Saracens V London Welsh - Fun In The Sun
Delboy: A Brace
By Big H
August 24 2009
Saracens continued their winning ways in pre-season yesterday at a sun-drenched Old Albanians with a 24-16 victory over Championship side London Welsh.
It was the first view of a few new Sarries for many of us; Derick Hougaard, Frik Venter, Richard Skuse, Marius Botha and skipper for the day Michael Horak all had a run-out along with some of Sarries up-and-comers including Jackson Wray, James Short and most of the bench!
Not the best of starts saw the visitors take advantage of quick turn-over ball and full-back Errie Claassens race over the Sarries line. A conversion and subsequent penalty for Welsh outside half Aled Thomas saw Sarries 10 points behind.
A big floated pass from Hougaard put Richard Haughton in for Sarries first try of the afternoon, the new fly-half adding the extras. Shortly afterwards Haughton intercepted a loose Welsh pass inside the visitors 22 to race home and pull Sarries into the lead.
Unfortunately for Sarries their discipline faltered. Thomas kicked two penalties before the break to put London Welsh 14-16 up. Another blow before half-time saw Ed Thrower replace an injured Rodd Penney who was looking sharp.
Shortly after the interval a strong counter-attack by Horak lead to the Men In Black’s third try from Ed Thrower.
The only other impact on the scoreboard on the day was a well taken drop-goal by Hougaard securing the win.
Sarries will worry that the forwards spent many of the tight exchanges on the back foot and that at times the back-line looked disjointed. Let’s hope for an improved performance on Tuesday against Nottingham at VR.
Man of the Match – Michael Horak – Looked ultra-cool under the high ball and a threat on the counter-attack.
Hon mention – The Burger Van, great effort….
Saracens: Horak, Haughton, Penney (Thrower 23mins), Powell (Farrell 70mins), Short, Hougaard (Sharp 70mins), Marshall (Barrett 41mins), Venter (Brown 41mins), Ongaro (George 60mins), Skuse (Lealamanu'a 41mins), Smith, Botha, Kruis, Wray, Barrell.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:09:01:20:58:51 by Kat.
He certainly looked mobile, but we are looking very short of bulk in the second row and with the rolling maul back with us we could suffer.
From my point of view and many of my LW friends and supporters we were pleased with our performance if not a little disapointed that we could have won the game.
Although Sarries outscored us three tries to one, i thought we were by far the better team on the park. (That of course is my opinion) anyway enough of my comments.
Can i take this opportunity to thank OA's rugby club for their usual fantastic hospitality, and wish Sarries and OA's all the very best for the coming season.
Quote:The Bard
I was a bit worried when we signed Botha that he was a bit on the light side, and unfortunatly on the evidence of yesterday it was a legitimate concern.
But on the plus side, he does have very nice hair.
Quote:PaddyTaf
The second Sarries try came from an interception in the sarries 22 and not in the LW 22. Anyone reading this report will THINK Sarries [Edit]Second tier squad[/Edit] were the better team when clearly it was LW who played the better rugby
That as may be; It's our board & too early in the season to take off out optimistic rose tinted glasses (We will wait until at least March for that
)
Good Luck for the rest of the season.
