Air Caluori returns

By saracensfan62
October 11 2026

What a great day out at StoneX to make up for last weekend's shambolic display. Bristol are one of those teams who will either play like prime 1999 Australia or 2011 New Zealand one week, the the following week like a pub team still drunk from their antics the night before. Luckily for us (the bears bogey team) they played like the latter and we could secure a 5 point win and reassurance that last weekend was a blip, not a deeper lying issue. Once I'd caught up with some mates, purchased my chicken george (mango rubicon this week, very tasty too) + pint of guinness, I could sit down and contemplate the teams warming up on a chilly Saturday eve. For Bristol, it was a severely weakened team - no Benhard Janse V-R, no AJ McGinty amongst others whereas we hd gone through a big rotation compared to the side that started agsainst Sale a week ago. No Alfie Barbeary, no Hugh Tizard, no Nick Tompkins etc. They did both seem fired up though and ready to go out and give it their all. As always in our little corner of the west stand we cheered loud as the players ran out and Max celebrated his 100th appearance in red/black. I did notice A LOT of players who appeared either unavailable or injured. Theo Dan in a boot, ditto James Hadfield, Olly H with a sling the list goes on. We need to pay mind to our injury concerns as that's already 2/3 matchday 23 players gone less than a month into the season.

First Half

Noah Caluori needed a mere five minutes to make his mark on proceedings. A well won turnover from Alec Clarey allowed Faz to swing a fabulous pass to Sione Va'enuku (what a centre he's turning out to be!) and we worked the ball out to the right. Despite the efforts of 'mullet man' Aidan Boshoff, Caluori lept like a salmon and dotted down. Owen Farrell missed the tight-anngle conversion, no matter though since he kicked a penalty soon after as Bears' disclipine consistently started to let them down.

We then went down to 14 when Olamide Sodeke was shown a yellow for a high tackle that caught George Taylor, who went off for an HIA. Anthony Woodthorpe and tmo found enough mitigation to downgrade it from a red and wegot through the ten minutes without conceding which thanks to some excellent defence. Farrell added a second penalty on 25 minutes to make it 11-0. A bit of a kick in the teeth for the Bears, conceding points whilst a man up but that demonstrates Sarries resolve more than anything else. Bristol’s best spell came just before the break, but Sam Worsley’s pass to Louis Rees-Zammit was intercepted by a flying Jack Bracken with the line open, a big moment given the Bears were pressing. Jack B did have a fabulous game in general, as did Charlie too. I've heard there's another Bracken bro on the way... triple trouble?

Second Half

Bristol started the second half much better. On 47 minutes Harry Randall went down the blindside, got the ball back from Aidan Boshoff and scored, his fifth try in three league games. James Williams converted and it was 11-7. Suddenly what was a very dull, Sarries-dominated fgixture became just that little bit more interesting.

Saracens replied within five minutes. Alex O’Driscoll came off the bench and got over for the second try, and Farrell converted to restore the 11-point lead. The scrum dominance started to become noticable for Sarries when O'Driscoll and Weilbach began asking serious questions of Jake Woolmore and George Kloska. I think they gave away 3 scrum penalties in about 10 mins. I was very surprised (and a little irritated) one of them didn't get carded for such a repear offence.

Around the hour mark of the game Saracens had a lineout five metres out and the maul was moving towards the line when Lovejoy Chawatama pulled it down. He had barely been on the field a minute but this was biggest contribution to the game. He was yellow carded and Saracens were given a penalty try, which made it 25-7. Sarries then pulled off the best attacking move of the afternoon, with swfit handling from Cinti and Faz alike to allow Jack Brackento hurtle down the left wing to score in the corner, despite the best efforts of Louis Rees-Zammit. We had secured the bonus point, though Farrell missed the conversion. Bristol defended well in the last quarter and Saracens didn’t add to their score, but the result was never in doubt after that point.

Conclusion

Saracens travel to Connacht at the Dexcom Stadium next Saturday for their Champions Cup opener. Bristol go to Cape Town to face the Stormers before they host Exeter in the league. After Connacht, its Harlequins @stoop for us. Again the Stoop a bogey ground for the wolfpack, let's hope they can go and get the win this time. 

I cannot wait to fly out to galway for the connacht game, so bring your voices and let's cheer loud. Come on sarries.