By Smurf
October 10 2004

Slick Sarries Sink Sorry Saints The Saints downward trend continued at Vicarage Road today, four losses on the trot after a promising start leaves the Franklins Gardens faithful looking at the wrong end of the table.

After a promising start (the Saracens kick off didn't reach the 10 metre line),
Saints went 3 - 0 up after Sarries held on too long and Drahm slotted the kick.
Another penalty on 7 minutes (for no discernable reason) didn't go the same way,
however. Drahm kicked upfield to get the Saints back into opposition territory,
the Saints losing the ball too quickly. A Saracens scrum resulted in a penalty
for Saints for boring in. From a similar distance to his first kick, but wider
out, Drahm missed the posts.
 
Saints seemed to have the Fezboys riled - a kick through from the Men in Black
went dead - but the team was out of sorts. The on paper weaker Sarries forwards
had the power over the Saints eight. Scrums were wheeled all match, and the 
players in the loose had more attacking spirit. Only the Sarries woeful 
lineout performances kept Saints looking good up front.
 
On 13 minutes, from a Saracens scrum due to a Drahm knock on, Richard Haughton 
scored in the corner. Castaignede failed to convert from wide, leaving Saints 
3 - 5 down. The Saints made some inroads soon after, a strong run from Darren 
Fox put Saints in the home 22; a quick penalty from this was to result in 
another for Saracens not being 10 metres. Drahm kicked this, to put the saints 
back in front, 6 - 5.
 
This was not to last for long, however. Saints gave away a penalty needlessly 
inside their 22, and Castaignede stepped up to put the home team 6 - 8 up. On 
24 minutes, Bruce Reihana stepped up for an injured Shane Drahm to put over a 
kick to regain the lead – 9 points to 8. Bruce seemed to spend much of the 
match in Drahm's fly half role, with Drahm loitering in amongst the three 
quarter line. If this was a tactic (as opposed to covering for Shane's distinct 
lack of form) it didn't work, and a more structured team would have punished us
 for not having a full back.
 
A Castaignede miss on 27 minutes, on the Saints 10 metre line, held out some
hope for the Black, Green and Gold (playing for some reason in their cream
away kit). Wally gave away a free kick for slow put in at a lineout, from
which Saracens took a scrum. Sarries were harshly penalised for a knock on
(which clearly came off someone's foot) which seemed to be the way of things
for Mr Maybank. He gave Saints every opportunity to win the game, which they
then contrived to mess up. A Saints foray across the try line was (rightly)
disallowed as it was not grounded. However, it took the video referee nearly
three minutes to realise this. The half time score remained 9 - 8.
 
The worst fears were truly realised when Ben Cohen, he of nightmare form 
recently, came on at half time for Wylie Human. However, one scrap of a hope 
came out of the game - he wasn't as bad as then. He still wasn't at the top 
of his game however. Another nightmare as Drahm's kick-off sailed into touch. 
Saints deployed their standard tactic of not waking up after half time, which 
allowed Saracens to push Ben Broster over from a lineout. Castaignede again 
missed a difficult conversion to leave the Saints 9 - 13 adrift.
Saints technique seemed good, several passes strung together, but no gain 
was made. Every time Saints looked like scoring, they'd either turn over 
the ball or knock it on. The back play was patchy, the half back play 
intermittent as we had Drahm and Reihana at 10 in different points in the 
match. Maybe we'll be playing Bruce at 10 until Grays gets back? Somehow, 
with nearly 80% of the possession, and 60% of the territory, managed to 
ose the plot as well as the match. Browne came on for Matt Lord on the hour 
mark to add some impetus to a stuttering pack, and a couple of minutes later 
Ben Cohen actually had a decent run with  the ball, albeit he was easily 
shepherded into touch.
 
Saints had attack after attack held out by Sarries, and when they finally 
did break through, Andy Blowers knocked on over the line on 66 minutes. 
Again the video ref was called in, and a ponderous time taken to see what 
everyone else could do first time round.
 
Bruce had another penalty on the Sarries 22, to put the Saints a point behind
 with 11 minutes to go. It seemed like we could still sneak a win from this 
debacle. An appalling Saracens lineout on halfway was so crooked it nearly 
reached the 10m line, but it was little relief for Saints. Saracens went on
the attack minutes later, skinned Ben Cohen and Mark Tucker, and Haughton
went over for his second try and Sarries third. An easy conversion meant
Saracens had the game won at 20 - 12. A Drahm clearance from his own 22
went nowhere, but Saints got the ball back, only to lose it again and get
pushed into their own half. A Ben Johnston drop goal put the full time score
at 23 – 12 to the home side.
 
Another sorry performance from Saints, all the ball and none of the game.
Forwards and backs both misfiring, the solution must be close at hand, 
but where?