Quantcast

SINGING IN THE RAIN


By Sully08
November 12 2016

The Anglo Welsh cup returned to Allianz Park on Saturday with Saracens taking on Newcastle Falcons. The teams took different approaches to first round losses with Saracens making just 3 changes to their starting line up from those who missed out from a winning position at Gloucester. The most interesting of the 3 saw Nathan Earle starting his first game since his return from NZ on the left wing. Falcons took the opposite approach with just 3 players retained in their starting line up from their loss at home to Saints - centres Burdon & Willis and back rower Tyrone Holmes surrounded by 12 new faces.

 Neither side could dominate the first half with Newcastle struggling to win their own line outs (4 of the first 5 lost) but Saracens were unable to capitalise with knock ons and poor kicking preventing any momentum in the match. Newcastle however made the most of a yellow card for Nick Iwiekwe after 13 minutes for not moving away in front of the posts. Ten points were scored while he was off the pitch starting with a penalty by Brett Connor. The Newcastle game plan was fairly simple in giving the ball to their Tongan no 8 Fonua who made good ground on most carries. After some poor defending Fonua bundled over under the posts and the try was converted by Connor. Iwiekwe returned and Fenby led a strong counter attack to take Sarries into the 22. A grubber kick in the midfield and good chase led to a Tompkins try converted by Whiteley after 25 minutes.

After a penalty missed by Whiteley the game fell into a pattern of kicks waiting for the other team to make a mistake. Newcastle got to within 3 meters of the line but good work from Kelly Brown led to a penalty to Saracens to clear the lines. As the half ended Saracens went upfield and after being unable to make anything of a penalty advantage Whiteley evened the scores at 10:10. Good work from Conlon and Brown and also Fenby at the back in the first 40 but their No 8 was a big threat and it was a surprise to see him substituted at half time replaced by Harrison Orr.

The second half started with Sarries taking the field first clearly keen to take control of the game but the error count continued to mount on both sides. A 50 yard penalty for Newcastle was nailed by Connor to take Newcastle ahead again. A strong reply saw Whiteley hit the post from a penalty and Tompkins on the follow up knocking on with the line in sight. More substitutions saw De Kock, Thompson-Stringer and Perkins on for Taylor, Barrington and Fenby after 50 minutes. Sarries then finally took control of the game. A great kick chase and catch by Earle was again wasted but Sarries turned over the scrum and a 12 man maul saw Scott Spurling cross over in Strettle corner and Whiteley converted well from wide out. With 20 minutes to go a great run by Kelly Brown led to a penalty and 5 metre line out which Jared Saunders was able to touch down after confirmation by the touch judge. Whiteley converted to make the score 24:13.

The game continued with more kicking and errors including a knock on by Kelly Brown with the try line beckoning. With 11 minutes to go a dangerous tip tackle by Willis on Tompkins led to a red card and following a scrum and fast work by De Kock going right, good hands for once saw Perkins finish in the corner to give Saracens the bonus point. Whiteley hit the post again from the touchline but the game was all but over now. It was definitely over for Thompson-Stringer who was helped off and later seen on crutches and in a medical boot.

Newcastle though kept going and a line out catch and drive saw the third try for a hooker with Socino going over in the corner. With the game in the dying minutes there were no breaks in play to allow Sweet Caroline to be sung and (whether coincidently following some feedback from the Leicester game) for the first time it was played briefly after the final whistle.

Man of the match was Joel Conlon who carried well all day. Downside were the injuries to Thompson-Stringer and second rower Mark Flanagan who limped off. But on a more positive note the kick chase of both wingers was excellent all day and Tompkins had another strong game. The Anglo Welsh has a break now till the six nations next year with Saracens in second place in their group, one point behind Saints who beat Gloucester today.

Saracens: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Mike Ellery, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Tom Griffiths, 11 Nathan Earle, 10 Tom Whiteley, 9 Henry Taylor; 1 Richard Barrington, 2 Scott Spurling, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 4 Nick Iwiekwe, 5 Mark Flanagan, 6 Joel Conlon, 7 Kelly Brown (c), 8 Samu Vunisa.
Rep: Jared Saunders, 17 Hayden Thompson-Stringer, 18 Billy Walker, 19 Jack Nay, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Neil De Kock, 22 Matt Gallagher, 23 George Perkins.

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Brett Connon, 14 Dan Marshall, 13 Fred Burdon (c), 12 Craig Willis, 11 Adam Radwan, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Sam Egerton; 1 Alex Rogers, 2 David Nelson, 3 Scott Wilson, 4 Mouritz Botha, 5 Glen Young, 6 Joshua Chisanga, 7 Tyrone Holmes, 8 Opeti Fonua.
Rep: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Harrison Orr, 20 Daniel Temm, 21 Ruaridh Dawson, 22 Ben Stevenson, 23 Tom Ffitch.

SCORERS:-
SARACENS (29): Tries: Tompkins, Spurling, Saunders, Perkins Conv: Whiteley (3); Pens: Whiteley (1)
NEWCASTLE (18) Tries: Fonua, Socino Conv: Connon (1) Pens Connon (2)
Attendance: 6,500 estimate as no official figure given
Man of the Match: Joel Conlon
Referee: Mike Adamson

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

SINGING IN THE RAIN
Discussion started by TheSaracens.com , 12/11/2016 22:41
TheSaracens.com
12/11/2016 22:41
Thanks Sully, excellent report and really nice to have some new talent



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016:11:27:21:02:04 by Darraghgirl.

The Bard
13/11/2016 10:43
Sounds a very fair summary! Thanks for that.

london pride
13/11/2016 21:12
Good report, interesting you estimated the attendance as 6,500.I think that's about right, perhaps a little generous. The Rugby Paper has the attendance as 7,807.So they must be right.Never in a month of Sundays.

TonyTaff
14/11/2016 17:51
Splendid report. Thanks muchly!

£721.05 (*) donated to the Saracens Foundation due to visits to the Sarries frontpage [www.rugbynetwork.net]

Please read and submit articles for publication.


(*) As at October 31, 2018.

JO'G
15/11/2016 07:19
to my mind the man of the match was Neil deKock who took the game away from Newcastle when he came on

His kicks from hand dropped in front of the back 3 allowing a few turnovers and he arrived at each ruck before the ball came out injecting pace into the backline. He also encouraged the backs to push in the 3 lineout tries

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net