Saracens 23 Sale Sharks 10

By Whaley Shark
November 7 2011

 A sunny autumn Sunday in the High Peak, wife despatched half way round the World, a bit of frost on the ground, and not a cloud in the sky. What’ll I do? I know- I’ll take a day trip to Watford..... 

And there I found Vicarage Road stadium, with about 6000 people rattling around in it, ‘Standing up for the Saracens’, and a small cluster of the blue-clad faithful in one corner. We made a sprightly start too, with the first scoring chance of the game a long range penalty which Nick Macleod sent wide. We set up some good attacks as well but a smothering Sarries’ defence forced us to hurry, and we couldn’t quite control things enough. After 20 minutes, the stalemate was broken. Sarries put a penalty into touch on our ten metre line and broke into our 22, then Charlie Hodgson neatly switched the angle of attack to put David Strettle over on the right. Owen Farrell nailed the conversion for 7-0.

We carried on much as before, battering at the brick wall of the Sarries’ defence but never quite building the sustained pressure we needed to break it down. Saracens waited patiently for their opportunities and picked up another penalty just after the half hour. With half time approaching and the prospect of a Steve Diamond motivational chat looming, we finally put some real pressure on the Saracens’ try line though, again, their defence held out, and the half time whistle ended things.

That set the tone for the early part of the second half too, resisting an early Saracens’ attack and running a penalty into their 22 in response, before losing possession and, five minutes into the half, giving them a penalty on half way which Owen Farrell kicked. A similar passage of play gave them another three points five minutes later. We then came quite close, with the Wills, Cliff and Addison, combining to make good ground from a tap penalty and Saracens scrambling he ball into touch to give us a lineout five metres out. Saracens went up a gear or two defensively though, and as the ball went loose, we conceded a penalty and Charlie pushed us back to our own ten metre line. A couple of strong runs took them into our 22 and when they won a penalty, Sarries went for the corner and a violently swirling maul saw Matt Stevens score. With the conversion, they were 23-0 up with 20 minutes to go, and it was starting to look ominous.

Both sides made mass substitutions just after the hour, giving us our first look at new signing Tasesa Lavea, and seemingly unsettling Sarries more than us. Ten minutes of scrappy play followed, before we strung several phases together, stretched the opposition defence, and Mark Cueto got loose down the left to take us into the Saracens’ 22. For once we retained possession and put Rob Miller over on the left. At least it wasn’t going to be ‘Sale Sharks nil’. A few minutes later, strong running from Sam Tuitupou sucked in the Saracens defenders, he slipped the ball to the supporting Mark Easter and he just beat the cover to stagger over the line. Again, the conversion went wide. The match finished with a final Sale attack, as we chased what had seemed an unlikely losing bonus point, but it wasn’t to be as the ball went loose and, with time up, Saracens hoofed it into touch.

Getting much from the current champions was always going to be a big ask, and sure enough we got nothing. That said, there were positives- we kept plugging away even when the game looked well beyond us, and didn’t implode the way we did against Tigers. Sarries wrapped up the four points with a comfortable, professional performance, but didn’t have the dominance to chase the try bonus whereas, in previous seasons, we’d have gone just through the motions and could well have been on the receiving end of a 50 point hiding. So although we came away empty-handed, at least our self-respect was intact. For the second week running, we looked like what we are, a developing team up against well disciplined, high quality opponents. We’ve now got what look like four of the season’s biggies out of the way- Saints and Tigers at home, and Quins and Sarries away- and we have six points from those-probably a fair reflection of where we are.

My Man of the Match- Captain Sam, mighty in both defence and attack.