Back in Black.....

By TheSaracens
December 20 2024

Having decided to give the trip to Paris a miss, due to other commitments and expenses around our planned escape from the Smoke, I re-subscribed to Premier Sports, put a pot of coffee on, Mrs Jonny sourced some half-time Cornish pasties, and we settled down to watch Sarries take on Stade Francais at the salubrious-looking Stade Jean-Bouin. Sarries were fully-loaded for this encounter, and with a very notable debutant on the right wing (well, it was his second debut for be accurate) in Liam Williams, who had committed once more to the black and red cause after leaving in late 2019 following a two-year stint in North London during which the Welshman with legs you could run a pig through, as the old saying goes, became one of our most popular and effective players – he’s seemingly joined us until the end of 2024-25 as injury cover for Alex Goode but at 33 and seemingly still very fit it’s to be hoped that he may stay longer.  The back three looked especially eye-catching with Liam being joined by Roti Segun on the left and Elliott Daly at full-back – a noteworthy combination of class, raw pace and proven ability under the high ball.

Stade got the game underway and it was clear that they meant business, the early skirmishes seeing Sarries under pressure as Daly’s return from the opening kick was charged down and then Burke showed good “reading” by anticipating a dangerous cross-field kick.

It seemed inevitable when after only 3 minutes a lovely phase of play put Dakuwaqa into ample space to open the scoring with Henry’s conversion giving the home side a 7-0 lead.

Stade continued their strong start and were all over Sarries, Willis managing a saving tackle as a Stade player slalomed through the defence, and increased their lead on 13 minutes when a penalty from a scrum was summarily dispatched by Henry for 10-0.

Sarries tried manfully to get back on terms.

Red and black derrieres were lifted off seats when some good work by Earl and Van Zyl set Williams up for what looked like, as it were, a homecoming try but the score was chalked off as his right leg had strayed into touch while grounding the ball. Disappointing but a breakthrough of sorts.

And then……things changed.

After 22 minutes Macalou was shown a straight red card for as dangerous tackle on van Zyl, allowing Sarries a glimpse of an opportunity to gain a foothold in proceedings.

2 minutes later, Sarries capitalised on the altered circumstances when after an unsurpringly positive spell of play Burke’s advanced deep into Stade’s territory followed by a stunning pass from Daly to find Williams who stepped inside from the right wing to go over for the try he wanted. Burke added the extras and Sarries were within three points at 10-7.

Stade were clearly rattled by the red card followed by Sarries so quickly getting back into the game, and their discipline started to fray - a penalty for a high tackle giving Burke an easy chance to level the cosres to 10-10 on 25 minutes,

The momentum was all with Sarries now, and as the half started to draw to a close Stade were penalised for offside on 34 minutes which provided Burke, having his best game for Sarries, with a shot at taking Sarries into the lead at 10-13; A further kicking opportunity for Burke shortly afterwards was missed and the score remained at 10-13 as the teams headed for the dressing rooms while the Brownes tucked into a pasty….

Although Sarries had clearly benefitted from the red card, it’s one thing to have the opportunities and another to take them so to gain the lead from 10-0 down was in my book pretty good going.

Williams looked like he was picking up exactly where he’d left off five years, Burke seemed to have settled as a Sarrie – no-one doubted his pedigree but adapting to to a new club 11,000 miles from home takes time – and McFarland looked back to his “one of a kind” best.

The first real action of the second half was on 44 minutes when Halaifonua was yellow-carded for a high tackle, leaving them two men down and which cost them just a couple of minutes later when a powerful rolling maul that Stade simply couldn’t stop put George in position to plant the pill over the line and although this time Burke was unable to convert, Sarries had a handy lead at 10-18.

Sarries’ momentum was stalled, temporarily at least, when Carre was sent to the siiiiiin biiiiiin (I do miss that at StoneX - along with the pre-match playing of Johnny Cash's version of “Rusty Cage”) on 52 minutes a for a high tackle (bit of a feature in this game), shortly after Dan replaced George.  

Earl had what we all thought was an opportunity to effectively put the game beyond Stade after charging down a kick and scampering to the line but the try was chalked off - after a couple of checks - for a knock -on.

Sarries kept going to try and close the game out, and Tompkins had a half-chance following a good break but Stade were able to avert the danger.  

The game was moving into the last quarter and a strong scrum yielded a penalty for Sarries with Burke taking the chance to put Sarries further ahead to 10-21 on 64 minutes.

Satde weren’t quite ready to roll over yet, though, and it took some good defending from Dan, holding their player up, to prevent them getting into the game.

The respite was brief, however, and Stade gave all they’d got left to try and get back on terms, finally succeeding in doing so after a period of strong pressure inside Sarries’  half allowed Barre to find a gap and dash in to score from a few metres out, converting himself to narrow the gap – and set red and black nerves jangling a little – to just four points at 17-21 with 10 minutes left.

Stade suffered a setback 4 minutes later, though, when they were once again reduced to 13 men when Ndiaye was yellow-carded for collapsing a maul.

 Barely seconds after the dismissal, Sarries restored their 11-point lead when Dan, in the style of his England captain and mentor, dropped off a maul to score Sarries' third try, with potentially enough time to secure a bonus point, and Burke converted for 17-28.

Although unable to secure the fourth try, Sarries managed out the remainder of the game, aided by a much-improved scrum, and sparked wild celebrations at the final whistle both among the large contingent of traveling fans and on our sofa in leafy Hornsey.  

Our lads were - in fairness - aided by the early red card but this was nonetheless a great result for Sarries, with encouraging signs that the transition period we all knew would be a defining aspect of this season is starting to go well, alongside the unexpected bonus of a still devastatingly effective Liam Williams returning to North London and Fergus Burke showing us why Mark McCall was so astute in signing him. The offiicial man of the match was, deservedly, a Theo McFarland once more his unique self.

I’ve been around too long to count chickens, but this result, backing up as it did an excellent outcome against Bulls, giave me just a little feeling that Sarries could have a decent Euopean campaign - although there will be sterner tests ahead. We shall see.

Photo courtesy of Nige Eaton

SQUADS:

Stade Francais: Barre; Dakuwaqa, Marchant, Ward, Laloi; Henry, Weber; Castets, Nicotera, P Alo-Emile, Gabrillagues (c), Halaifonua, Macalou, Chapuis, Scelzo

Replacements: Peyresblanques, M Alo-Emile, N'Diaye, Turagacoke, Timo, Tanga, Foursans-Bourdette, Ezeala

Saracens: Daly; Williams, Cinti, Tompkins, Segun; Burke, Van Zyl; Carre, George, Riccioni, Itoje (c), Isiekwe, McFarland, Earl, Willis

Replacements: Dan, Brantingham, Clarey, Wilson, Gonzalez, Simpson, Eden, Hartley

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Sco)