By Innings
December 15 2013

 Nobody arrived at AzP this afternoon expecting anything other than a Sarries win.  The only doubts were the time it would take to gain the bonus point and the final try tally.  Zebre have rattled a couple of cages in the RaboDirect Pro12, but in truth they are not a side to trouble an in-form side sitting at the top of the Aviva Premiership.   

Sarries old boys Aguero and Ratuvou contributed to an almost all-international line-up for Zebre, but even some of the big names and big men of that line-out were unable to match the intensity and drilled performance of a Sarries squad who formed about the best match-day 23 that Mark McColl could put out on the day.  From the very first moments, Sarries had laid out their stall.  It was to be a day for handling, width and support runners in place, with kicking from hand a less-preferred option.  A first-minute attempt to hold up the Sarries attack led to Owen Farrell’s first points of a productive afternoon for him, and within four minutes we were applauding a well-thought try as Ben Ransom, who replaced Alex Goode in the starting line-up after the team announcement during the week, put David Strettle into the south-east corner.  Farrell converted, as he was to do a further seven times out of eight possibles during the afternoon.  A powerful driving maul on the fifteen-minute mark, again in that south-east corner, sees Jacques Burger emerge from the back of a strongly driven maul to claim the honours.  Can that really be his first try for Sarries?  Farrell’s kick into a strong south-westerly wind, no mere breeze here, proves to be his only miss of the day.  Sarries are flying now.  Richard Wigglesworth and Farrell are pulling all the strings, and the latter, lying flat and threatening is mixing his passing and infrequent but very telling kicks with some probing running.

Five minutes later, Zebre openside Cattina illegally impedes George Kruis in a line-out in the same corner and goes off to reflect on his sins for ten minutes.  In his absence another driven maul, and the more familiar of Jamie George in scoring mode emerges from the ensuing pile-up.  So we see after 22 minutes that Sarries are keeping up with clock. 

Another four minutes and the bonus point try is a well-worked affair, largely the work of the very busy Chris Ashton, popping up here and there and always troubling the Zebre wide defence.  Wigglesworth is on hand to take the scoring pass.  We’re still up with the clock.  Cattina’s absence has been a costly ten minutes for his side, with 14 points conceded during his ten minute rest.

Half-time offers some talking points.  Will Sarries press on for the sort of win that may decide the future winner of this pool?  Will Zebre simply give up and roll over?  Can Connacht do us another favour?  Downstairs, the sight of Arsenal firmly spanked by Manchester City is another topic.         

 A couple of replacements at half-time.  Richard Barrington has put in a very sound day’s work, Steve Borthwick has driven himself and the team tirelessly, but Alastair Hargreaves and Mako Vunipola are no mean replacements. 

Within ten minutes, two more tries.  Jamie George burst through with a mazy run at speed, giving a sweet opportunity to Ben Ransom who makes the try look easy.  A quick tap by Wigglesworth gives Duncan Taylor a similar chance to shine, with similar result.  We’re behind the clock now, but apart from one voice from the hard core of the Fez seats, nobody is too troubled by that.  43-3 after 52 minutes is fine.  Farrell is reliably putting it anywhere between the red things and above the red thing, as instructed by his coach in the stands – same chap, and we all know who - and all is well.

Sarries bring on Schalk Brits, Alex Goode and Neil de Kock, replacing scorers George, Strettle and Wigglesworth, but only the names and faces have changed; the commitment, work-rate and results are the same.  Almost immediately a complex interplay in mid-filed pulled the Zebre defence every which way, and Taylor squeezes through for his second try.  However, an awkward fall in the act of scoring sees him replaced, with Charlie Hodgson coming on in his place.  At the same Burger’s day is done, a very busy day with several heavy tackles, some good work in attack and a performance that might easily have earned him MotM.  Ernst Joubert will come on for a cameo appearance.

Such a slew of replacements in the space of about six minutes can sometimes upset Sarries’ rhythm, but there’s no sign of that here.  Billy Vunipola has been a rare handful all afternoon, and after some lengthy passages of attritional play close to the Zebre line his persistence plays off with the eighth try of the day. 

This has been a very sound afternoon for Sarries and a few supporters begin to drift off ahead of the rush.  Eight tries, seven conversions, a penalty, all for the reply of one penalty. Jackson Wray has been binned for a breakdown offence that seemed to baffle him and everyone else at the time, and in the replays, and is simultaneously named MotM for a typically rumbustious performance.  The day is done, so why not beat the traffic?  Zebre appear to have a new lease of life, putting in a solid few minutes in the Sarries red zone, but so what?  A scrum, the ball to de Kok, surely a kick into the stands and a well deserved win.  But the best play is still to come.  The clock is red, the Zebre players are played out, and there’s an overlap, but 75 metres from the Zebre line.  Quick ball through two or three pairs of hands, Ashton on hand in the centre and off he goes, a turn of real speed, a couple of players to step and the flourish of a jubilant splash under the posts.  No even his severest critic could begrudge him that flamboyant gesture after his important but non-scoring previous 80 minutes.  64-3 in the end, not Sarries’ best-ever in Europe, but a thoroughly satisfactory shift, albeit at an easy coal-face.

What does this game tell us about prospects for the second half of the pool series?  Nothing.  Zebre’s points difference averages a negative 50 points per game, the two Italian clubs cannot be achieving anything from their roles as poor relations in their pools, and the premier European club rugby competition is not well-served by the inequalities that are thrown up by the present qualification criteria.  Change is coming and perhaps we shall know what it is to be before the second half of this year’s pool rounds will have been completed. 

Match details

Scores: 3-0 Farrell pen, 8-0 Strettle try, 10-0 Farrell con, 15-0 Burger try,

20-0 George try, 22-0 Farrell con, 27-0 Wigglesworth try, 29-0 Farrell con, 29-3 Orquera pen, 34-3 Ransom try, 36-3 Farrell con, 41-3 Taylor try, 43-3 Farrell con, 48-3 Taylor try, 50-3 Farrell con, 55-3 B Vunipola try, 57-3

Farrell con, 62-3 Ashton try, 64-3 Farrell con.

Saracens: B Ransom (A Goode 57); C Ashton, M Bosch, D Taylor (C Hodgson 62), D Strettle; O Farrell, R Wigglesworth (N de Kock 54); R  Barrington (M Vunipola 41), J George (S  Brits 57), J Johnston (M Stevens 52), S   Borthwick (capt, A Hargreaves 41), G Kruis, J Wray, J Burger (E Joubert 65), B  Vunipola.


Zebre: G Palazzani; L Sarto (G Toniolatti 41), R  Quartaroli, K Ratuvou, G Venditti; L Orquera, B Leonard (A Chillon 55); M Aguero (A De Marchi 35), A Manici (D Giazzon 48-65), L  Leibson (D Chistolini 48), Q Geldenhuys, M  Bortolami (capt, M van Vuren 68), M  Bergamasco, N Cattina (E Caffini 31), S  Vunisa.

Referee: Dudley Phillips

Attendance:7395