THE GAME WE COULDN’T GIVE AWAY
Not at Wycombe
By Zoot
February 11 2008
Will someone please tell me what I have done to deserve volunteering for Saracens v Worcester? The last time I took this gig it was the last game of last season, and by the end I’d run out of whatever passes for the antonym of “superlatives”. Oh, Well.
Saracens 19 Worcester 6
10th February 2008, Vicarage Road Stadium.
All those months ago, Worcester were rooted in eleventh in the league, and Sarries in fourth place. We were dire, they won. Today, Worcester were rooted in eleventh in the league, and Sarries in fourth place. We were dire, but in a subtle change to the script, WE won.
Wuss were just about at full strength in the fixture rearranged due to the first leg of Sarries v Ospreys in the EDF Cup at Easter, but Sarries were without the dependable midfield of Sorrell and Farrell, and also still missing was inspirational captain Neil de Kock, who's hamstring does not seemed to have improved over the last two weeks. Ah well, better a dodgy hamstring than poor old Tinds, eh - ‘All the best, mate, wish you well'.
The writing was on the wall for the faithful (a respectable 6,700+) who had voted against the "attraction" of Geranium Man's finest against the Azzuri and made it to Vicarage Road when in the first play of the game, the Sarries defence decided that Loki Crichton's kickoff was in fact not a rugby ball, but a fragmentation bomb, and scattered to all parts of the pitch to avoid it. From the ensuing mayhem, Wuss were awarded a penalty, but Loki made it redundant by popping over a drop goal. 3-0 to Worcester, and the crowd were wishing they'd held faith and stayed at home and watched England. It got worse from the restart, as the first Sarries lineout went to the opposition, but suddenly the home team woke up and began to press hard at the Warriors line. The crowd were up as Sarries crossed the line, but Adam Powell's final pass was forward, and the chance was lost. Apologies for not spotting the "scorer" but with the big screen having as much of an off day as the two teams, "I deed not see eet!"
Two minutes later, after further pressure, Glen missed a penalty that he would normally score in his sleep, but made amends after seven minutes to level the scores. At this stage, Worcester were strangers to the south end of the ground, but despite constant Sarries pressure, were somehow level at 3-3. A series of 5 metre scrums led to a series of cave-ins as Darren Morris came under severe pressure from Cobus Visage, but, despite constant re-sets, Sarries squandered the chance as the ball was lost by Leonelli after a long speculative pass. On 16 minutes, Jacko compounded the misery by sending another kick wide.
Another great chance was missed when Tupui, the Worcester hooker took a bizarre throw in on his own 5m line, that was more Superbowl than Premiership. The ball was caught by the Worcester defence in line with the far post from the throw, and although Eli Manning may have been impressed with the distance gained, clearly the Wuss team were not and ceded possession to Sarries. Needless to say the chance was again sent begging.
When another series of 5m scrums were dropped by Wuss, Mr Small finally gave a penalty to Sarries, and Glen put the home team into the lead off the inside of the right hand post. Given the ascendancy in the scrums at this stage and Cobus' demolition of Morris, a further scrum may well have lead to our favourite scorer, Mr Rodd Pen-try getting on the sheet, but the need to get some points on the board overtook ambition.
Before the half was out, Glen missed two further kicks, and the bad day with the boot continued when Loki Crichton missed the sort of kick that he will have nightmares about for weeks to come. After turning over a promising Sarries attack, Rico Gear, with his first meaningful move of the game (his only previous contribution been an unforced knock-on) streaked away down the righthand touchline, showing some of the promise that got Cecil to sign on the dotted line. Fine defence hauled him down, but in the ensuing ruck, Rodd Penney was sent to the bin, leaving Loki with a chip for 6-3. However, as none other than our good friend Mr Barnes has noted recently, if Wuss need to rely on Loki to keep them up, then they had better start worrying, as he missed a kick any of the half time "hangtimers" would have nailed without a problem.
As the half time whistle blew, Worcester would have been the happier team - only three points down having been pinned in their own half for most of the first forty, and although Sarries had defended well when necessary, there was really not enough nous up in attack to worry the opposition. It speaks volumes for the quality of rugby on display that the highlight of the half was the Lower Rous breaking into a chorus of "hi-ho hi-ho" as a troup of seven brightly jacketed stewards made their way along the touchline. Not sure if Mr Gaffney was in the procession, but he had every right to be Grumpy!
