Preview: Sarries v Quins

It’s been an interesting week at Sarries. We went to Castle Grim last Saturday, buoyant on the back of a great away win at the Rec and a growing sense that we were starting to hit our straps again after an unspectacular start to the season. It wasn’t to be, as Gloucester prevailed 19-13, but again promising signs were in abundance.

However, while we may not have won down at Kingsholm, we certainly ruffled some feathers, both on and off the pitch. The issue of the Sarries football fans (I call it Shed-gate, in line with standard practice among the media) was argued about to an extent well beyond boredom, and then there was the news of Brendan Venter’s resignation as DoR. What does it mean for Sarries? Well, again, it’s been discussed across the rugby community, and the usual BV-bashers at Leicester have been out in force, so I won’t dwell on the matter.

What may be more interesting, though, is how it will affect our performance on Sunday against a youthful, but ever-improving Harlequins side. There was one rumour that the news about Brendan had been known to the players for some time and had had a negative effect on their performances; maybe, then, now it’s all out in the open, we will see a rejuvenated Sarries side. This would be a worrying prospect for Quins, I’d imagine, as in recent weeks we’ve started to look more like the side that came to within 3 minutes of winning the Premiership last season. We seem to have found two new stars in Owen Farrell and James Short, both of whom start on Sunday, and they seem to have injected some much-needed exuberance into our previously stagnated attacking game. Brad Barritt is back at 12, Chris Wyles is back at 15, and Jacques Burger and Ernst Joubert return after international duty and injury respectively.

I am cheating somewhat with this preview because I already know the teams; if I hadn’t done, though, I wouldn’t be able to talk about the most controversial and interesting selection: Michael Tagicakibau at13. His selection is almost by default, but it could prove to be inspired. Strong in defence, combining of pace and power in attack, and fresh from his exploits with Fiji, he will be a handful. Ollie Smith may well be an experienced 13, having represented the British Lions, but I think he will have his work cut-out on Sunday.

Harlequins are by no means to be underestimated though. Since the2008/09 season, when they reached the Premiership semi-final and the Heineken quarters, they have failed to hit the same heights again. Now I hate to mention Bloodgate, as it’s what pretty much everyone thinks of when they hear the name Harlequins, but it undoubtedly had an effect on the progress of the club. Now though, under the astute management of Conor O’Shea, they are starting to rediscover their top form, and their young squad is gathering experience and cohesion with every passing week. They were most impressive in their 51-18 drubbing of Leeds last week. They too have unearthed two young stars: George Lowe, a try-scoring machine (I’ve got him in my Fantasy team, and he’s racking up the points), and Joe Marler, the man with the worst hair in Premiership rugby – but you wouldn’t say it to his face. Care and Easter are on the bench this week, but their replacements, Karl Dickson and Tom Guest, have performed admirably in

their absence. Mike Brown has been in imperious form, and Chris Robshaw remains one of the most consistent performers in England. Nick Evans has been playing at a different level of rugby to everyone else for most of this season, and if it weren’t for one Daniel Carter, he’d surely have 50 caps for the All Blacks by now; it goes without saying that he is a danger man, then.

Two sides, then, who look as if they might be discovering their top form, and who both undoubtedly have top-four aspirations. Two sides, also, who are very capable of playing some beautiful running rugby. Without wishing to sound too cliché, there may be enough fire on the pitch to compensate for the brutally cold weather, which has now stripped this weekend of Premiership action of half of its fixtures. I predict a win for Sarries, by a reasonably comfortable margin, but I think there will be tries scored by both sides in what has the potential to be one of the more exciting clashes to date.

Lastly, as our days at Vicarage Road are almost certainly numbered, let’s try and really get behind the team on Sunday after their West Country exploits over the last fortnight. Rightly or wrongly, we seem to have made our vocal presence felt at the Shed last week, so let’s try and continue that against Quins on Sunday (anything to keep our minds off the cold, really).

Team Line-Ups:

Saracens:

15 Chris Wyles 14 David Strettle 13 Michael Tagicakibau 12 Brad Barritt 11 James Short 10 Owen Farrell 9 Richard Wigglesworth 1 Deon Carstens 2 Schalk Brits 3 Carlos Nieto 4 Steve Borthwick © 5 Mouritz Botha 6 Jacques Burger 7 Andy Saull 8 Ernst Joubert 16 Jamie George 17 Rhys Gill 18 Petrus du Plessis 19 George Kruis 20 Kelly Brown 21 Neil de Kock 22 Nils Mordt 23 Noah Cato

Harlequins:

15 Mike Brown 14 George Lowe 13 Ollie Smith 12 Jordan Turner-Hall 11 Tom Williams 10 Nick Evans 9 Karl Dickson 1 Joe Marler 2 Joe Gray 3 James Johnston 4 Tomas Vallejos 5 George Robson 6 Chris Robshaw (c) 7 Will Skinner 8 Tom Guest Replacements 16 Chris Brooker 17 Ceri Jones 18 Mark Lambert 19 Ollie Kohn 20 Nick Easter 21 Danny Care 22 Rory Clegg 23 Gonzalo Camacho

Referee: Andrew Small

Kick-Off: 14.15pm