Maro makes his mark....

By TheSaracens
May 17 2024

As with Bath, visits to Ashton Gate are occasions I always look forward to – in contrast to the charmingly shambolic Rec the home of the football-playing City and rugby-playing Bears is a large and very well-appointed stadium; the staff are friendly and helpful, the supporters  always welcoming, and Bears’ match tickets are very considerably cheaper than Bath’s. I also have a fondness for Bears born out of Ashton Gate being the venue for Sarries’ first game back in the Premiership after our year in the Championship,  and while I’m by no means someone who is easily intimidated there was a little uncertainty as to how visiting Sarries fans might be greeted – we needn’t have been concerned, though, as Bears fans almost queued up to shake hands, pat us on the back even, and tell us “welcome back, it’s great to see you”. Proper club, proper people.   Oh, and the pasties are excellent……… By a quirk of the fixture list, Sarries were in the West Country for the second game in succession (albeit a fortnight apart) to face a side in strong form – last time out, Bath had of course been dispatched in an arm-wrestle of a game where, unusually in a Premiership season littered with high-scoring romps,  points were at something of a premium and after a superb defensive display Sarries prevailed 12-15; Bristol, bang in form and always enterprising, presented a different kind of threat including the recently former Sarrie Max Malins now playing in his preferred position of full-back.

Sarries had made a few tweaks to the obdurate XV that held out at the Rec, with Mako ‘n’ Marco starting up front with Jamie George (with whom, as the song goes, we all need a beer), Hugh Tizard joining Maro Itoje in the second row, and Ivan Van Zyl starting; the versatile not to say unique Theo McFarland was back in the 23.

Bristol carried potency in attack in addition to Max Malins, with the likes of Harry Randall and the always dangerous Gabriel Ibitoye while their pack included England stalwarts Ellis Genge and the Toulon-bound Kyle Sinckler.

The game started in brisk fashion, and both sides sough to make an early statement - Farrell created a stir among the sizeable Sarries contingent in the Dolman Stand by cleverly kicking through to reach Earl who charged forward with intent but the ball was lost forward.

Tizard got in on the act with a big tackle on an opponent  - although Sarries were clearly not messing about, although it was Bears who notched up the first points of the game after only 5 minutes , when a penalty kicked to the Sarries corner set up a period of pressure from Bears which was rewarded when Batley bundled over. MacGinty added the extras for 7-0.

Sarries’ discipline went a little awry, resulting in a clutch of penalties for Bears, one of which MacGinty kicked from a decent range to take matters to 10-0 after 10 mintes.

No panic, loads of time……

The second score seemed to stir Sarries into action, and on 13 minutes, after good work by Farrell had set up Tompkins in space, Naulago knocked on, which was adjudged to be deliberate and the yellow card taken from Dickson’s pocket; pragmatic as always, Farrell elected to kick for the posts and got Sarries back to within a score at 10-3 cut the deficit to seven as his kick sailed through the posts.

Almost immediately, Sarries had an opportunity to level the game up when another canny little dink from Farrell reached Tompkins but play was pulled back.

Sarries’ discipline again went awry, resulting in a Bears penalty  from which MacGinty edged the home side 10 points once more at 13-3 on 21 minutes.

Just a couple of minutes later, with the  clock running down on Naulago’s time in the sin bin, Sarries finally made the extra man count after Bears knocked on deep inside their own half, and the always sharp Gonzalez set up Itoje to power his way over from just outside the 5 metre line, with Farrell taking the score to 13-10 on 23 minutes.

Safrries were warming to their task now, and on 27 minutes a positive period of play was rewarded by a penalty which Daly, taking over kicking duties, slotted over with that unerring left boot of his to level things up at 13-13.

We were then treated to a moment of skill that was special even by Farrell’s extraordinary standards, when he executed a spectacularly long  50:22 to take Sarries from deep inside their half to Bears’ 5 metre line; from the ensuing line-out Sarries rumbled forward, with Itoje eventually making it to the line for his second score of the game, followed by another excellent kick to convert and take Sarries into the lead for the first time at 13-20 on 31 minutes.

5 minutes later, Sarries took their lead beyond a score to 13-23 when Daly kicked a penalty that signalled the last real action of the half.