The second half got off to an equally inauspicious start for Sarries, with a succession of knock ons, but six minutes in, Ben Skirving made some hard yards near the visitors line, and Pat Sanderson suffered the same fate as Rodd Penney, and saw yellow. Glen was more accurate than his countryman, and widened the gap to 9-3. This was short lived however, as from the restart, Sarries again made a horlicks of things, allowing Alan Dickens to field the kick, before isolating Jackson in front on his own posts. This time even Loki couldn't miss, and the advantage was back to 3 points at 9-6.
But at last Sarries made something of the man advantage, and after some severe pressure on Worcester's line, the defence was sucked in, and the ball spun wide. And who was there to stroll in unopposed but that well known international centre Fabio Ongaro. Glenn obliged and the gap was suddenly a more respectable 10 points at 16-6.
The return of Sanderson led to some of Sarries best play of the game, but the only points to show were for another penalty after a fine run by Sam Tuitupou ended with the centre being pinged for hanging on. Thereafter things got sloppy, and Sarries raided their playbook, concentrating on the chapter entitled "Handing Possession Back to the Opposition". Luckily, Worcester's page was open at "Politely Declining Possession Handed Back by the Opposition" and if Sarries were inventive in the ways they gave Wuss the ball back, our visitors were positively genius-like in turning down the chance. Twice they failed to make touch, and then kicked so long that the ball is probably now somewhere between Cassiobury Park and the Grange Hotel. Perhaps the worst of Sarries misadventures was an "England" moment, reminiscent of last week's debacle against Wales. When Leonelli made an incisive break to the Wuss 22, the ball was scrambled back to midfield, before Hugh patted the ball back blindly over halfway. Dicko threw long, echoing Gomersall, and Adam Powell was pinned just outside our 22. 40 metres lost in 5 seconds of madness, but luckily Wuss did not have the wit or imagination of Wales and failed to capitalise, otherwise a similar result to that at Twickers may have been on the cards.
Glen missed another chance to put the game to bed, before a last furious assault by Worcester was repelled and the defence held firm as Mr Small called no-side.
So a very indifferent performance by a team with hopes of avoiding relegation, and a scrappy outing for a team pressing for play-off honours. Worcester were way too one-dimensional to think that even Rico Gear and his pals can help them to rise above 11th place, and they must be glad that Leeds seem unable to show enough class to challenge them for the drop. As for Sarries, there was no lack of ambition or determination, but the execution let them down at crucial times again and again. The game should have been out of sight by half time, but as usual, we had to fight hard not to concede a score after time was up. It's hard to see Wuss getting enough meaningful ball to Rico, Sam, etc when the scrum is under so much pressure. Some might say that Mr Small was lenient in the extreme at scrum time, when it seemed that every home put-in found Mr Morris scrambling about in the mud. When he finally lost patience and gave us a free kick (‘Wow, thanks ref!') Gus buggered up the tap and knocked it on. Just another example of the little things letting us down.
For once Sarries just about achieved parity in the lineout thanks to Mr Jack. To see Craig Gillies trooping off with 13 minutes to go must mean we are doing something right. Jack was probably justifiably MotM for his lineout work, and for a crunching tackle on Dale Rasmussen that left the Samoan checking his fillings, and those of us in the East Stand making sure that the structure of the venerable old building was still in tact.
Of those hoping for England honours, Nick Lloyd had another solid game in the tight, but was not as dynamic as of late in the loose. Del showed some great touches and made a superb last ditch tackle on Gear in the final assault. Adam and Skirvs bashed up the middle bravely, but seldom made too many yards. As for Worcester's vaunted new star Benjamin, his longest run of 45 metres was unfortunately for them straight down the halfway line from Rous to East Stand. Probably best then that Mr Ashton was fiddling in Rome, and that, for the crowd at least, England did their best work before our game began.
So, there will be harder tasks to come, two of them with a Welsh accent. If Sarries are to progress further in the three competitions, then there will need to be a marked improvement on today. At least the defence held firm, and, as far as I can see, this is the first game this season that we have denied the opposition a try. If a good attack is built on defence, then we are some way down the line, but the basic errors need to be eliminated otherwise we are going nowhere but a top six finish.
We end the day in fourth, behind Bath who now have a game in hand, and nicely in front of Wasps and Sale, who apparently have to reschedule their game. After four days of blue sky, and on a day where the East Stand were in shirt sleeve order until half time, the Pests seem to have contrived a pitch that a certain Mr K Bracken, formerly of this parish, would have been quite at home at on, in his new profession.
Cynical, moi?