Defying Gravity...

By TheSaracens
July 17 2022

It’s now four weeks since that dramatic last few minutes in the Premiership final, when what seemed like a match-winning period of momentum late in the game for Sarries – our only dominant period in the game and what a time for it to happen– turned into deep disappointment for those in black and red when the cool head of Freddie Burns kicked the winning points almost at the death that took the trophy back to the East Midlands for the first time since 2013; the win was deserved, it has to be said, and many of us felt that Tigers had “out-Sarried” Sarries by playing a game looking remarkably similar to the Wolfpack approach that brought about the period of sustained success after the Premiership win in 2011, and up to 2019 – perhaps no great surprise, given that their DOR, scrum half-coach and winger all made significant contributions to the evolution of our club. Over these past few weeks, I’ve reflected on the season, and what immediately occurs is that Sarries and indeed we supporters, seem to have packed an awful lot into a nine months that went so very quickly, and it feels like hardly any time at all between walking into Ashton Gate on a cool September Friday evening and leaving Twickenham on a showery afternoon in June, head a little bowed but, as I say, reconciled to the better team having won. Truth to tell, it’s all ben a bit of a blur -  and I’ve decided to share that blur with you.

So…rather than give you all a blow-by-blow, game-by-game,  analysis of matches that most of you will have already watched either in person or on TV/streaming media, or even perhaps read about– and hopefully enjoyed – in the reports that Darraghgirl, Innings and myself have posted during the season,  I’m going to share with you my twenty most immediate memories from 2021/22: they’re in no order of priority, and good, bad and somewhere in between sre all mixed in together, so if I may crave your indulgence and without further ado…

