By Rupes
April 4 2007

On a day of shocks in European rugby, Saracens narrowly progressed to the Semi Finals of the European Challenge Cup. Not allowing themselves to go the same way as Biarritz, Saracens held on to a 23-19 win against Glasgow Warriors. But the win disguises what was a distinctly average performance by Sarries and, in the words of Alan Gaffney, “was probably our worst performance of the season”. The first highlight of the afternoon came after just 3 minutes, when word got out that Northampton had won in Biarritz, with Robbie Kydd (who he?) getting the vital interception try – more surprising than that, ‘king Carlos kicked the conversion and 7-6 it was.

The first 15 minutes descended into nothingness, with 2 Jackson penalties giving Saracens a 6-0 lead. Aside from that, little invention from either side – both sides looking to run it wide, but lots of sideways movement and virtually no go forward. The only way Sarries made ground was through Jackson’s huge kicks to touch, a feature of the whole first half.

The first try came via a Glasgow error – a great read and intercept from Jackson, who charged towards the line before passing to give Dan Scarbrough an easy run-in. 13-0 and all looking good on the scoreboard. The game meandered on with Glasgow coming more and more into it and Sarries becoming less accurate and inspired in their execution by the second. Penalties all round ensued, half time arrived with Sarries leading 16-9.

If anything, the second half was worse from a Saracens point of view. Glasgow had been niggling away off the ball and Sarries had responded, with touch judges frequently advising the fussy Msr Berdos of sly punches and acts of not-massively-legal play. Cards were inevitable at some point, but Msr Berdos took his life in his hands when carding Richard Hill – several elderly ladies from Hilly’s fan club in the Lower Rous had to be restrained from going on to the pitch to question Msr Berdos’s parentage to his face, their hero having been shamelessly sin-binned for a touch of handbags with John Beattie. Afterwards in the car park, having been threatened with teddy bears and flags, Msr Berdos allegedly commented “Sacre Bleu, ils ne sont pas les Steiffs” before retreating to hide in his Renault.

The binnings seemed to galvanise Saracens more than Glasgow in the short term, with a Farrell break being stopped just short of the line – it is debatable as to whether Faz was held, but he took the opportunity to flip the ball to Ratuvou, who touched down under the posts to ensure another 7 points and a lead of 23-9 with 30ish minutes left. And that’s when Saracens stopped playing, allowed Glasgow to build up a head of steam and to draw back to 23-19, Rory Lamont showing exactly why he could be a presence in the GP next year as he galloped through some fly-swatting efforts at tackles. Still Glasgow pressed, running the ball from deep and looking as if they were the only team who could score – belief and momentum do so much to a side. But the clock ran out, Msr Berdos blew for full time and Saracens now look forward to hosting Bath.

What it is about playing teams with the word “Warriors” in their name I don’t know, but that was too close to the never-to-be-forgotten Worcester game for comfort – Glasgow will be mortified at having lost a game in which they played most of the rugby, Saracens relieved that the home semi final and a send-off for several players is still on the cards. Dreadful game in terms of quality but, as Alan Hansen is so fond of saying, good teams win when they don’t play well. Not sure we’re a good team yet, but we’re getting there.

Scorers: Saracens: Tries: Scarbrough (16min), Ratuvou (54). Conversions: Jackson 2. Penalty goals: Jackson 3 (6, 11, 37). Glasgow Warriors: Try: Lamont (62). Conversion: Parks. Penalty goals: Parks 4 (25, 33, 40+7, 60).

Scoring sequence (Saracens first): 3-0, 6-0, 13-0, 13-3, 13-6, 16-6, 16-9 (half-time), 23-9, 23-12, 23-19.

Saracens: T Castaignede; D Scarbrough, K Sorrell, A Farrell, K Ratuvou; G Jackson, N De Kock; K Yates (rep: N Lloyd, 6-12, 70), S Byrne (rep: M Cairns, 62), C Johnston, I Fullarton (rep: T Ryder, 69), S Raiwalui, K Chesney, R Hill (sin-bin, 49-61; rep: P Gustard, 72), B Skirving.

Glasgow Warriors: R Lamont; H O’Hare, G Morrison (rep: C Gregor, 76), A Henderson (rep: C Shaw, 80+5), T Evans; D Parks, G Beveridge; J Va’a (rep: K Tkachuk, 55), F Thomson (rep: S Lawson, 55), E Murray, A Newman, A Kellock, S Swindall (rep: A Wilson, 79), J Barclay (rep: D Macfadyen, 41), J Beattie (sin-bin, 49-61).

Referee: C Berdos (France).

Attendance: 4,259.