By Zoot
February 25 2007

At about 11.00 on Saturday morning, we were taking a stroll up by Pulteney Bridge, and came across a large band of even larger men in black and red tracksuits looking over the river towards the Rec. As this was a sporting team, the great game of the moment was of course to pretend to throw each other over the edge. As it was Saracens, it is not surprising that the main exponent of this game was one Mr David Seymour.

They looked a happy bunch indeed, and Glen was looking particularly relaxed, obviously weighing up his angles for the Clubhouse End. When I told him “No last minute heroics this week, we want it all cut and dried long before the end” he replied “No worries boss, just for you.” Unfortunately he couldn’t quite forsee the outcome as we hoped, and later on in the afternoon we found out how it feels to be on the other end of a late equalising score.

Fortunately for Sarries, it was Olly Barkley’s conversion that equalised, and there was to be no further heartache as there had been for Gloucester a week previously. So, a draw at the Rec is no disgrace, but Sarries will surely feel they let a great opportunity to close the gap at the top slip by allowing David Bory’s late try.

I’ve followed rugby for the best part of 35 years now, and quite a few laws elude me, but quite which law of this great game of ours dictates that “When thou sitteth in the uncovered stand at Bath, it shall tippeth it down”, I will never know. However I am now, as the Americans say, three for three in the Hellfire Stand. Oh sorry, “Helphire” - there is a PH in there, not an F!

After quite a pleasant morning, it clouded over and got chillier and chillier as kickoff approached and just as Simon led out the team, the heavens opened. The first skirmishes were largely lost to view as everyone wrapped up and battened down the hatches, but it was Bath who had the better of them, and when Mr Small inexplicably pinged Sarries at the first scrum, Olly Barkley had an early and fairly straightforward opportunity to put Bath into the lead, and made no mistake. 3-0 Bath.

A further Barkley penalty after a lineout infringement made it 6-0 Bath after 11 minutes, and Sarries were struggling to come to terms with the heavy conditions. The pitch was boggy at best, and some areas near the Sarries 5 metre line were quite frankly appalling, with deep tyre tracks left from the white lining machine. When play hit these areas, there was serious concern that players might drown.

Sarries infringed again in the Bath half, but Malone was unable to find touch, and Sarries had their first meaningful possession but failed to make any ground. A Neil de Kock kick was charged down and spun wide by Bath, but they were penalised for crossing and Sarries cleared to the 10m line only for Rodd Penney to lose the ball in contact after the lineout. After 23 minutes Sarries finally made some good ground when Dan Scarbrough and Tomas de Vedia combined to run the ball deep into the Bath 22, but again it came to nothing.

A speculative Bath kick through looked as if it was going dead, but stopped a metre short of the Sarries line in the quagmire that was the Hampton’s Stand end. For reasons best left unknown, de Vedia decided to try and touch it down, and amid howls from the Sarries faithful around him, mercifully went for touch instead. His kick however was not good, and from the resulting lineout, the ever dominant Steve Borthwick gathered, and Bath massed forward. After about six phases of strong forward play the ball was spun away from the pack, and fly half Chris Malone danced through to the right of the posts and cut back under them to make Olly Barkley’s conversion a formality. 25 minutes gone, 13-0 Bath, and Sarries under the cosh.

Five minutes later, and a carbon copy kick saw de Vedia again having to clear his lines, and this time the Bath lineout was moved wide quickly, but Sarries saw off the threat with solid defending and the ball was turned over.

Sarries were now stung into life and a great break from Rodd Penney fed Kameli Ratuvou, who was held up just short of the Bath line after a typical storming run. A penalty resulted, and from first phase Sarries went back into midfield and de Vedia, off his wing, went over to the left of the posts to make up for his earlier hesitancy. Glen added the extras, bringing up his 500 points in the Premiership in the process. 13-7 Bath.

Sarries were finishing the half strongly and a penalty on half way was kicked to the Bath 22. The lineout was moved right, and after a few phases Richard Hill crashed over. Glen again converted from 10m in from touch, and somehow Sarries had overturned a 13 point deficit in a matter of minutes. 36 mins – 13-14 Saracens. Sarries ran down the clock on a series of defensive scrums, and the half time whistle went with the away team going in with an unexpected if narrow lead.

Bath started the second half strongly and made good inroads into Sarries territory. A turnover near the line gave Sarries some respite, but Ben Skirving was caught off the base by Zak Feaunati and suddenly they were under pressure. Glen tried to run the ball out from behind the line, but his pass to Scabs was forward and Bath had a great position with a 5 metre scrum. The ball was knocked on in midfield and the danger cleared, and from a wild Bath pass from the resulting line out, Rodd Penney fell on the loose ball, leading to a penalty straight in front 40m out. Glen found his range – 13-17 Saracens.

After 10 minutes of the second half came perhaps the turning point of the whole game, and certainly the most controversial decision. After Neil De Kock cleverly picked off a pass at the base of the Bath scrum he fed Kris Chesney on half way and hestarted a barrelling run into Bath territory. With effort and determination written all over his face, it seemed as if he must score in the corner, but the Bath cover got back and hauled him down 5m short, but not before he was able to pop a pass up to de Kock, who set off over the try line and round under the posts.

