By Jeremy O'Gorman
November 28 2006

I suppose that being a Saracens supporter I am used to disappointment by now; but even that did not prepare me for the second half on Sunday. ‘Abject’, ‘poor’, ‘ill-disciplined’, ‘stupid’ could all be used. So what went wrong?: • Was it the presence of the Sky cameras and the podium in the North Stand in their faces that made the Sarries players nervous?
• Did the water from the early downpour soak up all their resolve?
• Did Andy Robinson pop in for the half-time team talk?
• Had Del convinced everyone that blades were the footwear of choice?
• Had Sarries given up playing, believing the match won?
• Or did Worcester simply stop playing so badly ?

A match in a football stadium can be given the old adage “game of two halves” and this was certainly one. Sarries started by giving the incentive to the opposition and Brown slotted over a penalty after 2 minutes. However Sarries responded by winning a lineout and driving it 15 metres. With Worcester bringing it down and a penalty in the offing, the ball was thrown to Glen, who passed to the ever-improving Andy Farrell who delayed a pass to Thomas Castaignede. The mercurial Frenchman used the conditions well aquaplaning in for the score. There was some dispute and the referee Mr Fox made use of the cameras but the try was confirmed. As seems almost inevitable these days Glen added the extras.

A penalty soon followed to extend the lead to 10-3 and Sarries looked in complete control. Worcester seemed incapable of holding on to the ball or passing it and a large number of scrums gave Sarries enough possession to carry the game forward. All of the backs seemed hungry for the ball and keen to run at the opposition and it seemed only a question of time before the second score came. Sarries managed to have a lineout stolen, but Hugh burst through on a loose ball before Matt Powell could feed his backs. After a couple of driving mauls, de Kock fed Glen Jackson. The trademark “show and go” made the gap and he scored 10 yards from the corner flag. Glen added the 2 points to his own try to extend the lead to 17-3 at half-time.

Then came half-time. Several things happened at the start of the second half. Worcester started playing well; the impressive Craig Gillies started taking all of the ball in the line-out, both their own and Sarries. They also stopped dropping it, instead using the wet conditions as Sarries had in the first half to force mistakes. There did not seem to be anything to worry about as the Sarries defence was well marshalled and was capable enough to withstand the battering. Finally, Sarries defensive pressure told as Worcester were penalised for standing up at a scrum and from the resulting penalty, Glen cleared to halfway.

Then the real problem started; Drahm came on at fly-half and Sarries line-out disintegrated into a real mess. Now we have known Shane to have had a few throwing problems earlier in the season, but that seemed to be behind him after the last few matches. That was not the only problem as the recipient was the same person each time. It’s no good throwing to Hugh at the back, especially with a flat throw, if Gillies is standing one position in front of Hugh, able to catch it every time. Drahm was able to use the ball effectively, kicking for the corners and of course Worcester has a real chance of winning the lineout. Eventually this told and Chris Fortey came up with the ball from a rolling maul. 17-10 and the writing was on the wall. Cairns and Fully came on for Byrne and Ryder and miracle of miracles the first lineout of the second half was won. Unfortunately, the backs were so surprised, were lined up flat and knocked it on.

Now I may not know everything about rugby, but in my limited knowledge, if you can’t win a lineout, there is no point kicking to touch. But that was all Sarries were doing as every bit of hard-won possession was thumped with the boot instead of being run by the backs. Kick to touch and one minute later we were back in the same place again, only with Worcester pressing for a score. Playing the conditions perfectly, they deserved their second try in an uneven tackling contest between a Quinnell and Glen. Drahm added the extras and followed up with a drop-goal to take the lead with 3 minutes remaining.

Sarries, finally working out to run with the ball, had a great chance. Farrell made a great bit of space slipping the ball to a speeding TC. He was hauled down, but the ball was worked back for another half-break by Kevin Sorrell; this was knocked on and the game was up.

All in all, Worcester played rugby to suit the conditions, sticking it up their jumper for the whole of the second half. Sarries did not seem to have the brains to prise the ball off them or the wit to use it effectively. Still on the bright side, the loss made no difference to our league position, 5 points clear of Irish who thumped Northampton.

• Saracens director of rugby Alan Gaffney:
"We can take a lot of positives from the first 40 minutes but we can't take one from the second half. There were a lot of dumb actions on the pitch, and until we become a smart side we'll struggle against any team. We've got to examine ourselves. We threw that game away, and it will stay with me for the rest of the year."
• Worcester rugby director John Brain:
"Saracens are a side in form, but our second-half performance was probably the best in the five years I've been at Worcester. That win will give us a lot of confidence and now we've got to look forward to taking that firepower into the next three non-Premiership games and build from there. If we continue to perform like that we'll be fine and someone else will be in trouble (in the table)."

Saracens: Castaignede, Scarbrough, Sorrell, Farrell, Vaikona, Jackson, de Kock, Yates, Byrne, Visagie, Ryder, Chesney, Vyvyan, Seymour, Skirving.
Replacements: Cairns, Mercey, Fullarton, Gustard, Dickens, Penney, De Vedia.
Worcester: Delport, Havili, Rasmussen, Lombard, Tucker, Brown, M. Powell, Morris, C. Fortey, Horsman, Collier, Gillies, Horstmann, Harding, Hickey.
Replacements: Windo, Gotting, Murphy, G. Quinnell, R. Powell, Drahm, Garvey.
Referee: Martin Fox (RFU)