Saracens v Newcastle: So just what happened in Brighton?

R&R
By Jeremy O'Gorman
March 30 2010

So just what happened in Brighton; was it a visit to the nudist beach, or a gay bar or the sight of a burnt-out pier that changed the players so much. DrV said it was just a few beers after training, but I suspect something else.

It was a bright day; the ground seemed firm underfoot but would the game sparkle. Sarries as I’m sure you all know were having a bit of a bad patch, losing most games since it became 2010. The pack was under pressure, to the point that we had purchased some more Bokker cavalry albeit via Nottingham. I was certainly not sure we would win; if we lost then 6^th place beckoned.

The match started poorly, with Sarries under pressure from the start. Each of the first two Newcastle line-outs resulted in forward drives which Mr White adjudged Sarries to have brought down. The second would have been 3 points anyway, but a properly executed drop-goal by Copperth meant 0-3. Worse was to come as Glen kicked short and from the scrum restart Sarries stood up to give Gopperth a long range penalty which he slotted over. Sarries were not to be downhearted and drove up-field, with ball in hand. Now I realise to some Sarries supporters “ball in hand” is a strange concept, but the Brighton effect was making itself felt and rather than kicking the ball away we drive in midfield, passed the ball to the wings and generally played pretty much like last season. The only difference was that today Sarries played with 3 proper centres; Barritt, Powell and Brits. Now I know he is supposed to be a hooker, but when the ball comes to a player just outside the fly-half who rolls around the first tackle, side-steps the full back and runs in under the posts, he is a centre. Glen made sure of the conversion and we were 7-6 up.

From the kick-off Newcastle attacked again and Rees Gill was penalised. From where I sat it looked as if he had pulled out the ball from a ruck before driving though it then being tackled. Mr White (who seemed in the first quarter to be having a Rose like performance) adjudged as going over the top. Gopperth restored the lead 7-9. Sarries however were playing some wonderful rugby; simple and uncomplicated and the second try was a perfect example of this. The ball was won from a line-out and Glen released Brad who crashed into both centres forcing them both to tackle him. The ruck was clinically perfect fast ball and again Glen released a centre on a crash ball, this time to a makeshift defence. Adam Powell made the gap before offloading to the supporting Brits who ran in for an unopposed try. Glen added the extras for 14-9. Supporters in the stand were pinching themselves. Sarries had scored two tries in 20 minutes and although the match was far from over; Newcastle seemed to be able to pick up penalties all day; a bonus point could be on.

Sarries were bringing a great deal of pressure to bear on Newcastle and were awarded 3 mid-range kickable penalties all of which Glen managed to miss. The last was awarded for a rather nasty mid-air collision involving Shalk Brits. He was down for some time and most of the crowd believed a yellow card was in order; especially when the replay showed a cynical take-out. However, Glen, on his last performance at VR seemed to want to go out with a classic performance and shortly afterwards executed a double wrap-around to release Saull on the wing; unfortunately, he went into touch. Shortly afterwards from a line-out a classic show and go from Jackson took him through the line. Saull was again on hand to run a cross-line and go in under the posts. 21-9. There were a couple of other fantastic moves, some pat-a-cake hands in the centre; another show and go from Glen where he unfortunately ran out of support, but Sarries were running Newcastle ragged. There were three more penalties, two from Sarries, one from Newcastle as the half closed out, leaving it 27-12 to Sarries.

I can categorically state that was the best half of rugby played by Sarries this season; the only real competitor the second half at Wembley against the Boks (and the second half as it turned out). Could they keep it up and close out the bonus point. Especially as just after the break it was Newcastle who started playing the rugby Copperth hit another penalty from half-way as the scrum was penalised, but Glen restored the lead to 12 with a penalty from in front on the 22 as Newcastle went offside. Newcastle had a long period of attacking, with around 20 phases of play, but excellent Sarries defence meant they didn’t really look like scoring. In fact they finally ran out of options and a wayward pass was snapped up by Cato in his own 10 yard line. I thought that his running was a little strange as in the beginning he seemed only to want to offload but after a couple of changes of line and a missed tackle he was suddenly clear. Even after he had made the line he seemed a bit strange, almost allowing a covering player to knock the ball out of his hands rather than favouring the swallow dive he normally does. Still it was a bonus point and 37-15 the game seemed sown up.

Newcastle did not give up though and kept trying to run the ball, but fantastic Sarries defence kept them out. After another set of phases, this time well inside their own half, the ball was intercepted by Joubert who handed off one defender and ran in almost unopposed. Again it was an easy conversion for 44-15 and Sarries were in control. A whole raft of changes took place and Newcastle seemed to drift back into the game. They had a sustained period of attacking the Sarries line, with almost 50 passages of play; punctuated by two penalties. At one time they had a 6 man overlap, but the forwards kept burrowing away and Sarries were able to cover when the ball finally came out. Desperate defence at times from Sarries somehow kept them out and finally a turnover happened. Del ran the ball out and kicked ahead; Bobo covered but ended in touch. Brad Barritt grabbed the ball and took a short throw-in back to Del who managed to wriggle through the half cover to score. Glen brought up the half-century.

There was still time at the end for Sarries to attack and humiliate the Newcastle scrum close to their line. First on the Newcastle put in the put-in was reversed and on the second a penalty was awarded. From the third, Joubert picked up and barged his way over. With his last kick at VR, Glen made it 58-15. There were some lovely little cameos along the way.

The new prop duPlessis played really well against the fancied Golding and Gill certainly took no prisoners against Hayman. Huge was inspirational, although he did give away a number of penalties at the rolling maul. Burger looks a more than adequate replacement for Wickus and even Hilly with an aggressive display. Saull and Shalk seemed to be all over the park. Playing with two proper centres gave us more options at the second phase ball. Hoohaa looked a competent centre himself when he came on as a replacement making an excellent break before running out of support. And the offloads; sometimes the pat-a-cake was more like the Army 7’s team but they all seemed to go to hand and the number of knock-ons were minimal. Jackson and deKock played as if it was 2008 and Joubert was my man of the match. I am just a little concerned that somebody in South Africa is going to suggest to Ernst that a place in the World Cup squad on his current form is not out of the question

Some people seem to think that Newcastle were not there, and this performance was not as good as the scoreline indicated; I would point out that although their midfield tackling was suspect, their pack did not give up and they spent long periods of the game attacking with ball in hand. They certainly were no worse than other sides we have seen this season. On the down side Cato seemed out of sorts, and Goode did not distribute well on the few instances he was at first receiver.

Lastly, I had eldest son down from university sitting beside me. He managed to tell me off and moderate some of my more extreme shouts; luckily for you all

Best day at VR since the Ospreys game I would say

Saracens: Goode, Penney, Powell, Barrett, Cato, Jackson, de Kock, Gill, Brits, Du Plessis, Vyvyan, Botha, Burger, Saull, Joubert.
Replacements: Haughton for Penney (60), Hougaard for Powell (67), Rauluni for de Kock (68), Aguero for Gill (55), Ongaro for Brits (66), Skuse for Du Plessis (66), Ryder for Botha (60), Melck for Burger (61).

Newcastle: A. Tait, Williams, Bobo, Tu'ipulotu, Amesbury, Gopperth, Young, Golding, Vickers, Hayman, Hudson, Swinson, Levi, B. Wilson, Browne.
Replacements: Vickerman for Tu'ipulotu (56), Catterick for Gopperth (68), Charlton for Young (67), Ward for Golding (63), Walker for Vickers (61), Brooks for Hayman (67), Sorenson for Swinson (55), Afu for Browne (41).