Stade Montois

By Zoot
January 26 2009

Saracens came away from Mont de Marsan on Friday as unbeaten winners of Group 5 in the this season’s ECC. In conditions that were pretty horrible, and with two largely second string teams it was never going to be a classic, but the result in the end was the right one as a 24-3 win for the away side saw them clinch a definite home quarter final.

With hope of a home semi-final all but gone, and a home quarter all but assured, Eddie Jones picked a team that he clearly thought could get the job done, but which bore many changes from the previous few games. The absence of many of the front-liners in South Africa may have had something to do with the selection, but the team still showed a good mix of youth and experience.

The main enforced change was the introduction of Mickey Wilson for his first start for Sarries due to the injuries to the two main scrum half contenders. After impressing in his brief stints against Llanelli and Viadana, it would be a big test for the young hopeful. Also back after long absences were the back row duo of Don Barrell and Dave Seymour, and with new Saxon Andy Saull alongside them, it was great to see a complete back row of young English talent. Martin Johnson take note! Gordon Ross and Kris Chesney got rare starts, and Farrell and Sorrell were reunited in the centres. Cato, Penney and Goode provided the back-three speed, and there were bench places for young front rowers Alex Walker and Jordan Mitchell. Steve Borthwick led the team before departing as Sarries sole home nations contributor to the Six Nations. In the Mont de Marsan team, the only international was our good old mate Trevor Leota, and it was strange to see him back in black and gold.

It is never easy to predict what will happen when a French side plays in the ECC, and after handing out a 53-3 stuffing to an off-colour MdM in October, Sarries were clear favourites to go 6 and 0 in the group against a side that had only mustered a single bonus point in their five matches. The weather, as in Bayonne before Christmas was grim and apparently the pitch had been under water earlier in the day, so well done to the groundstaff for getting things up and running. There was talk of a result being possible after 60 minutes, subject to ERC ratification, but mercifully this contingency was not needed even though the rain never relented.

Mont de Marsan took and early lead through J-P Mazzonetto after Mickey Wilson handled in the scrum, but these were to be their only points of the evening, and Gordon Ross soon equalised after hands in the ruck on six minutes. It was clear from the outset that this was never going to be a feast of open, flowing rugby and the pitch was not so much cutting up as being ploughed and many scrums had to be moved to safer ground.  The home team had started well and after Cencus was pinged in the scrum Steve Borthwick nicked the lineout on the Sarries 22. However it was untidy ball and Sarries ended up touching down in goal. The resulting 22 drop out was messed up and the scrum to Mont de Marsan was eventually kicked through and Rodd Penney again touched down in goal. After that the half was all Sarries, as a Gordon Ross kick was knocked on in the home 22. Don Barrell broke from the scrum before feeding Ross for a neat reverse pass to Andy Farrell, who rolled back the years and crashed through three tackles to blast his way under the posts. It was a try straight out of his glory days in rugby league and therefore it’s a shame that it is only his fourth in red and black. As Ross added the extras, I half expected to see the score come up as Castleford 3, Wigan 10. Don Barrell was to the fore in the second try of the night, as again he made good inroads after Mont de Marsan had been turned over within 10 metres of their own line. He was held up inches short, but recycled and Mattias Aguero rumbled over for his second try for the men in black. Again Ross converted and after 23 minutes it was 17-3 to Sarries.  Sarries had the better of the remaining 15 minutes or so, but lost good possession on a number of occasions and it can be said the the conditions were to blame. Only Trevor Leota was showing anything of note for the home team with his typical barrelling runs (will Don ever make a Leota-ing run?) and full back Le Roux was having a torrid time. The half ended with Barrell knocking on from another promising position and it was left to the Sky pundits to spend the whole of half time pretending that the game had not been taking place and to discuss the HC instead.

