Sarries slump yet again

By Jason Harris
September 22 2002

A second half collapse saw Sarries ship a half century of points against London Wasps at Adams Park on Sunday, coming out of the game on the wrong end of a 51-23 scoreline.

Despite hagning on during a stop-start first half, Saracens were blown away during the second period as the side looked as if they had just met one another about five minutes before kick-off.

Wasps took advantage of a hopeless Sarries performance after the break to run in four tries to one and collect a bonus point in the process.

The home side opened the scoring with an Alex King penalty on three minutes as the sides sized up one another. Some fairly uninspired play followed for the next ten minutes until Sarries, very much against the run of play, took the lead with the afternoon's first try.

Kevin Sorrell latched onto a kick ahead from Andy Goode and he was over in the corner to give Sarries the upper hand. But the hosts struck back immediately with the first of Craig Dowd's two scores. Penalties were then exchanged and the half time score was 19-16 to Wasps.

Straight after half time the home advantage was extended after Josh Lewsey scored a try, converted by King. Thereafter it was all one-way traffic as Wasps kept their nerve and hands on the ball while Sarries fumbled, crashed into one another and even headed away possession. They were going nowhere while their hosts were ploughing forwards at a rate of knots.

Further tries from Lawrence Dallaglio and former Saracens youth player John Rudd ensured the maximum five points for Wasps and despite a late reply for Sarries from Johnny Marsters, Dowd had the last word with the final score of the day and the Wasps had topped the half century.

It was noticed by the Sarries faithful that the players turned up to the game not in a team bus, but in their own cars. Questions are bound to be asked about whether this was a plan that went very wrong, or whether the club's finances are in real dire straits. If it is the latter, then the coffers resemble closely the team on the field right now. And neither can be good things.