Second XV go down to Quins

By Jason Harris
October 7 2002

Saracens second string lost 21-11 to their Harlequins counterparts at Harrow RFC in a bitterly disappointing game on Monday night.

Sarries were guilty of many knock-ons, turnovers and not winning their own set-piece ball and Quins capitalised, outscoring their hosts two tries to one.

Quins outside half Seb Fitzgerald opened the scoring on three minutes with a penalty goal afer Sarries were offside at a ruck. The offside theme was to run throughout the evening as the referee penalised both sides too quickly, allowing virtually no setting up of proper rucks and as a result the game degenerated into a stop-start mess.

Harlequins second row Karl Rudski was penalised for diving over at a ruck four minutes later, presenting Niki Little with an easy penalty goal to level matters.

Saracens then conceded the first try after a clearance kick was charged down by the opposition back row. Open side flanker Chris Cracknell was first to the ball and Fitzgerald converted to make the score 3-10.

Despite having a man advantage when Rudski was sin-binned for a repeat infringement, Saracens failed to convert any of the few chances that came their way. Both sides lacked direction and control and added to the consistent interruptions courtesy of ther referee's whistle and his unwillingness for any free kicks and penalties to be taken quickly, the game rambled aimlessly from set piece to set piece.

Ryan Peacey was the next player to receive a yellow card six minutes before the break. Once again the official deemed his hand in the ruck sufficiently illegal to warrant ten minutes on the touchline.

Although Fitzgerald missed with the resulting penalty, Quins did score their second try when the Saracens flanker was off the field.

A catch and drive four minutes into injury time put former Sarries favourite Gregg Botterman over after Gerald Arasa was penalised for a deliberate knock-on while trying to defend a three man Quins overlap. Fitzgerald missed the conversion, so the score at the half was Saracens 3, Harlequins 15.

The second half started brightly for the home side and they were to register their only try five minutes in.

A rare scrum won against the head by Sarries put the visitors on the back foot and the ball was moved quickly to the right wing where Richard Haughton scorched in at the corner flag. Little's conversion attempt proved unsuccessful but Saracens were back within one score at 8-15.

The home side closed the gap further just three minutes later. Craig Quinnell set off on a charge from deep inside his own 22 and thundered nearly 50 metres up the field before he was felled by the Quins defence, but they prevented quick release of the ball, gifting a penalty to Sarries.

Though the quick tap taken by Sparg was a bit of a shambles, the referee deemed there was not sufficient advantage as Quins failed to retreat the mandatory 10 metres and Niki Little calmed things down as he slotted an easy 20 metre goal to move Sarries onto 11 points.

Two further Fitzgerald penalties completed the scoring on 54 and 60 minutes and the last 20 minutes fizzled out as both sides - and many of those in the crowd - looked as if they wanted to be in the bar rather be anywhere near the paddock.

The referee kept up his whistle and card-happy display in the closing stages, with Benazzi being shown a yellow card for not rolling away after a tackle. A card which was brandished almost before the Frenchman hit the floor, it seemed, such was the speed of the official's intervention.

Saracens did come close to scoring a second try late on when Brett Sparg was collared just short of the line, but that was a rare moment of excitement in a tedious final quarter.

After four minutes of second half injury time, the man in yellow finally put everyone out of their misery by blowing the final whistle and Quins went home deserved victors as they made fewer mistakes than a disappointing, disjointed
Saracens:

15. Adryan Winnan
14. Richard Haughton
13. Ben Johnston
12. Paddy O'Gorman
11. Gerald Arasa
10. Niki Little
9. Brett Sparg

1. Aston Croall
2. Matt Cairns
3. Col Hannan
4. Craig Quinnell
5. Abdel Benazzi
6. Chris Daubney
7. Ryan Peacey
8. Daniel Legge