Guinness Premiership Round 4

Saracens vs Northampton Saints

27th September 2008, KO 2:45pm

Vicarage Road, Watford

Attendance: 7,409

Author: SAINT_aitch

At the last minute we were forced to drop Neil Best due to an RFU citing and this forced Jim and Dorian to shuffle the squad around slightly. Mark Hopley got his first start of the season and the recent poor kicking form of Bruce Reihana saw him move out to the right wing replacing Chris Ashton who didn't even get a slot on the bench whilst Steven Myler would take on the role of full back. Sarries were their usual strong and dynamic team with strength, depth, speed and power throughout. I had no doubts it would be tough to come away with a win but could we make a better impression here than we did at Kingston Park? Could we at least come away with a point?

My viewing position for the game was, once again, in the lower Rous. A poor place to try and capture a lot of detail for a game of rugby but I moved a little more central and a little higher when I realised that the 20 thousand odd seater stadium was not even half capacity. This unfortunately adds to the poor atmosphere I always find at VR and it was made worse during the game when all of Mylers shots at goal were accompanied by hooters, whistles and the ever present drums of the Saracen hoards.

The game.

Some early fumbling from the Saracens kick off saw Myler's first touch off the game as he cleared his line for a line out near the 50M line. The resultant play brought the first penalty of the match to Saints near the 5 metre line. A poor kick from Carlos to touch and Dylan's first line out strayed and Sarries stole the ball. Not a great start.

The game was fractious and tense with neither side looking to make much ground or take many risks and an offside infraction by Saints from a scrum just inside the Saints half looked to be fairly easy three points for Glen Jackson but the kick went wide and Carlos took the 22 drop out.

A kicking game ensued between Glen Jackson and Steven Myler with the latter eventually putting a little too much pace on the ball and it, disappointingly dribbled across the dead ball line.

The mood of the game continued in this vain with both side trying to gain as much ground as possible by kicking up field and penalties being awarded to both sides for infringements that I was a little unsure of but with no ref link and poor viewing position I just had to take Sir's word for it.

Finally, after some fifteen minutes of play, a line out for Sarries saw a good piece of ball play with the Sarries centres showing some good ball distribution but the Saints defence looked solid and not a great deal of ground was made. Both sets of centres were a good match for each other but this didn't last too long and another dead ball line kick (this time from Ansbro) led to a scrum near the 50 metre line - Sarries put in. Whilst we were waiting for the ball the cheerleaders started. Do we need this in rugby? I can't help thinking I am at a grid iron match and expect to be thrown a corn dog any second whilst listening to a local talent singing stars n' stripes!

The scrum (yes, try and stay with us here chaps...remember the dead ball line kick before the cheerleaders) resulted in a kick down field and Myler calling the mark. His clearance gave Sarries another decent line out and more flowing cross field play from them and awarded another penalty near the Saints 22 but once again, Glen Jackson could not convert.

With 28 minutes still on the clock James Downey was subbed for Chris Mayor.

All of the play so far had been in the Saints half and it was surely just a matter of time before Sarries crossed the white wash. Could the Saints defence keep them out?

More kicking and a further penalty gave Carlos the chance to get out of the Saints half and sure enough we have a line out on the Sarries 10 metre line but this only led to a knock on by Chris Mayor and the ball is back in Sarries hands at the scrum from which Neil De Kock had a good break back into the Saints half. A forward pass gave Saints the scrum put in though and another penalty on the half way line and the resultant line out that followed saw Neil De Kock's kick knocked down. It was all very ‘bitty' and time was ticking away.

Finally though, after more line outs and kicking in both directions Sir whistles for a penalty to Saints on the Sarries 22 metre line and Bruce asks Myler to kick for goal. Suddenly the Sarries supporters come to life and the majority of the 7,000 crowd start making a noise as Myler lines up his kick but the noise did not put him off.

24 minutes gone, 0-3.

The game continued in the same vein as before with kicking being predominant and line outs going in favour of Sarries. Myler seemed to be in the right place at the right time but the game is still not flowing very well and eventually another penalty for Sarries near the half way line gave Glen Jackson the chance to level the scores. He slotted this one perfectly.

31 minutes gone 3-3.

The restart saw a scrum to Saints for a knock on which took an age to get right but eventually led to a break for Bruce which had me out of my chair for the first time only for Sir to call him back, why I am not sure and Sarries had another penalty. More kicking, and more line outs followed but Saints did look to be getting the upper hand now including a lovely floated pass from Carlos out to Dylan and some great play in the Sarries 22 resulting in yet another penalty to Saints near the Sarries 10 metre line. The hooters, drums and jeering started again as Myler slotted the kick

36 minutes gone 3-6.

