Opponents (and friend)

By jeremy ogorman
January 14 2008

And so to VR on a sunny Saturday afternoon for the pivotal match in this year’s Heineken Cup; a loss would mean a likely exit from the competition. Which Sarries team would we see – the 71-7 victors of Vidania or the pack who surrendered at Bristol last week. For the first half-hour it looked like the latter; Biarritz had obviously been watching the Rugby Club and came out with a strong rush defence, it had Sarries in all sorts of trouble. The game picked up a gentle sort of pattern. Sarries would win a lineout and try to move the ball forwards; the blitz defence would put Glen and Farrell under all sorts of pressure as they tried to run the ball especially moving it through the centres. A couple of inconclusive phases later Glen or deKock would hoist a long kick downfield which would be caught by the Biarritz defence in their own 22 and a return kick would find touch; the whole process would start again.

Two similar factors were beginning to show; Biarritz seemed to be becoming more and more successful at limiting the options the Sarries half-backs had at their disposal but there was no real enterprise when Biarritz ran their own ball. Playing from deep, the ball was getting to the wings, but with plenty of time for Sarries drift-defence to get across to cover the potential break. With the game so tight, it was errors that would decide it. Biarritz drove in at the side of a ruck; penalty awarded 3-0. Then a disaster as Jackson decided to run out of defence. Faz was initially blocked and tried to kick only to be charged down; Cabanne won the foot race for the line. Dupuy converted from the touchline, one of a number of great place-kicks, I think only one was missed all afternoon.

With play on halfway and going nowhere, Sarries committed another silly foul and Dupuy kicked from just inside the line for Biarritz to start to pull away at 3-10. Their defence was beginning to cause Sarries issues with their clearance kicks being returned deeper and deeper into our half. On the half hour mark, a deKock clearance kick was charged down, but fortunately the ball bounced dead before the Biarritz player could make it count.

Sarries were beginning to wind their game up by switching the play both ways. Nick Lloyd in particular was making some good inside runs and with the defence stretched both ways, some space was becoming available on the outside. Faz then charging through was stopped from releasing; 6-10. Straight from the kick-off, a silly bit of positioning at the ruck gave Biarritz back the advantage 6-13. But Sarries were beginning to get a bit of fluid play going, moving the ball inside and outside, stretching the defence. Finally, Glen dummied inside and fed Hugh Vyvvan who crashed over close to the posts. Glen converted with the last kick of the half. 13-13

The second half started with Biarritz starting to get more possession, running the ball dangerously close to the Sarries line – enter Richard Hill, making his best performance of the year and a vintage steal. Quick ball for Brent Russell and Richard Haughton, who crossed the line but lost control as he dived. TV replays gave Biarritz a 5 metre scrum, but they were unable to clear before conceding a penalty. 16-13. Sarries had the upper hand now, running the ball in a number of phases before Chris Jack picked up a loose ball squirting out of a ruck, fifteen yards out. With the agility of a back, he span out of a tackle before touching down unopposed. 23-13.

Biarritz came back strongly and put a fair degree of pressure around Sarries 22, forcing a penalty 23-16. Shortly afterwards Rod Penney was put into a small amount of space. It was just in front of us, and I was sure he was tackled about twice, but somehow wriggled away from the cover to burst free; running 50 yards for a quality try. 30-16. Sarries were in control now; Biarritz in disarray, and a penalty for back-chat extended the lead 33-16.   

With the game seemingly won and a couple of knocks to Faz and Jackson, Powell came on, and Russell moved to fly-half.

Powell seemed keen to make his mark straight away and a scorching run deep into the Biarritz 22, was rewarded when from a subsequent ruck. Chris Jack was driven over by Chesney for the bonus point. deKock missed the touchline conversion 35-16; Jack certainly seemed a happy boy, a smile all over his face, returning to a standing ovation from the Lower Rous. With all the points in the bag, both Sarries and Biarritz made a number of replacements and the game seemed to roll to a finish. Sarries were not finished, when an attacking scrum was continually dropped. After a few minutes, Nigel Owens, who I thought had an excellent game, gave a penalty try. Brent Russell converted with the final kick of the game for a 45-16 final scoreline.

Given the first half-hour, I would never have believed Sarries would inflict the heaviest defeat even in Europe on Biarritz, also their worst result in 7 years. The positives from the game were plentiful; Jack and Hugh seem to be a great pairing, each one egging each other on. Lloyd had a wonderful game, mostly hidden from view; Ongaro might have just done enough to get him back into contention for Italy. Hill played his best game for ages; and Farrell completely overshadowed Traille, eventually forcing him from the field with an injury after another big hit. Penney seems to get better and better, Haughton has added a good positional sense to the improved tackling of last year. I can’t see Scabs getting back in the team at this rate     

Roll on Glasgow on Friday night. Chances are, after next weekend Sarries could be top of the HC pool standings, with the most points, most tries and highest points scorer (Glen). Not bad for a bunch of under-achievers, eh cake-boy?

A Pivotal Match Against Biarritz

Discussion started by TheSaracens.com , 14/01/2008 15:20

TheSaracens.com
14/01/2008 15:20

A Pivotal Match Against Biarritz

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TonyTaff
14/01/2008 17:08

Splendid piece, Jeremy. Thanks.

Now, where are all the other volunteers?

It's a long time since Sports network paid anything!

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The Bard
14/01/2008 17:50

A great review- worth mentioning too is Serge Betsen's miserable afternoon. Booed when he came on wearing an orange scrum hat which made him look no more appealing, dropped the ball when Bairritz attacked, missed a straight-forward tackle on Rodd in the build up to his try and finally getting sin-binned for stamping. All in about 15 minutes!

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Graeme D
14/01/2008 19:52

J

You did a good job keeping notes for the match - with all the excitement in the second half my notes would have ended up being just a scribble.

Graeme

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JO'G
15/01/2008 09:21

Graeme

I never keep notes - I can remember what happened, but not always the order in which it did

so I write the report and then compare it to the fish one. After about 6 sentences being cut and pasted into different parts of the report I send it off

That way it doesn't spoil my enjoyment of the match ;- however this would not work if I had too many beers as the first sentence would not be true

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CmontheBris
15/01/2008 12:36

Congrats to your team on a great performance!
I watched the game in a bar in Paris with some other Bristol fans.
The french were going mad when they got the charge down try.
They were either silence or cursing their own team at full time.
I cant believe the difference 6 days made to your side!
Good luck for the remainder of the competition.

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Neville
16/01/2008 08:39

And to you and Bris for the rest of the season.

I couldnt believe what I was seeing in the second half.

Lets hope we keep playing like that and not as we did at your gaff!


Top report on the game, by the way

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