MdM began the second half well and gained an early penalty when Mattias was cleared told not to go into a ruck. He decided this was an open invitation to do just that but the resulting kick ended up in touch in goal and Sarries were reprieved. After a probing Ross kick, Mont de Marsan knocked on in their 22 again and the move ended up with Alex Goode going over, but it was called back as the ball had gone forward off Noah’s chest. Replays showed it may have been his head, but it was academic as moments later Don Barrell scored a deserved try as he repeated the training ground move from the Bristol game and scored in the corner from a linout. Ross added a fine conversion from wide out and after 47 minutes it was 24-3 to Sarries.  In commentary, Dick Best promised us that Trev could only manage 50 minutes these days, but bless him, he managed a full 30 seconds more than that before we has replaced, and the next few minutes saw both sides emptying their benches. This served to strengthen Mont de Marsan’s defence as more experienced players came on and the game petered out into a soggy, sodden stalemate. Adam Powell was harshly binned shortly after replacing Farrell, but Sarries were in “silly penalty” mode at the time so this may have been more of a team offence than individual.

The only other thing of note was a nasty injury to one of the touch judges, who caught an elbow as the Mont de Marsan defence tried to field a kick. Poor man was carried off in haze of claret, and had to be replaced by the fourth official. Despite being down to 14 men, Sarries held on and were denied a bonus point try late on when another knock on spoiled more good work by Barrell. In the end the final whistle was a mercy, and it was job done. Again no bonus point, but we had topped the group easily and clinched the all important home quarter final.

As the result implies, it was a decent, hard working performance by a largely second string side, against limited opposition, in appalling conditions. At least the youngsters got a run out and Mickey Wilson performed well on his full debut. It was also valuable game time for the “midweek” side. The young back row played well as a unit, and the back three flyers had little to do in the muck and mire. The team have now presumably dried off and will be looking for better weather in South Africa.

Well Kat wanted this review to begin “ tI was unusual to see Seymour start at six, but he played like the Rugby Gods had come down from the heavens, given him a pair of winged sandals and anointed him with the power to hit tackles like a brick wall with dexterous hands"   Well sorry Kat, he was solid and did nothing wrong, but let me end things this way in announcing my Man of the Match:

iI was unusual to see Barrel start at eight, but he played like the Rugby Gods had come down from the heavens, given him a pair of winged sandals and anointed him with the power to hit tackles like a brick wall with dexterous hands and make hard yards from the base of the scrum.

With a performance like that and Michael Owen out for the season, he staked his claim for the number 8 shirt with an emphatic and decisive performance. Well played Don!  

Mont de Marsan

1. Lelou 2. Leota 3 Ormachea 4 Rawls 5 Berek 6 Brethou 7 Bernard 8 Tastet 9 Tandonnet 10 Uruty 11 Abbad 12 Taele 13 Senlo 14 le Roux 15 Mazzonetto

Saracens

En France, il pleut tous les temps.

Discussion started by TheSaracens.com , 26/01/2009 11:11

TheSaracens.com
26/01/2009 11:11

Thanks lots to Zoot for the report and apologies for it taking so long to publish.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:01:26:11:17:04 by Rupes.

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Jonjo
26/01/2009 12:48

Good report, Zoot and well worth the wait.

I want to have a second look at the recording to see what Cec was up to. I totally agree with Zoot's comments that he was solid and did nothing wrong, and that Don Barrell had an excellent game, but you had to really look for the contribution made by players like Richard Hill, and I kind of hope that a second viewing will show a bigger contribution from Seymour than was apparent first time round.

A Try Bonus was never a priority since it was unlikely to be relevant, and it was a good move to get some of the supporting acts onto the field for some meaningful game time. I thought Ches played well as did all the youngsters. A job well-enough done in very difficult conditions.

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Kat.
26/01/2009 12:57

Quote:

With a performance like that and Michael Owen out for the season, he staked his claim for the number 8 shirt with an emphatic and decisive performance. Well played Don!

I couldn't agree more. Couple that with a great performance in the A's and Don is really showing consistancy. I hope Eddie takes note.

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Graeme D
26/01/2009 13:19

Cec should play in a white scrum cap if he is not going to grow his hair !

Graeme

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JO'G
26/01/2009 13:24

I think Yoda will be fine about bringing Don forward at Skirvs expense. He doesn't like putting "his" stars in second place (Borths, Jack, Owen, Wickus), but seems fine if they are not involved


PS Excellent report Zoot



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:01:26:13:25:06 by jeremy ogorman.

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TonyTaff
27/01/2009 00:30

Thanks Zoot, an excellent report.

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

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