By Jeremy O'Gorman
March 5 2007

There seemed to me to be two matches on Sunday in the driving rain and slippery conditions. The main event was Sarries versus Sale; but the mouth watering prospect of Cobus v Sheridan was not to be missed. The main event was effectively over after 20 minutes. Sale started brightly in the terrible conditions, catching Sarries out with an early penalty. From the restart Sale moved upfield and kicked high in the slippery conditions. Scabs got to the ball and tried to run back; trying a grubber kick to the empty wing. Sale got a boot to it and seemed to be in for the try. Martin Fox (who I thought had a great game – possibly the best refereeing performance I have seen this year) pulled them back for offside, the player who would have scored, marginally in front of the interceptor.

Sarries were relieved, kicked long and from the lineout won a penalty. Glen’s boot was back to its best 3-3. Sarries were moving up a gear now, stealing a few lineouts, winning all but one of their own, taking control of the game. Then the try; from a scrum on the 22, Sarries went right and Ratty on an inside pass was just stopped from breaking through (the pass did look forward though). Two minutes later another scrum in the same position and Glen went left. A classic show and go later he was in; unselfishly he passed to Powell for the score, although on another day I am sure he could have finished it off himself. Glen got the kick and it was 10-3.

At that point the game did seem to peter out slightly as a spectacle. Sale won little ball but defended well. The ball they did get they kicked aimlessly away. Scabs had a busy day, collecting long kicks and returning them on the ground with some stylish running. Although Sarries did throw the ball about a bit, the conditions were against them; dropped balls and excellent tackling from Sale put paid to any more tries. The game seemed to be played almost exclusively around the 10 yard lines, and although penalties did come to both side, Glen made the most of them, kicking everything on offer. Sale could not hit a barn door, so missed out on a potential bonus point. Sarries seemed happy to collect 3 points at a time and stay out of Sale’s reach.

I thought young Powell had a workmanlike game, getting through a lot of carrying in the centre, but although he often broke the first tackle, there was a second player behind who knocked him over. The midfield was crying out for Faz and his little slipped passes; perhaps if he had played we could have manufactured a bonus point, but a solid win is a solid win and I left happy.

I really found it difficult to find a man of the match, so many players were excellent and I could not think of any who had a bad game. The front 5 held its own against a big solid unit, who seemed to be Sale's only attacking option. Ches and Fully stole lineout ball, Cobus was Cobus; I though Byrne had an excellent game around the park. Skirvs would have impressed any England selectors who came along with some driving runs. Hill was just excellent on the fringes, denying Sale any momentum. The half-backs controlled the game – kicking excellently, Powell worked hard and took his try well; Scabs and Ratty ran well with the ball in hand.

Then to the excellent sideshow that was Cobus v Sheridan. The game was getting a bit niggly in the second half as Sale realised they were beaten. First Schofield had a pop at poor?? defenceless?? Ches on the ground. I was close enough to lip-read Ches’ reply; something like “So you **think your** hard, well I’ll ** get you, just **wait, I’ll ** get you ** later on”.

Then Cobus started grinding Sheridan down. Close to their 22, a scum followed by a ruck saw Cobus slip in a boot. When the whistle went, Sheridan ran a full 10 yards to try to punch Cobus. Unfortunately, the touch-judge had noticed the original offence, so a certain 3 points were turned around into a Sale penalty. From the resulting line-out Sheridan was standing over a ruck, his hands in front stopping him fall over. Cobus started pulling his shirt, trying to pull it off him. Sheridan tried to respond but was pinned down. After the ruck, Cobus just stood there and smiled; Sheridan managed to keep his temper in check, but only just. A punch at that time would have been a certain card. A scrum was called and we started licking our lips in anticipation; not to be – St. Andre substituted him for his own good. As Sheridan went off, he started mouthing off; Cobus just smiled and waved goodbye. Priceless.

All in all an excellent afternoon’s entertainment, despite the rain

Scoring Sequence (Saracens’ first) : 0 – 3 (Thomas pen), 3 – 3 (Jackson pen), 10 – 3 (Powell try, Jackson conv), 10 – 6 (Thomas pen), 13 – 6 (Jackson pen), 16 – 6 (Jackson pen) HT 19 – 6 (Jackson pen), 22 – 6 (Jackson pen), 22 – 9 (Jones pen) FT.