Sarries return to play-off spot. 26-14 v Quins
Promising prospect
By JOG
December 7 2010
The cold and snow of recent days had disappeared; the sun shone and it was a great day for watching rugby. Both teams were under-strength: Quins by choice, since they left their England men on the bench. The injuries in the backs meant an experimental look to the centre combination on the Sarries side.
The game started in normal fashion; the kick-off was not gathered by Sarries and Quins stole the ball for a drive towards the line. Fortunately, they were unable to do anything with the possession and Sarries were able to clear the lines up to half-way.
Once they had the ball in hand, Sarries seemed in irresistible form; driving forward with a good combination of inside passes and surges from Brad in particular who looked able to break the line on each attempt. A glimmer of an overlap appeared on the far side and Sarries tried to exploit it. Quick hands in the centre left Brits and Burger looking at a 2 on 1. A great hit by Smith meant the ball ended well behind Burger, and as Lowe swooped on the loose pass, there was nobody with the pace to stop him scoring. Evans fortunately missed the kick; but there was no sense of panic in the home ranks
Sarries then had a good 20 minutes of unrivalled superiority, totally in control. Faz Jnr. started to use the possession to good effect; bringing in Short from the blind-side wing to run good lines and stretch the defence. Quins tried to slow the progress down as quick ball from Sarries was beginning to pay dividends; but referee Small’s patience finally ran out and Faz was able to slot over the first of his four penalties. Shortly after the restart, repeated drives up the Rous side, especially from Short started to leave gaps. Strettle came in from the full back position on an angled run into a big hole. Skinner tried to cover him off, but was no match for a lovely side-step allowing the former Quins man to walk in under the posts This was all too much for a Quins supporter sitting next to me who groaned loudly (lovely sound it was)
One try wasn’t enough for Sarries however, and they kept battering away at the Quins defence. At this point it seemed only a question of time before we would score, and it wasn’t long coming. A lovely inside offload from Borths having attracted all of the defenders to him, almost put Sarries in, but they were awarded a penalty as a reward. Faz kicked for the corner and, from the lineout, Botha originally drove and then the pack swarmed around and drove him towards the line. Needless to say, it was Brits who came up with the ball. Faz added the points from wide out and suddenly a bonus point seemed on.
Quins seemed to get themselves back into the game just before half-time with a couple of silly penalties; both well struck by Evans, but although the half-time score of 20-11 seemed close it had not reflected the dominance of Sarries. Unfortunately, poor Ollie Smith seems not to have sorted out his injury woes, being stretchered off at the half-hour mark. Half-time came and went with Care and Easter coming on for Quins; along with the worst attempt at a crossbar challenge seen so far. The ball bounced after 2 yards and didn’t even make the try line, finishing closer to the corner flag than the posts. (Who he?)
Quins started the second half with more purpose, Care scurrying around and adding more pace. The first 10 minutes of the second half were not a great advert for rugby as Mr Small seemed intent on stamping his authority on both sides. There was a meaningless succession of scrums where the defensive side pulled the attackers around so the possession changed hands. Most scrums resulted in the front rows standing up. There was also a prolonged handbag session between Johnson and Borthwick; just a severe talking to was the result.
Although Sarries didn’t have much possession, each time they had the ball they returned Quins to their own 22, forcing Quins to play a dangerous game close to their line. The play was all Quins for most of the second half as it had been all Sarries in the first; Care, especially, looked sharp and got the backs moving. Quins made a couple of half-breaks, but eventually coughed up the ball only for Sarries to push them back into their own 22, hoping for a turnover. The lead was extended to 12 points, but this was short-lived as Evans slotted one from the half-way line to bring it back to 23-14.
When the raft of players changed over around the hour mark, Quins seemed to get the better of it as their play had more purpose. There was then a long period of Quins ascendancy as they stretched the Sarries defence to its limits. It did seem certain that they would score, but a solid defence confronted them. Sarries were also able to put pressure on the rucks, almost turning over a couple of balls, meaning Quins had to commit more men to the breakdown and less out wide to exploit the gaps. Three turnovers were fashioned in this period, but the kicks downfield were quickly returned to the 22 to begin the attack again. To be honest Quins looked better whilst they were throwing the ball around in open play rather than when they used the battering forwards.
Finally, Sarries did manage to run clear and get back into the South half, where they were almost immediately awarded a penalty to go 12 points ahead. It was dispiriting stuff and as the clock wound down, they switched their target from a win to a losing bonus point. Sarries got hold of the ball with around 5 minutes remaining and ground down the clock. Faz then made his only mistake of the day, not making touch. Quins gained possession and grabbed a penalty on halfway with 5 seconds on the clock. Time was up when the lineout was still forming, but Mr. Small had obviously been asked if there was time remaining. Quins tried hard but the defence held firm; a knock-on returned the ball to Sarries in their 22 with a 3 man overlap beckoning. Unfortunately, the ball was knocked on again as it was picked up, finishing the game.
It was a win and a comfortable one at that, compared with the close matches we have become used to. Wacky Backy didn’t get any ball to see if he was the article at outside centre, but he tackled well enough to justify his place.
Saracens: Wyles; Strettle, Tagicakibau, Barritt, Short; Farrell, Wigglesworth; Carstens, Brits, Nieto, Borthwick, Botha, Burger, Saull, Joubert.
Replacements: de Kock for Wigglesworth (52), Du Plessis for Carstens (51), Gill for Nieto (51), Kruis for Botha (71), K. Brown for Saull (51). Not Used: George, Mordt, Cato.
Harlequins: Brown; Lowe, O. Smith, Turner-Hall, Williams; Evans, Dickson; Marler, Gray, Johnston, Vallejos Cinalli, Robson, Robshaw, Skinner, Guest.
Replacements: Camacho for O. Smith (29), Care for Dickson (38), Jones for Marler (68), Brooker for Gray (58), Lambert for Johnston (54), Kohn for Vallejos Cinalli (54), Easter for Skinner (38). Not Used: Clegg.
Attendance: 6,035
Referee: Andrew Small (RFU).
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010:12:13:14:58:48 by Kat..
Quote:.J O'G
The kick-off was not gathered by Sarries
I knew as soon as it happend that this would feature in the match report.
Good to see I wasn't dissapointed.
Thanks for the report.
In the build up to our first try, as shown in the highlights on the Aviva thing above, there is an almost Richard Hill like block by Andy Saull
He is leaning
Quote:Neville
In the build up to our first try, as shown in the highlights on the Aviva thing above, there is an almost Richard Hill like block by Andy Saull
He is leaning
He has to lean in the scrum, otherwise the ref would ping him!!
That's what I thought real-time, and in slo-mo. One of the more important things that Mr Small got right
It's a long time since Sports network paid anything!
Quote:The Bard
Mr Small generally had a good game, but why on earth did he not even speak to a Quins player when they infringed 1m from the tryline for the second time in 10 minutes? There surely had to be a yellow card.
If that's the amount of information available about the incident, then it's clear why there was no yellow card...