Report of Sarries' EDF victory vs Saints

Dylan Hartley?
By Jeremy O'Gorman
October 28 2008

The solid rain of the morning seemed to suggest a dour game, but no rain fell in the afternoon and all players seemed to have the correct studs fitted. Saints seemed to be taking the match more seriously, with a serious bench in case things went wrong; Sarries mainly sticking to the same team as the Scarlet game, with a few additions.

The EDF positions were such that Saints really wanted one bonus point to make Sarries chances of a semi-final nominal, Sarries wanted 5 points, but 4 would do.  

From the kick-off Sarries’ play seemed to have purpose and direction, with perhaps a little too much kicking but with their expected set-piece dominance it was not too surprising. It reaped early benefits with a stolen lineout. The ball was moved one way, and then another until it made its way out to Cato on the wing with seemingly little room. Stepping inside one man, he was held up running straight at Foden, but legs pumping in Cencus mode he made it to the line. Ross missed the fairly difficult kick; 5-0.

 

Saints worked out Sarries’ weakness (restarts) and with re-gathered ball trundled forward. The resultant penalty was pretty stupid and gave Myler a chance to close the gap 5-3. Saints also failed to gather the restart, with a knock-on being handled by an offside player. Ross restored the 5 points margin. Shortly afterwards the stupidity started. From a ruck going nowhere, Cairns loitered around after being told to move on and Myler had an easy 3 points 8-6. From the kick-off Cato was even more stupid, taking out the catcher in the air, conceding a penalty and deservedly earning 10 minutes in the empty East stand. He did not make the same mistake again, later on.

 

Sarries however seemed to cope with the loss reasonably well, nicking another lineout and putting pressure on the Saints defence; Leonelli worked an overlap but lack of pace saw him being cut down 10 yards short. Moses saw a gap from the ruck and squirmed through untouched for a try under the posts. Ross added the extras. 15-6. I should point out at this time, that your correspondent though he had time on his hands and whilst Ross lined up the kick slipped to the bar for a couple of pints. He missed the conversion (no big deal) but also missed the restart.

 

I gather from Martin that Sarries failed to notice Cato was still in the bin, so didn’t adjust their positioning and also failed to catch the restart (no real surprises here). Saints recovered and used the gap to their advantage, Ashton and Foden worked an overlap to score in Cato’s corner. Myler was wayward with a perfectly kickable position, to bring Saints back in it 15-11. Sarries again trundled forward with solid purpose; another Saints killing of the ball and Ross restored the lead to 7 points.

 

Unfortunately, every time Sarries scored Saints kicked a restart, and true to form for the whole season, we managed to muck it up. This time, with the ball and most of the players over by the East stand, a clever cross-kick found Lewitt in space. Andy Saull rushed across and seemed to have him covered, but tried too hard to bounce him into touch, sliding across Lewitt’s back and ended up on the ground. Saull is after all young, so a schoolboy error is excusable - but I suspect he won’t make that mistake again. From out wide the kick was missed, but at 18-16 Saints were back in it.  

The rest of the half had Sarries in reasonable control with a set of penetrating kicks, solid ball at the set-piece and bash and crash in midfield, playing the game in the Saints half. Ross had a couple of drop goal attempts, one missing and one clearing the bar on the stroke of half-time. 21-16.

 

The discussion at half-time was, what with both sides having scored 2 tries each, how would Sarries stop Saints getting a bonus point for 4 tries, let alone a second one for being close. The answer was to kick the ball, not run it – ensuring Saints really had few chances to get to the line. There were six kickable penalties in the second half, five to Sarries and one to Saints. Ross missed the easiest one of the lot, so the score finished at 33-19, a comfortable win.

 

Saints were really the only side trying to run the ball in the second half, but having to do so from deep meant little chance of success. They brought on all their better players from the bench; Sarries replacing only Cobus, Ches (these old boys need a rest) and Skirvs who was injured. Despite what was almost a full strength Saints side on the pitch for the last 20 minutes, they got no change out a solid Sarries defence. The only area of concern was the scrummage, where Mercey seemed to have a lot of problems, giving away 3 penalties.

 

A lot has been made of the stupidity of Hartley, especially by Eddie Jones. There was one particular incident shortly after he came on. Hartley was “protecting” the blind-side of a ruck, when the ball popped out of the back. Nobody seemed to be picking it up and an astute Moses ran round the side to try to hack it on. Hartley short arm-tackled him in the neck, when he did not have the ball. After consultation, a stern warning was given, but no yellow card. Whilst this was dealt with, there were a number of incidents off the ball where he seemed to be the instigator. Whilst his general play seemed good for the time he was on, a persistence of offending will catch referees eyes and he may end up as another Paul Ringer.

 

All in all a good solid result, that leaves Sarries with an outside chance of progression, given a Saints win and a 5 pointer at Bristol. There was altogether too much kicking and not enough running for a spectacle, but a good win against an “on paper” stronger Saints side, bodes well for the visit to that most “proper” of grounds, Franklins Gardens          

 

There was also an element of criticism about the referee in that he seemed to miss a fair number of offences. What rescued him was that the offences seem to happen in pairs; blowing up for the second one got him out of trouble.

Saracens: Goode, Leonelli, Powell, A. Farrell, Cato, Ross, Rauluni, Lloyd, Cairns, Visagie, Borthwick, Chesney, Barrell, Saull, Skirving. Replacements: Walker, Mercey, Ryder, Seymour, Wilson, Penney, Thrower.

Northampton: Foden, Ashton, Mayor, Mordt, Diggin, Myler, Dickson, Tonga'uiha, Shields, Stewart, Lord, Day, Lawes, Lewitt, Wilson. Replacements: Hartley, Murray, Fernandez Lobbe, S. Gray, Dickens, Spencer, Ansbro.

Referee: Martin Fox (RFU)