2nd team not second best

By Jason Harris
September 23 2002

Saracens' second team beat Northampton's Wanderers - featuring some Bedford players - 36-7 at Bramley Road to ease the pain of the defeat at Wasps ever so slightly.

Sarries, sporting last season's Canterbury change strip, outmuscled their Midlands opponents throughout the game with Abdel Benazzi and Kieran Roche to the fore. Sarries' big men made the hard yards so the young outside backs could show the small crowd what they could do.

The first score came on five minutes courtesy of a 45m Niki Little penalty and 3-0 became 10-0 a couple of minutes later. A typical Benazzi surge over 30 metres left several Wanderers defenders in his wake and he drew the last man to give the returning Tony Roques the scoring pass and put the Sarries open side under the posts. The Little conversion was a formality.

Another quarter of an hour passed before the Wanderers reply. After Benazzi was penalised for holding on in a ruck well inside the Northampton half, the resulting penalty put the visitors inside the Sarries 22. Quick hands from the backs after the lineout put the ball into the possession of right wing Matt Richards who scored near the sticks. The conversion was added by Mark Tucker and the score was 10-7.

Sarries struck back five minutes later with a try from replacement flanker Dave Hesketh, on for Stuart Brady who had to leave the field with a shoulder injury, after a patient and controlled multi-phase build-up. Little added the extras and the score at the break was 17-7 to the home side.

Just under five minutes into the second half, Sarries extended their lead to 24-7 after a midfield scissors move put centre Jacques Geldenhuys in unopposed with Little again converting for the goal.

Many substitutions were made by both sides during the final quarter as the Wanderers tried to get back into the game. However, as one of their wide attacks broke down, Sarries wing Pete Waldron snapped up a dropped pass by the Northampton threequarters and galloped up the left touchline for a 50m try. Niki Little duly obliged with the two points from the conversion kick and the game was safe at 31-7.

There was time for one more score from the home side. This time Kieran Roche was the catalyst; a run half the length of the field put Sarries in a great position on the right flank and the ball was taken on by Richard Haughton who squeezed in at the corner flag but for once, Little failed to make it seven points with his only miss of the game.

It was good to see the likes of Tony Roques and Luke Harbut getting a full 80 minutes on the field and also seeing Benazzi and Roche causing problems for the opposition defence.

Behind the scrum Morgan Williams had a good game and Little's confidence was such that he barely dropped a ball all afternoon, though his kicking from hand still needs some improvement. The young threequarters all played very well, especially centres Ruddick and Geldenhuys and Brett Sparg was solid at the back and inspirational going forward.

If the first team (all of whom were present with the exception of the England contingent) can duplicate this form on Saturday against Saints, they will have a very good chance indeed of winning.

Saracens:

Brett Sparg; Richard Haughton, Jaques Geldenhuys, Stephen Ruddick, Pete Waldron; Niki Little (c), Morgan Williams; Luke Harbut, James Parkes, Aston Croall; Craig Quinnell, Abdel Benazzi, Stuart Brady, Tony Roques, Kieran Roche.

Replacements: Steve Croall, Dan Lewis, Matt Wilson, Chris Waring, Dave Hesketh, Mike Aspinall, Rob Colborne, Luke Sloan, James Meadows, Tom Spencer.