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Connacht v Saracens Champions Cup Preview

And so the Champions Cup 26-27 returns in yet another different format to the last, this time around with fixtures beginning in October. Not sure how to feel about this, it makes the whole competition very disjointed in my opinion and further disjoints the domestic league/s. Anyway, there seems to be a strong travelling contingent heading over to Galway to watch this one. I have never been to the Dexcom, so this will be another stadium ticked off the list (fun fact – it’s also used as a greyhound racing stadium).
Saracens v Bristol Bears Premiership Report

What a great day out at StoneX to make up for last weekend's shambolic display. Bristol are one of those teams who will either play like prime 1999 Australia or 2011 New Zealand one week, the the following week like a pub team still drunk from their antics the night before. Luckily for us (the bears bogey team) they played like the latter and we could secure a 5 point win and reassurance that last weekend was a blip, not a deeper lying issue. Once I'd caught up with some mates, purchased my chicken george (mango rubicon this week, very tasty too) + pint of guinness, I could sit down and contemplate the teams warming up on a chilly Saturday eve. For Bristol, it was a severely weakened team - no Benhard Janse V-R, no AJ McGinty amongst others whereas we hd gone through a big rotation compared to the side that started agsainst Sale a week ago. No Alfie Barbeary, no Hugh Tizard, no Nick Tompkins etc. They did both seem fired up though and ready to go out and give it their all. As always in our little corner of the west stand we cheered loud as the players ran out and Max celebrated his 100th appearance in red/black. I did notice A LOT of players who appeared either unavailable or injured. Theo Dan in a boot, ditto James Hadfield, Olly H with a sling the list goes on. We need to pay mind to our injury concerns as that's already 2/3 matchday 23 players gone less than a month into the season.
Saracens v Bristol Bears Preview

Saracens managed to perform a miracle last Sunday, they got everyone on this message board to agree! We simply weren’t good enough and Sale took a deserved victory. Suddenly this Saturday’s game against Bristol Bears has become hugely important.
SARRIES V SALE SHARKS MATCH REPORT V 2

well it's 2 for 1 today owing to a mix-up among the eds. Here is a 2nd version of the match. Unfortunately the result is the same. You know how it feels when things aren’t great and you have this lovely dream. Then you wake and for a few precious seconds its like the dream is real. Then reality returns with a band. So last week was a bit like that. After the dreariness of much of last season came the win against Leicester but today the dream was just that, a dream, and we return to grim reality.
Saracens v Sale Sharks Premiership Report

The feel-good factor from that excellent 5-pointer win at Welford Road lasted precisely one week and today brought us crashing back down to reality. Today’s game was flat and error-ridden that Sale Sharks exploited with ruthless efficiency. Sale are definitely bottom 3 (if not 2nd worst) team in the league and SOMEHOW the team once again delivered a horribly underwhelming show at home to secure 1 losing bonus point and nothing more. This report is naturally a short one as I somewhat lost interest about 60 minutes in and started cooking dinner instead! I should note I was not in attendance at StoneX today, couldn’t get out of plans made months ago and was forced to watch from the tv. Saracens ticketing office have made it impossible to try and transfer tickets over to anybody with their ridiculous and dysfunctional App (why do we even need an app anyway?) so, I couldn’t even give my own ticket to a mate who wanted to go. Grr grumble over.
SARRIES v SALE SHARKS: post match-related comments here

Sunday sees our first home game in the Gallagher Premiership and after last week’s unexpected win at Welford Road (we’d have lost that last year) I have to say I’m excited! Our opponents are Sale Sharks who didn’t have the best start to their campaign, losing at home to Bristol Bears. And after last years maulings (principally ta the hands of Noah Caluori) they can’t be relishing a trip to London.
Leicester Tigers v Saracens Premiership Report

Sunday was one of the most cat and mouse games of rugby I have ever watched. On arrival at Welford Road, drink in hand (alas only a Pepsi Max I’m afraid, I was driving to and from Leicester that day). We ended up watching the Tigers players walk over to the main stand from the adjacent hotel, and I feel one could be forgiven that this occasion held a bit more meaning for the supporters. I was attending the match with a good pal of mine who is a neutral/slight Saracens fan, and he seemed fascinated on the matchup between the backrows with the experience of Reffell, Cracknell and Wainwright against the bulk and power of Isiekwe, Barbeary and JMG. Mako v Marcus was also going to be interesting.What was clear was that there was genuine passion out there from both teams and sets of fans alike. Welford Road holds a special place in my heart, having visited numerous times years ago before the North stand (Pharmacy 2U, Holland and Barrett stand or whoever sponsors it) was built. I have been to Welford Road since 2009 but only in 2013 and then more recently 2023. All the same, the Welford road atmosphere is just as intimidating and noisy as it ever was, some things never change. That and the Crumbie terrace always being packed to the rafters. If the 2026-27 Gallagher Premiership was looking for a statement opening weekend, it got one. Somehow after a red card, TMO’s, numerous players unfortunately injured and Ben Earl in the centres, Saracens somehow coming out the right side of it all. I think we can believe the rebuild is going roughly to plan.
LEICESTER TIGERS V SARACENS: post match-related comment here

It’s nearly here – no matter what happened in the pre-season friendlies or the Premiership Cup games, the season starts this weekend. On Sunday we will find out whether all that promise and all that talk of scoring “a ton” was just that – talk. We come up against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road for our first Premiership encounter of the season and they don’t come much tougher! Welford Road is never an easy place to go and play.
2026/7 SEASON PREVIEW

Thanks once again to Tommy Kentish for an excellent and detailed preview of the up-coming season
Scarlets v Saracens Pre-Season Friendly Report

Scarlets did indeed pose rather a larger challenge than the previous pre season friendlies with played these past few weeks. To conclude our pre-season preparations, we got a scruffy but reasonable 14-26 win over Scarlets in Llaneli It certainly wasn’t the prettiest game of rugby and the conditions were squally blustery (see attached photos, the rain is sweeping in at an angle!) but with 4 different try-scorers, another impressive contribution from Sione Va’enuku and valuable minutes across the squad this was a useful test before the premiership season begins. Having taken up the very generous offer of hospitality in the Carwyn james lounge, a stay overnight at the Diplomat and coach travel to/fro the ground (my thanks to SSAaway and Scarlets for this), we made our way over to Llaneli on Friday afternoon. After a trip to the swimming pool and sauna, we put on our sarries jerseys and awaited departure to the stadium. On arrival, I must admit the staff were excellent and did indeed make us feel welcome, plus the food and drink was pretty tasty too! After many pints of Guinness and a few of the Double Dragon ale (a niche Scarlets one, I believe…) I filled in the score prediction form for 17-25 to us. I was very close as well, if only Scarlets had kicked a penalty at some point! The prize was a bottle of wine and to make things even more frustrating, the guy who did win it had the same forename as me, so I thought I did win until I heard the surname… Oh well maybe next time.We then moved to sit down 5 minutes before KO and observed Scarlets mascot high fiving various fans including our own Nige Eaton. Nice touch indeed from the Scarlets matchday team.