Again Saints looked to have the edge from the restart and Ansbro had another break through, I was out of my chair for the second time but alas, Sir saw a forward pass and he blew the whistle for half time.

Half Time Saracens 3-6 Saints

During half time, as the TV adverts were booming out from the huge screen and the cheerleaders were displaying their latest routine, I pondered that Saracens would have had the better territory during the half but Saints looked the stronger in the last 20 minutes of play. Could they capitalise on it?

Second Half

Unfortunately the second half started in pretty much the same way that the first half did with plenty of kicking between both ends of the ground, a scrum to Saints and more good defending from both teams. Chris Jack was subbed for Ben Skirving and Myler is awarded another chance to kick at the posts with just 5 minutes gone. He converts again and the cushion is now 6 points.

5 minutes gone 3-9

The game did start to open up and it appeared that both sides now wanted to start making more opportunities and run the ball. Sarries were gaining more ground but a sudden break from Carlos ended with a knock on.

Substitution for Saints Alex Rae for Nacho Lobbe.

The scrum saw a kicking game again but this time Myler, under pressure had to touch down for a 22 drop out. The ensuing battle saw a good run of play from the Saints centres and a couple of handling errors from Sarries but ends in a scrum on the Sarries 5 metres line. Sarries defence holds firm and the ball is cleared to half way after Sarries are awarded a penalty.

Sarries sub Chris Wyles replaces Richard Haughton.

Saints sub Ben Foden replaces Lee Dixon

The resultant line out saw more strong defending from Saints and Sarries gained no ground and the ball was cleared.

Saints sub Tom Smith and Barry Stewart replaced Tiny and Euan Murray

Twenty five minutes were left on the clock and the game still didn't look as though it was going in anyone's direction. Saints were looking slower now and Sarries had replaced a lot of their big names probably due to their mid week game away to Bristol on Wednesday although on current form that shouldn't be a difficult match for them.

More strong defending from Saints led to another indiscretion and Sir blew for a penalty near the half way line. This time Jackson converted well.

17 minutes gone 6-9

The resultant kick off saw the ball bounce around and look a bit messy in the Sarries 5 metre area with the ball eventually being kicked out to Myler in the Sarries 22 who successfully went for a drop goal. The lad really showed great ball play today.

18 minutes gone 6-12

It looked like it would be an afternoon of penalties and opportunistic kicking but I was getting to the point where I would be satisfied with that, a win is a win after all and we did seem to have the upper hand now. It wasn't to last though and the resultant kick off saw some strong scrumaging from both side until Sir blew for yet another penalty to Sarries 20 metres out from Saints line. Chris Wyles took over the kicking duties and slotted this one.

20 minutes gone 9-12

The restart did not go 5 metres and strong attacking and defending from this, and following scrums was, once again evident. Play continues in this vain into the Saints 5 metres area when suddenly, and for reasons I, and people around me were unsure of, Sir sends Ben Foden to the sin bin. This was not looking good now as we were down to 14 men and Sarries had a scrum on our 5 metre line. The ELV's of course mean that our defence is behind the white wash and a huge gap between the scrum and the defence just smells of trouble. Sure enough, fast ball from the scrum out to (I believe) Chris Wyles sends Penney across the white wash for the first try of the game converted by Glen Jackson.

26 minutes gone 16-12

More Saracens substitutions followed including Cobus Visagie on for Cencus Johnston.

All play now seemed to be back in the Saints end of the pitch and Sarries attack looked strong. It was only a matter of time before they pushed hard enough to cause further damage. Scrums and penalties ensued and Saints done the best they could to keep the marauding horde at bay but it was in vain and Sir's yellow card was brandished again, this time at Dylan and Sarries were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. With our hooker just being sin binned, they pounced on the opportunity and called for a scrum. Paul Shields came on in place of Christian Day.

Sarries second try was seconds away and was under the posts directly from the scrum scored by their number 8 Michael Owen and easily converted.

32 minutes gone 23-12

The final 8 minutes of play saw some strong running play but still more scrums and finally a penalty to Sarries on the half way line which Gordon Ross converted.

38 minutes gone 26-12

That pretty much summed the game up and the last few minutes consisted of yet another line out, a knock on, and one more scrum before Sir blew the whistle on what was, at best a mediocre game.

Final Score Saracens 26-12 Saints

Man of the Match Michael Owen

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