, not literally) and made the chasing Yarde look pedestrian as he touched down for a good score. Goode again added the extras and 35-14 reflected Sarries’ grip on the game.
Like all good sides, Sarries keep their foot on the oppo’s throat once they’ve got them down. Another conceded penalty; another kick to the corner and cue the music for “Guess the outcome”. I got my losses back this time as predictably Sarries caught it and drove over with some ease and Billy V – who had a cracking full 80 given what he’d done at HQ last Saturday – got his name on the lengthening score sheet. Goode added the extras to make it 42-14. That was fourteen points conceded from fourteen men in less than ten minutes. To Goode's eternal credit he stretched out the teeing up time long enough to run down the clock. Barnsey blew to what was by then a half empty stadium, and fourteen in a row it was.
DOK also asked me to comment on the day out at “Wember-lee”. He doesn’t appreciate that he’s paying me by the word so here goes……
Judging by the message board this week you’d think that the worst job in rugby was going to Wembley to watch Quins play Sarries. I’d always thought the worst job in rugby was any one of: being a season ticket holder at London Welsh; boil washing the Gloucester front five’s jock straps after a night on the lash circa 1973; or changing the dressing on Martin Catrogiovanni’s piles at half time in a cold and damp Welford Road medical room. But apparently I am wrong…..it’s going to HA9 to watch the men in black. On the board we’ve assembled a charge sheet against the game longer than Al Capone’s rap sheet ……so is it really that bad?
My view is – inevitably – subjective and there is no right or wrong answer to this particular venture in rugby’s moral maze. However, I paid £27.50 for a seat and…..
This is the fourth time I’ve been to see this fixture and I will go again. The hooplah doesn’t put me off and I understand why Sarries do it and what they are trying to achieve. While you may not like what they do, they are fundamentally trying to make the club more profitable (or perhaps less loss making) and to add to rugby’s audience. I’ve seen the crowds grow for the game over the times I’ve been and I hope Sarries can continue to build the fixture.
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Quote:Squawker2
Many thanks for an excellent report by this visiting Sarries fan - as well as a good run-through of the stadium itself
We ourselves quite often get irked with some of our marketing strategies, but I think over the last couple of years we've progressed from some being truly awful to a few merely irritating ones.
Quote:talkshowhost86
Having not been to the Allianz, do they do the same sorts of things for the normal games there?
Particularly:
1. The constant playing of music simply because the game has stopped for a few seconds; and
2. The 'sponsored by' stuff.
Quote:InsertQuinsPunHere
Really like the idea of the player choosing their own try celebration music.