By Saint Tim
November 13 2010

When you play a team so many times in what feels like such a short space of time it becomes difficult to know what to write in these reviews.  We are led to believe that this would be our last opportunity to see Saints play at Vicarage Road as Sarries are being kicked out by their landlords.

Who was your MoTM as Saints drew away at Vicarage Road?

To be fair it is legally called exercising the break clause but the effect is the same.  Go or pay much more to stay was I think the message and Saracens have chosen the former.  This week they announced plans to move to a new stadium at Copthall in Hendon.  Given that they have yet to get planning permission and organise construction they are cutting things fine but I for one hope that they are successful.  Saracens need a home worthy of a decent rugby club.  Vicarage Road can in no way be thought of as a worthy home.  I think that around seven to eight thousand people turn up most weeks there is a marvel.  I however refused the option to go there again.  It would be just too much for me.  I wonder if, when they have their own ground, they will also keep playing on a Sunday.  That was another reason not to go as Sundays are just not my cup of tea.

So to the match itself, this was the first game of the much maligned LV Cup.  This is played during the International windows and is seen as an opportunity for player development.  Saints are of course the holders as the LV cup carries with it an entry ticket into the HC for the winner.  Some teams towards the lower regions of the league and with fewer internationals take this more seriously, and certainly Saints did last season.  This season however the teams named by both sides were definitely more of the development that the established.  In the Saints side there were really only a couple of what you would call first squad players and several youngsters were given their Saints debuts.  On the Sarries side there were several more first squad players and more depth on the bench and I am sure that not many of the supporters travelled in much hope of a win.

It was somewhat of a surprise, on following this the net, how competitive Saints were.  Whilst they never held a big lead at any stage and kept giving away kickable penalties it was anything but one way traffic!  Indeed Saints outscored Saracens three tries to one.  Saracens had to bring on the bench to swing things their way and it did help them to a 5 point lead coming up to the final minutes.  The Saints of old would have rolled over but not these youngsters they came right back at them, with Shane Geraghty scoring out wide in the final play off a scrum to ties the scores.  Unfortunately he could not then get the conversion which would have led to an improbable away win.

So it is good by to vicarage road with its condemned stands and soulless atmosphere from this Saints supporter.

So, who caught the eye?

There were lots of new names to vote for this week.  I thought I would mention them:

Daniel Sanderson

Matt Cornwell

Ryan Powell

Tom Mercey

Ben Nutley

Jamie Elliot

I recognise it isn’t the debut for some of the list but it was their first start in the Saints first team.  From what I heard not a single one let the shirt down.

When it came to the votes however there were only two stand out names.  In second place with 25% of votes was Paul Diggin.  It is hard to think of Digger as one of the old wise heads but he assumed this role with aplomb and crossed the try line again.  Watch out Tiny and Flash – Digger is also out to be top try scorer this year.

In first place was Shane Geraghty with 33% of the votes.  It was obvious to even the Sarries supporters how well Shane played – so much so that he featured heavily in their match report and one kind soul came onto the Poll thread to state how well he had controlled the game.  This is Shane’s first win of the season and the first for anyone with 9 or 10 on their back.  Well done Shane – it was just a pity there were not more people there to see your performance.

Finally thanks to the 43 people who voted.

Full Result

Previous Winners

Vote History

Who wins?

Leaderboard

Players Used

 So far this season we have started with 31 different players and now no player has started every game.  Perhaps we are adopting more of a rotational policy than in previous years.

Saracens V Saints LV Cup MoTM

Discussion started by ComeOnYouSaints.com , 13/11/2010 11:05

ComeOnYouSaints.com
13/11/2010 11:05

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Toulousian Firefighter
13/11/2010 11:21

And I thought that was Shane's worst game for us...

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Saint Tim
13/11/2010 11:22

Shows what you know TF



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