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SARRIES SALE AWAY WITH A WIN


By King Zak
November 21 2016

  Despite the recent home defeat to Gloucester, the AJ Bell stadium is still a very difficult place for visiting teams to get much more than a warm welcome and a nice cup of tea. On Sunday, Saracens showed the real depth of talent within their squad and the unity in approach which makes them (currently) the best team in Europe. A glance at the team they DIDN’T put out really highlights the difference between the double Champions and the rest;  

1.       M Vunipola
2.       George
3.       Koch
4.       Itoje
5.       Kruis
6.       Hankin
7.       Fraser
8.       B Vunipola
9.       De Kock
10.   Farrell
11.   Maitland
12.   Taylor
13.   Streather
14.   Ashton
15.   Goode

Following an early aerial exchange, Saracens were first on the scoreboard when Lozowski slotted a penalty from about 40 metres. It was quite a slow start to the game, which was probably a good thing from Saracens perspective after last season’s effort! The visitors always looked more threatening with ball in hand and a wonderful break by Lozowski should have brought the first try. With the Sale defence rushing up flat on halfway, the outside half chipped over the top, ran through to collect and was only hauled down 5 metres from the try line. The ball was quickly recycled to the left and with a 3-1 overlap the score looked certain. However, the usually impeccable Wray dropped the ball in contact and a golden chance was lost. Sale were adjudged offside and that did rather raise the question of a penalty try option given the huge overlap available and only 3 metres from the line.

We then saw the frustrating side of Saracens. Having had two highly successful driving lineouts further up the pitch, they opted to kick the penalty into the corner – the try again seemed pretty certain. The throw was accurate, straight to Big Jim – who dropped the ball! At the resulting scrum, Wigglesworth gave away a needless penalty allowing an all too simple exit for Sale.

The hosts started to grow in confidence, gaining both territory & possession. We all know that their main weapon of attack is through the forwards, so conceding needless penalties allowing them to kick to the corner is not a good idea. A succession of such offences allowed the home team to set up a lineout in the right corner. The initial drive was repelled but Sarries were too slow to re-group, allowing the impressive Beaumont to drive over from close range. It took confirmation from the TMO before the try was awarded and with MacGinty’s excellent conversion, Sale led 7-3.

This merely galvanised Saracens and a wonderful move from halfway resulted in a touchdown for Bosch. It started with good work by the irrepressible Burger; following several quick passes he was involved again on the left wing, feeding Wyles. The winger reacted swiftly to knock the ball back inside to Rhodes. He was stopped just short of the line but two quick passes later, Bosch was through. It really highlighted the difference between the teams. Sale seemed slow and indecisive, Saracens assured and direct; a reflection of the growing influence of Lozowski. He added the conversion to give Saracens the lead again at 7-10.

MacGinty missed a long-range penalty to draw level before Saracens had the final score of the half. With time running out, they attacked down the left again. It was halted by a deliberate knock-on, which again took TMO intervention to confirm, and Lozowski added the penalty to give a halftime score of 7-13. It was probably a fair reflection of the half; for all Sale’s endeavour and effort, Saracens looked far more likely to score.

This pattern continued into the second half. Sale managed to go from their own 22 into Saracens 22 through a couple of needless penalties. Just as we were anticipating another drive from the lineout, Briggs inexplicably overthrew the ball. Brits reacted quickest and set off downfield. He was supported by Lozowski who carried the ball on towards Sale’s 22 before passing inside to Barritt. I thought he may make the line himself but, in true Brad style, he unselfishly passed to the left for Gallagher (a halftime replacement for Wyles) to score his first try for Saracens. It was a wonderful effort; swift of foot, hand, and mind! Lozowski missed the conversion but Saracens now held a comfortable 7-18 lead.

MacGinty did reduce the arrears with a close-range penalty shortly afterwards before another Lozowski penalty restored the 11 point advantage.

Then came the first controversial moment of the day. During an innocuous looking ruck on the Sale 22, a spat arose between Aulika and Hamilton. The TMO & referee concluded that the Sale man was at fault and needed to go and have a sit down for 10 minutes to contemplate his actions.   Lozowski missed the shot at goal and it was actually the 14 men who scored next through another MacGinty penalty. This was the result of a scintillating break by the impressive left wing, Odogwu (he’s in my fantasy rugby team!)  Only some excellent defensive work from Gallagher preventing the try; 13-18 with 15 minutes t

We then had the second moment of controversy. Addison, having fumbled the ball, was tackled by Rhodes as he tried to retrieve it. It looked like a ‘rugby collision’ but under the newly interpreted directive from World Rugby, any contact to the head area is a yellow card offence. Rhodes went off and now the visitors were down to 14 men. As with Sale though, it was the reduced numbers who scored during the sin bin period.

Sale were firmly on the front foot, deep in Sarries 22 when a pass to the left went astray. Lamositele reacted first, flipping the ball up to Lozowski 5 metres from his own line. Rather than belting the ball down field, he saw a gap and was gone! It was a wonderful break, switching the ball from left to right hand to get the appropriate fend to stop would-be tacklers. Having beaten 4 or 5 defenders, he passed to Spencer on his right, on the Saracens 10m line. It was a flat out sprint between Spencer (another of my fantasy team!) and Odogwu. The scrum half showed incredible pace to reach the line despite the despairing attempted tap tackle of the Sale winger. It was a score that so epitomises Saracens – when they see an opportunity they react quicker than any other team and consistently make the right decision at the right time. Lozowski added the conversion to give a final score of 13-28. A very impressive victory from what is apparently an ‘understrength’ team.

A final word for the referee. This was Mr Jackson’s Premiership debut and I thought he had an excellent game. He got all the big decision correct (whether we agree with the directive is a different matter) and was clear in his signalling. He was generally pretty quick to penalise those slowing down the ruck and allowed the game to flow really well. Well done Sir!

Sale Sharks: 15. Mike Haley, 14. Will Addison, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Tuitupou, 11. Paolo Odogwu, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Peter Stringer; 1. Ross Harrison, 2. Neil Briggs, 3. Brian Mujati, 4. Bryn Evans, 5. Andrei Ostrikov, 6. Cameron Neild, 7. David Seymour, 8. Josh Beaumont (capt.)

Replacements: 16. Rob Webber, 17. James Flynn, 18. Halani Aulika, 19. TJ Ioane, 20. Ben Curry, 21. Mike Phillips, 22. Mark Jennings, 23. Tom Arscott

Saracens: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Mike Ellery, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt (capt.), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Alex Lozowski, 9 Richard Wigglesworth; 1 Richard Barrington, 2 Schalk Brits,  3 Juan Figallo, 4 Mike Rhodes, 5 Jim Hamilton, 6 Kelly Brown, 7 Schalk Burger, 8 Jackson Wray

Replacements: 16 Scott Spurling, 17 Titi Lamositele, 18 Petrus Du Plessis, 19 Mark Flanagan,
20 Joel Conlon, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Nick Tompkins, 23 Matt Gallagher

Referee: Andrew Jackson

 

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SARRIES SALE AWAY WITH A WIN
Discussion started by TheSaracens.com , 21/11/2016 19:44
TheSaracens.com
21/11/2016 19:44
Excellent report, thanks KZ



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016:12:01:13:18:30 by Darraghgirl.

The Bard
21/11/2016 22:17
Great report, thanks

TonyTaff
22/11/2016 11:19
Excellent report, thanks.

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