Just another normal night out for Sarries
By Jason Harris
September 29 2006
Countless penalties, three sin-binnings, going a mile behind, three tries, recovery to bring themselves within one score, a shot in the foot, another mini-recovery and a penalty from the opposition that took away the bonus point. It was just another normal night out for the Sarries faithful at Sale.
Those poor souls who endured another record (long) journey to the north west on the SSA bus must have wished it had never arrived, rather than at half time when the score read Sale 19, Saracens 9.
It was a scoreline that flattered Sarries as their hosts were completely dominant in all phases and yet, for some inexplicable reason, were reluctant to capitalise on their forward superiority with the ball rarely going beyond the driving maul or Charlie Hodgson who booted four goals in the first period.
Saracens were also penalised into submission by referee Wayne Barnes who applied the law very strictly as Sale pressurised the visitors into rash indiscipline and, but for their lack of ambition to move the ball wide, could have been out of sight.
With five minutes left before the break, Mark Cueto came in off the right wing to manufacture an overlap that sent Mark Taylor in for the first try of the game. Hodgson, who kicked 19 points in all, added the conversion.
All Sarries had to show for a first half spent almost entirely on the back foot were three Glen Jackson penalties and sin-binnings for Ben Johnston and Cobus Visagie.
As it turned out, the second half began in even worse fashion for Sarries as they went down to 13 men for a short time as Matt Cairns joined Visagie in the bin for yet another technical offence at the breakdown.
Things then from worse to, well, worse still as Sale then extended their lead to 26-9 as Cueto, again popping up in an unexpected place - this time the outside centre channel on the left, crossed unhindered as Ben Johnston had do make the extra man in the defensive scrum to leave a massive gap for the Sale wing to exploit.
With 26 minutes left to play, it looked to everyone in the ground that it was a question of when Sale would get the bonus point and how many more penalties and points Saracens would concede. What happened was one of the most characterful and inspired responses seen from a Saracens side in a long time.
Instead of doing as they have done so many times down the years and capitulating, Saracens go stuck in and hauled their way back into the game at 26-21 with two converted tries, both crackers and both set up by Glen Jackson.
The first, started just inside the Sale half saw clever midfield interplay which enabled Rodd Penney to score his first five pointer for Sarries in the left hand corner. Jackson missed the difficult conversion but made no mistake at the start fo the fourth quarter after he sent Ben Johnston over next to the posts.
Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe made the game safe for the Sharks as he capitalised from a lineout catch and drive move after Sarries were penalised for offside. Alan Dickens sent a box kick straight up into the night sky and Sarries, following their instincts, went for the ball. Of course, by not retreating 10 metres, Saracens were offside, giving Sale the opportunity to stretch their lead to 10 points.
Back came Saracens again, with Jackson crossing eight minutes from time and converting to make it 31-26 and a losing bonus point would have been just reward for such a magnificent comeback.
However, further indiscipline cost them that bonus point as Hodgson kicked the final points of the night with penalty number five just two minutes later.
Saracens pressed and played high-risk rugby for the remainder of the game, but Sale kept them at bay to leave Sarries pointless, but still with their heads held high.
Final score Sale Sharks 34-26 Saracens.
It was obvious to everyone at the ground and everyone listening on the radio that Sarries' indiscipline cost them the game and, in the long run, could cost them bigger prizes at the tail end of the season.
Director of Rugby Alan Gaffney pulled no punches when it came to pointing out what needs to be done in order to stop the endless concession of penalties when he told the Saracens official web site:
"Our ill discipline is something which has let us down this year. It's something again we have laid out to the players after the game. You can look at measures like introducing fines, but that's just a slap on the wrists. There are more harsher measures of dealing with the issue if it continues which will hurt the players a lot more than financially."
Sale Director of Rugby Philippe Saint Andre was praiseworthy of Sarries but disappointed with his side's fourth quarer performance
"I am pleased with the win and that Saracens did not get a bonus point," he said "But I think they deserved something. We were okay going forward for 50 to 55 minutes but after that, we switched off completely."
The Premiership now takes two weeks off the EDF Energy (Anglo-Welsh)Cup takes centre stage. Sarries play away at London Irish first on 30 September and then welcome Cardiff Blues to Vicarage Road on 8 October. From what has been said by Gaffney in the post match interviews, these games could be used as opportunities to rest some players and bring in the likes of Iain Fullarton who has been out for nearly a year with injury.
The next Guinness action will be on 15 October when Bath visit Vicarage Road and Gaffney, Sarries and supporters alike will hope that the discipline problems will have been sorted before the visit of their west country adversaries.
SCORERS: Sale Sharks: Tries: Taylor (35min), Cueto (52), Fernández Lobbe (66). Conversions: Hodgson (2). Penalty goals: Hodgson (1), (14), (28), (40), (74). Saracens: Tries: Penney (54), Johnston (61), Jackson (72). Conversion: Jackson. Penalty goals: Jackson 3 (11, 20, 34).
SCORING SEQUENCE (Sale first): 3-0, 3-3, 6-3, 6-6, 9-6, 9-9, 16-9, 19-9 (half-time), 26-9, 26-14, 26-21, 31-21, 31-26, 34-26.
SALE SHARKS: J Robinson; M Cueto, M Taylor, C Bell, B Foden; C Hodgson, S Martens (rep: M Wigglesworth, 54); A Sheridan, S Bruno, S Turner (rep: B Evans, 58), C Jones, C Day (rep: S Chabal, 58), J White, M Lund (rep: D Tait, 78), J M Fernández Lobbe.
SARACENS: D Scarbrough; R Penney, K Sorrell, B Johnston, K Ratuvou; G Jackson, A Dickens; K Yates, M Cairns, J Visagie, H Vyvyan, S Raiwalui (rep: T Ryder, 78), K Chesney, D Seymour (rep: B Broster, 48), B Russell (sub: S Byrne, 48).