January Sale Slump for Sarries
Should he stay, or sh...?
By King Zak
January 5 2011
So, 2011 began with a disappointing defeat at Edgeley Park against a battling Sale side. Following Northampton’s somewhat surprising loss at home to ‘Quins the previous day, this game represented a glorious opportunity for Sarries to close the gap at the top of the table and even go above Saints – albeit having played a couple of games more.
Sale fans were very optimistic pre-game as the home side fielded their strongest 15 for sometime, especially the return of James Gaskell in an imposing looking pack. Sarries fans seemed to be of a similar mind and were a little concerned about how much quality ball we could generate against this set of Sale forwards.
The game started well for Sarries who made all the early running and were playing a penalty advantage when Goode chased a chip kick from Farrell to the try-line. He was illegally hauled back as he was in the process of diving on the loose ball to score the try. Referee Dave Pearson however took the easy option by blowing for the initial penalty back on the Sale 22m line. Farrell knocked over the simple kick but I was left with the distinct feeling that it was four points taken from us rather than three gained.
Sale finally got into the game through a series of Saracens handling errors and showed an appetite to move the ball quickly and direct running, both elements missing from the stuttering Saracens performance. From one such opportunity Williams threaded trough a lovely weighted grubber kick that Cueto reached first to touch down in the left corner. He just beat Henson to the ball and one could only reflect that Sarries had been denied a few minutes earlier from an identical situation through an act of pure cynicism, perhaps Henson needs to adopt a more cynical edge. The conversion was missed by Hodgson but Sale had gained real heart from the try and the crowd were in good voice in support of the home team.
The next 30 minutes belonged entirely to Sale. Wonderfully marshalled by Peel and Hodgson they put pace into the game and attacked from all areas – had it not been against Sarries I may even have enjoyed watching it!
The second try came on 13 mins and followed another handling error by Sarries, on this occasion Burger was the culprit. The ball was taken forward at pace and Gaskell was eventually adjudged to have scored the try on the left hand 15m line. The try was awarded by the TMO after a lengthy delay, although from my distant view it appeared that the ball had been lost forward in the tackle prior to the try being scored. This time Hodgson was on target and Sale extended their lead to 12-3.
You could feel the growing optimism amongst the home faithful and it was visible in their team’s approach; a situation accentuated when Henson’s first touch of the ball resulted in him shovelling a quick pass directly into touch.
Another handling error, this time a Goode clearance partially charged down, resulted in a penalty at the breakdown to Sale on Sarries 22m line, about 10m in from touch. Hodgson reflected the growing optimism by hitting the ball sweetly through the posts; 15 – 3. Another forward drive by Sale resulted in yet another penalty, in the same position, with the same result; 18-3 after 25mins
Sarries self-destruct mode continued as Burger clashed heads with du Plessis, it was no surprise to see the prop leave the field with blood pouring from his head. It did, however, give an opportunity for James Ellershaw to make his league debut. This was followed by Farrell hitting a 22m drop out directly into touch and Sarries were once again on the back foot and compounded the error by conceding a penalty at the resulting scrum; 21-3 after 30mins.
From the restart Sale moved the ball down the right wing through a succession of off-loads in the tackle, culminating in Bell scoring the try. The only consolation I could take at that point was that it was Ellershaw who caught Bell as he went over the line – good turn of pace for a prop. Hodgson added the extras and Sarries looked down and out at 28-3 after just 31mins. Sale had made the most of the opportunities that came their way, but each try was a result of Saracens errors. We don’t seem capable of creating tries for ourselves, but were doing a great job for Sale! The odd occasion we actually got hold of the ball, we kicked it away aimlessly.
Sarries did eventually get an opportunity when they managed to put some pressure on the Sale 22. The home team were penalised for slapping the ball down at a ruck two metres from the line, right under the posts. I considered this was worthy of a yellow card for pure cynicism but once again Pearson avoided the issue and Farrell knocked over the penalty to double Sarries tally. Farrell got another opportunity on the stroke of half time following a high tackle on Barritt giving a score of 28-9.
The second half was much better from a Saracens perspective but the mountain was too big to climb. They did finally start to exert some control on the ball and territory although the biggest cheer of the half came when Henson was replaced by Cato after 55mins. As he departed, the Sale fan in front of me remarked that he’d forgotten Henson was playing but at least his kit didn’t need washing – a telling observation on how involved he’d been. He certainly had no opportunity with ball in hand but there were many tackles to be made and he didn’t appear prominent in that list. Farrell reduced the arrears further with another penalty and whether it was the change in personnel or Sale starting to panic at the thought of winning, Sarries finally played some good, positive, quick rugby. This period of dominance resulted in Short scoring by the posts following good work by Joubert and Farrell added the extras to make it 28-19.
The home side’s nervousness was reflected by McLeod’s snatched drop goal attempt when it seemed certain that Sale would have got their fourth try with a bit more patience. His kick went harmlessly wide and Farrell reduced the arrears further with 5 minutes remaining. Amazingly Sarries were suddenly a converted try away from winning a game they were never really in. They then managed to earn a lineout 5 metres from the Sale line, the tension and nerves from the home support were tangible. Unfortunately George, on as replacement for Brits, overthrew the tail of the line and Sarries last chance for redemption had gone.
As with most of this season, the only area where Saracens held any sort of dominance was in the line out, where once again Borthwick, Joubert and Botha were prominent. Another positive (clutching at straws to find them!) was Farrell. He had a tough game last week against Betson and Koyamaibole tried to give him a similar working over on this occasion. As with last week though, he took all that was thrown at him and carried on playing his game and never seemed fazed by the pressure and late hits. He has composure under pressure, strength and not a little ability. There have been some poor performances this season, but the first 40 minutes in Stockport were truly awful.
Oddly enough, at the end I was very happy that Sarries had somehow secured a losing bonus point whilst Sale fans were disappointed that they hadn’t got the winning one! A very disappointing game rescued by an excellent evening with some friends from Sale. Message for the New Year – must do a lot, lot better!
Sale: 15 Paul Williams, 14 Rhys Crane, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Kyle Tonetti, 11 Mark Cueto (c), 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole 7 Carl Fearns, 6 James Gaskell, 5 Kristian Ormsby, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Karena Wihongi, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Ben Roberts, 17 Lee Imiolek, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Sean Cox, 20 Neil McMillan, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Nick Macleod, 23 Mathew Tait.
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Michael Tagicakibau, 13 Gavin Henson, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Jacques Burger, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Petrus du Plessis, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 James Ellershaw, 19 George Kruis, 20 Kelly Brown, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Nils Mordt, 23 Noah Cato.
Referee: Dave Pearson
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2011:01:13:13:41:41 by TonyTaff.
Very accurate reflection on a poor first half, but reasons for optimism from the second.
I was driving that day, so could not drown my sorrows in the club bar afterwards........wherever the club bar was!! After the match everything seemed closed, so we hit the road! Than kicked the cat when I got in!! (Didn't really! So no bad comments please).
We are still third, onward and upward.
Well done KZ!
The publisher retorts:
"Smart@rse! Wait until you try publishing these things, half-cut, and/or between work tasks"
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:01:11:13:59:31 by TonyTaff.
I'm looking forward to watching the Falcons Vs Sale game on ESPN, hopefully won't be too much of a dog-fight like Newcastle Leeds was.