Unfortunately for those of a red and black persuasion, Mr Small, who had not exactly kept pace with either Ches or the Bath defence, decided that the pass had been forward and de Kock was called back. Ches’s reaction was predictable, and not broadcastable for a family audience. This was right in front of the Sarries block, and whether the one-eyed Sarries fans will ever agree that it was forward is debatable.

Sarries went into the resulting Bath scrum as if an injustice had been done, and won a penalty from which they took another scrum. After one re-set the faithful were hoping Mr Small may be as tolerant as he was at Bristol last week, but Bath held firm so a pushover was not an option. The ball was spun wide and eventually Sarries were pushed backwards, and after five or so aimless phases the ball was lost.

Bath made early changes, bringing on ex-Sarrie Nick Walshe for Andy Williams and his presence, along with Gareth Delve in the back row galvanised Bath’s forward effort for the next 20 minutes. However before Walshe could make his presence felt, Glen slotted another short range penalty to make it 13-20 Saracens after 56 minutes.

The next 10-15 minutes were all Bath, and as the heavens opened again they made a number of raids into Sarries territory, but each time the ball was turned over either by Bath errors or solid defence. Bath seemed to be forcing things with some poor passing but were seeing more of the ball as the half progressed. The squally showers continued, which made note-taking a messy business in the only uncovered stand in the Premiership.

It was around this time I began to wonder why I had volunteered to do another match report at the Rec! When you are sitting in a stand made of Meccano with no shelter from the elements, you begin to wonder why people ever criticise Vicarage Road. As you gaze out through the rain, at least you know that the box that the Meccano came in was put to good use – they used it to build the stand opposite! In 1664, if the inscription on it can be believed.

Bath continued their pressure, with some strong running from centre Sapolu, and it took a good kick from Scabs to clear the lines. This made up in part from a horrible little grubber he had tried earlier, which rebounded off Bath legs, all of 5 cm in front of him, and was hacked on and nearly resulted in a home score.

Sarries made a number of changes throughout the last 20 minutes – Ches moved to the second row, and then back to six again as Fullars was subbed and then later Tom Ryder came on for an in-the-wars Skirvs. Alan Dickens came on for the ever impressive de Kock, and the Mullet took over from Cairnsey (much to Mrs Zoot’s displeasure). Sarries tried to make inroads for a decisive score, but despite some promising breaks, never quite managed the decisive moment. Cobus, having switched from tighthead to loosehead as Census replaced Lloydy, juggled and lost a possible interception, but the thought of our favourite Springbok racing in from 60 yards is perhaps a little fanciful.

The inevitable came on 76 minutes. Bath were awarded a penalty and cleared to Sarries 22. Following a good forward drive, they were awarded a 5m scrum. In an almost carbon copy of de Vedia’s try, David Bory, on as a replacement, crossed the line, and Olly Barkley fired the conversion over to make it 20-20.

Sarries squandered one final lineout opportunity when Shane Byrne, on for Cairns, threw to Borthwick, and with time almost out Kameli kicked down the line for a Bath lineout 10 metres from their own line. As Sarries had not turned over a Bath lineout all afternoon it was perhaps too much to expect a miracle, but it nearly came as the not straight throw ended up on the Sarries side, but Simon Raiwalui was looking the other way, and the ball hit him on the head. Ah dear old Simon – so near and yet… There was hope for a Sarries attacking scrum, but Mr Small decided time was out (and to be fair it was), and we had our first ever 20-20 Rugby match. Ok it didn’t have the impact and pizzazz of it’s cricket equivalent, but given the conditions and the state of the pitch, both sides at least tried to play a 15 man game.

Maybe Sarries can feel aggrieved at the de Kock try decision, but in truth it was a game they could and should have won anyway. In previous weeks, Alan Gaffney has been reluctant to use more than 2 or 3 replacements, but his decision to change key men such as de Kock and Cairns and use all of the bench bar Tim Taylor seemed to have backfired, and cost the team cohesion and solidity.

Credit to Bath for a good second half fightback, but the general feeling around the training ground this week will be two points dropped rather than two points gained. With Wasps losing, a win would have meant a top four position for Sarries, but as it pans out, we are still in fifth, but now with Quins on our heels and Sale dropping away fast. Eight points clear of seventh place – come on lads, onwards and upwards!

My Sarries MoM – Neil de Kock. Apart from one chargedown, the usual dominant performance from the best Sarries signing since Cobus.

Saracens: Scarbrough, de Vedia (Haughton), Penney, Sorrell, Ratuvou, Jackson, de Kock (Dickens), Lloyd (Johnstone), Cairns (Byrne), Visagie, Fullarton (Gustard), Raiwauli (capt), Chesney, Hill, Skirving (Ryder). Replacement not used – Taylor.

Bath: Maddock; Walker, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Barkley, Bory; Malone, Williams; Barnes, Dixon, Stevens, Borthwick (capt), Short, Beattie, Lipman, Feaunati

Referee: Andrew Small, TJ’s Chris White, David Kurk.

Scoring: Barkley pen 3-0 (3 mins). Barkley pen 6-0 (11 mins). Malone try, Barkley conv 13-0 (27 mins). De Vedia try, Jackson conv 13-7 (32 mins). Hill try, Jackson conv 13-14 (36 mins). Jackson pen, 13-17 (48 mins). Jackson pen 13-20 (56 mins). Bory try, Barkley conv 20-20 (76 mins).