Sarries had recovered brilliantly from a difficult opening spell and by the end of the half looked  confident and in control; my pick for the Man of Act 1 was a joint award between a Maro at his menacing best, and  Elliott, who oozed class, invention and a lovely left foot.

Pat Lam had obviously had a few frank words to say during the interval as Bristol started the second half playing on the front foot, and laid siege to the Sarries line for what seemed like an eternity before, as is so typical of Sarries at their best defensively speaking, the storm was weathered and the ball was turned over.

Sarries almost immediately punished Bears for having the temerity to approach their line, wen a long clearance from Daly led to a penalty which our sinistral star calmly put away to tick up the score to 13-26 on 48 minutes, while the massed ranks in Block 33 celebrated wildly.

If Sarries looked in control of proceedings, the momentum swung back towards Bears over the next 4 minutes when first Itoje (for the second game in a row and in a similar incident to that which led to his carding in the Bath game) and then, barely a minute later, Earl were yellow-carded  to give Bears a two-man advantage, which was exploited immediately when, from the ensuing penalty, a powerful maul cleared the way for Thacker to go over, with Williams converting for 20-26 on 52 minutes.

Given the ease and speed with which Bears had seized the opportunity presented by Sarries’ depleted numbers, a mood of anxiety descended on the travelling fans.  

The loss of seven points was mitigated very shortly afterwards when a messed-up handling of the restart gave the ball back to Sarries, followed by a penalty which was again put away with aplomb by Daly to edge Sarries a little further ahead at 20-29.   

Despite still being two men down, Sarries looked organised and calm – I did remember seeing a quote from Mark McCall, after a similar situation away to Wasps a few years back when I recall Maro and Schalk Burger were more or less simultaneously yellow-carded and we’d actually increased our lead,  to the effect that Sarries did train for such scenarios……..think what a Rugby League team they’d make…….

Maro didn’t return to the fray, being replaced by Theo McFarland on the hour, shortly after which the visiting fans were sent into paroxysms of joy on 61 minutes when a line-out in the Bears half was stolen, and the ball was worked out to Segun who skipped gleefully over the line for a score that took Sarries a step closer to a longed-for bonus-point win, and although Daly missed the conversion our lead reached 20-34 and even with almost a quarter of the game left, things looked to be under control as Bears appeared to be losing heart.  

Just 4 minutes later, we were treated to the try of the match, a score more than fitting to seal the win and secure the try bonus point:

Sarries turned the ball over, from which Daly worked forward, setting up Cinti to accelerate deep into Bears’ territory before releasing the ball to Gonzalez to joyfully dive over and create pandemonium among the Sarries fans. Daly’s conversion was successful this time, and although there were 15 minutes play, the win – for once, given the nervy moments our beloved team has given us over the past year or two – looked in the bag.

Bears tried to rally and salvage soe pride in front of a 20,000+ home crowd but in a Brad Barritt-era style spell of game management Sarries remained in control until a wildly-celebrated final whistle.

A couple of spells of ill-discipline aside, Sarries’ performance demonstrated that as always the business end of the season brings out the best in the squad, and that as with the Bath game there was a touch of the all-conquering side of seven or eight years ago about them with superb defence, wonderful game management and attacking threats all over the place.

I left Ashton Gate quietly confident that the Premiership Trophy would be staying in NW4 – but that said there’s still a tough game against Sale Sharks to go before we can seal a home semi-final and a potentially even harder game, probably against Saints, at “HQ”….   

SQUADS:

Bristol: Malins; Naulago, Van Rensburg, Williams, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Sinckler, Dun, Batley, Luatua, Harding (c), Bradbury.

Replacements: Thacker, Woolmore, Lahiff, Caulfield, Heenan, Marmion, Vakatawa, Heward.

Saracens: Daly; Segun, Cinti, Tompkins, Parton; Farrell (c), Van Zyl; Mako Vunipola, George, Riccioni, Itoje, Tizard, Gonzalez, Earl, Willis.

Replacements: Dan, Mawi, Hoskins, Isiekwe, McFarland, Billy Vunipola, Davies, Goode.

Referee: Karl Dickson.