1. Pre-Season Excitement – I don’t think I’ve known a season that engendered so much excitement among Sarrries fans old, and in increasing numbers, new. I was particularly pleased to see a huge number of supporters declaring excitedly on social media that they were now officially season ticket holders: as I said at the time – welcome, stay with us, you won’t regret it.
2. A Welcome Return – our return to a fully-loaded StoneX was delayed a little by our first two fixtures being away games at Ashton Gate and Welford Road either side of  a fixture-free weekend courtesy of there now being 13 clubs in the Premiership, but when we walked through Gate A, boy, did I have a massive lump in my throat, seeing before me a busy pre-match atmosphere that we hadn’t enjoyed for more than eighteen months – it was a frustrating match against Falcons but in a funny sort of way it didn’t matter too much. We won, but very best of all we were all home.
3. A Welcome Return 2 – it was wonderful to all of the players who’d remained out on loan until the end of 2020-21 come home intact, and pleased to be with their mates once more - Alex Lozowski, Ben Earl, Max Malins and Nick Isiekwe were back in black (and red) and playing superbly; before any of you query that list, Alex Goode and Nick Tompkins had come back early enough in 2021 to join the final push for promotion.
4. Let it Go, Let it Go…. – one of the things I noticed during the season was the annoying habit of otherwise intelligent and informed commentators (and Andy Goode) bringing up the  salary cap issues at seemingly every opportunity, often a propos of nothing, whilst at the same time there were some Sarries fans who had all season seen any wider rugby issue as an anti-Sarrries conspiracy and/or enjoyed a frisson of schadenfreude at the sight of Exeter struggling. It all got a little childish – what happened happened and we can’t change it so let’s all move on and look to the future.
5. High-Fiving Maro – after the Challenge Cup quarter final at Kingsholm, a large group of Sarries fans hurried pitchside to applaud the team, and, coming face to face with Maro I raised a hand at which point he grinned broadly and high-fived me.  I’ll never forget the sheer joy on his face (not at clapping hands with me, obviously) and I fully realised in that moment what this club and its fans really do mean to the players - I’m proud to be even a small part of it.  
6. Duracell Dom – an extraordinary moment in the Premiership Cup, when Dom Morris, fed by Roti hurtled through the defence at a Jack Nowell-like angle and with breathtaking pace – you could almost hear the Quins back line thinking “what was it that just went by”. One person on social media likened the hurtling Dom to a Duracell bunny….and that ‘ll do for me.
7. Theo McFarland – Mark McCall told us that he’d signed Theo because aside from his obvious talent he would bring something different. Smally wasn’t wrong as the Sarries crowd quickly took to their hearts a six foot six Samoan international basketball player with athleticism, surprising pace, phenomenal handling and gathering skills and, based on a truly incredible try against Saints, a seeming ability to defy gravity – the try I’m talking about won the Sarries Try of the Year award and if you haven’t seen it, you need to. The last time I saw agility like that was when Mike Ellery hurdled a pile of front and second row-sized bodies to score in the 2017 play-off semi-final at Sandy Park. I’m reliably informed by Mrs Jonny that Theo is a bit of a looker – although her heart belongs to Maro..
8. The Worst Seats in the World – in October, we were treated by the Quins ticket office to the worst seats we’ve ever been allocated at any stadium– right in the corner, second row, peering between two stanchions and trying to see round a corpulent member of BT Sport’s crew operaoting a fixed-position camera. My Quins-supporting friend (he’s a lovely bloke otherwise, trust me) was highly amused, and needless to say I milked the moral high ground for all it was worth when, for the playoff semi-final, he was allocated wonderful seats in Row A of Block 3 in the East Stand…
9. One, Two, Three, Four – staying with our multi-coloured muckers from South- West London, we played them four times during the season (admittedly three games were at StoneX) and won every time…..What more can I say?
10. Bete Noire - ….by way of contrast, London Irish gave us the most difficulty over four matches, with Sarries throwing away leads in both league games, including from the seemingly conclusive position of a 34-8 score at StoneX with twenty minutes remaining against 14 men and with their best player departed through injury – it was such a spectacular collapse in the face of a strong Irish side taking the “excrement or bust” approach that we were happy with the draw.
11. Seventies Gold – Those delightful denizens of the Shed at Kingsholm are a pretty unwelcoming if slightly self-parodying bunch with a bewildering signature chant of “Eeyore, Eeyore”; in the Challenge Cup quarter-final in  May the Shed excelled itself with a medley of Seventies football chants and booing loudly every time Owen Farrell (completely unfazed) stepped up to take a penalty or conversion. Jamie George came in for particular “treatment” after being yellow-carded, and Jamie being Jamie revelled in his status as pantomime villain for the evening, departing stage left in the latter part of a game already well won, grinning from ear to ear and waving to all parts of the ground – maybe we DO need a team of Jamie George.  
12. Meeting Mark, Vincent and Baz – by coincidence we were staying in the same hotel as the Sarries squad and club officials before the away game at Falcons; we knew they were all staying in a private section of the hotel, and were surprised and delighted when, stopping at a floor on the way down from our room, the lift door opened and what had been a quite decent amount of space was taken up by the enormous and, as ever, genial presence of the now both sadly departed Baz and Vincent; we had an amusing exchange about smuggling them both out for a beer and curry with us, and got off at our different destinations. Walking out through the reception area, we noticed Mark McCall engrossed in what looked like a personal phone call – he caught our eye and we waved, but then to our surprise he asked the person he was talking to hold the line, walked over, greeted us very warmly and we had a brief chat; he didn’t have to do that but it meant a lot that he did . Lovely man, and we’re privileged that he’s our DOR.
13. Billy’s Back – one of the most heartening sights of the season was Billy getting back to his barnstorming best after a difficult few years with injuries and the loss of both his England and Lions places; perhaps the pain of being dropped by Eddie Jones and then Warren Gatland acted as a spur but to see him fully fit and carrying the ball with all his old menace and intent once again was a joy for all of us.
14. What Just Went By? – a young player who truly enjoyed a breakthrough season was Roti Segun: although he’s been around the first team set-up for a couple of years, he seemed to have gained further strength, even more pace and more nous, making him a terrifying sight for opposing defences as he accelerates towards and past them. On his day, Roti's almost unstoppable, and he must surely be close to England honours. Watch the try he set up for Ben Earl against Exeter at StoneX, and wonder.
15. Now, Now, Lads -in parallel with some quite stunning rugby , the season also saw flashes of surprisingly poor discipline from the side – instances of being marched back ten metres for backchat, Owen even being threatened with a change of captaincy against Toulon; it’s out of character for Sarries and I do wonder if we’re missing the calm head of a Brad Barritt. There were also quite a few feisty encounters with opposing players, notably in November against Sale Sharks at StoneX and, perhaps a little less surprisingly, in the semi-final against Quins.
16. Get Your Kit On – although the new kit and “fashion” deal with Castore created a little controversy, not least when the replica match kit was not available until late November (not entirely Castore’s fault, it must be said – supply chains post-Covid have been poor across many sectors), I have to say that that the design and quality has been the best we’ve had for years; Castore “merch” isn’t cheap, but I’d say it’s worth it.
17. Go West – a particular source of excitement among Sarries fans has been the development of the new West Stand, which we’ve watched grow during the season and in the latter stages of the campaign, come into partial public use. The West Stand, mirroring as it does the older East Stand, gives the ground symmetry, modernity and, in time, better facilities. I’m not leaving the lovely people I sit by in the East Stand, but it’s an impressive sight. The last vestiges of the site where, with my shoulder-length hair held back by a school tie, I occasionally played football have gone but what a stadium we now have.
18. Welcome Back – I was not anticipating outright aggression from other clubs’ fans at away matches, and in any event am not easily intimidated, but I was nonetheless delighted and at times touched by efforts made to welcome back Sarries fans to other Premiership grounds – even the Gloucester fans, when not in the Shed, were lovely, and I lost count of the people who approached me to shake hands and tell me they’re pleased to see the Sarries fans back at their ground.
19. Come On You Spurs – there seemed to have been a mixed response to the showpiece game now being held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (handily not too far from Chez Browne) but I was mightily impressed  with the facilities, the view from our seats and the almost spaceship-like design – infinitely superior to the cheap and nasty flatpack bowl that is the London Stadium.
20. Trench Foot – in possibly the wettest environment we'd ever sat in at game, I’d inadvertently booked seats in the very front row of the North Stand at an on the day rainy Welford Road subjecting us to sitting with our thankfully stoutly shod feet in just over an inch of water as someone had forgotten to install drainage in that part of the stand, the rain topping up our pints, and even under a hood my 2014-15 reversible beanie hat was soaked….meanwhile, and to Mrs Jonny’s bemusement, there was sitting next to us a very well-refreshed Sarries fan wearing shorts,  sodden espadrilles and a jacket that definitely wasn’t waterproof. I sweat there was steam coming off him later in the game as he dried out.

So there we are, that’s my selection memories from what can truthfully be described as quite a season, and as I sit here feeling the heatwave begin, I can’t wait for the next set of adventures in 2022-23.

Have a wonderful summer, all of you, and see you at StoneX in a couple of months!

Jonny