Saracens vs. Bath Preview
Steve & Sir Ian
By saracens4life
March 31 2011
An intriguing contest awaits us this weekend, as 2nd place Saracens, looking increasingly settled at the top-table of English club rugby, take on 7th place Bath, a club stacked with success in its history but currently undergoing an interesting phase of transition. Their first season under the new ownership of millionaire supporter Bruce Craig has seen some inconsistent form on the pitch, despite a hugely talented squad, and significant reorganization off it – most notably the announcement just days ago that Head Coach Steve Meehan would be off at the end of the season.
The two sides come into Sunday’s crucial Premiership game in very different veins of form, with the Men in Black statistically the best team in the competition over the last six rounds, having accrued an impressive 25 points out of the available 30, including victories at Franklin’s Gardens, Adams Park and Welford Road – the concern at this stage may be the style of rugby, which does raise questions over our ability to beat the East Midlands sides when at full-strength, but having said that a six-match winning streak cannot deserve too much complaint.
Bath on the other hand have showed flashes of the brilliance which is possible with such a high-calibre playing squad and the expansive philosophy advocated by Meehan, perhaps to his own downfall. However, they, unlike Sarries, have not been producing the results to back up the performances, having suffered heavy defeats in their last two outings. The way Leicester time and again shut the door on Bath’s runners, or the ease with which they forced errors whenever the home side had to go through multiple phases, will have given great encouragement to Sarries defence coach Paul Gustard, whose work has been at the heart of our recent successes.
The West Country side will pose dangers across the board though, starting at the back where the guile and acceleration of Sarries’ favourite Nick Abendanon has caused many an organised defence problems off the counter-attack. Unless he gets a suspension for having re-entered the field of play to join a fight after being substituted, which at this stage seems unlikely, and assuming his ribs have healed after the battering they took from the Tuilagi brothers last week, the South African-born full-back, third in the list for metres made with ball in hand, is sure to take his place in the starting line-up. Talking of battering, Abendanon’s colleague on the right-wing is likely to be the Jersey-born 6ft 7 Matt Banahan, who despite his dreadful showing for England in Dublin, can cause big problems for defences with his size, running lines and surprisingly deft offloading skills, as our Saintly friends know only too well! On the other flank is likely to be Tom Biggs, the ex-Leeds man with a similar build and style to Abendanon, or alternatively the more direct and hard-running Australian Matt Carraro.
In the centre, it was clear last weekend just how damaging the absence of Olly Barkley is for Bath, not only for his kicking – both off the tee and out of hand – and his skills as a second distributor to share the burden with Butch James. In these departments the men in Blue Black and White were severely lacking against the Tigers, despite the best efforts of the more diminutive Sam Vesty. I would expect Vesty to start at 12 once again, and for returning England international Shontayne Hape to nudge out the promising youngster Ben Williams. For all the criticism directed at New Zealander Hape, his 16st+ plus frame has the ability to cause problems in defences so the Sarries midfield will have to be careful not to afford him too much space.
At 10, unfortunately, I would expect to see the South African thug Butch James take his place outside the continually impressive Michael Claassens. James in recent weeks has abandoned the talent he had demonstrated over the past couple of seasons with Bath, and instead has resorted to cheap shots on anyone he can reach. If his mind is once again on violence rather than game management, not only will the Sarries runners have to ensure their heads do not become detached from their shoulders, but it will also undermine Bath’s structure both in attack and defence. Claassens, on the other hand, is a typical scrum-half and an important cog in the Bath machine – a cheeky little sh1t at times, the ex-Cheetahs No.9 will dictate the tempo of the away side’s attacking game, probably according to the conditions.
In the forwards, the Bath front-five this season seems to be a bit of a stop-gap while Bruce Craig’s ambitious recruitment policy seeks to replace journeymen (maybe a bit harsh!) with up-and-coming talent, such as Dave Attwood. Loosehead will see a contest for the starting berth between ex-Sarrie David Flatman, who is developing a propensity for conceding penalties at scrum-time, and the up-and-coming, more mobile Nathan Catt; wearing the No. 2 shirt will probably be the dynamic Lions hooker Lee Mears, and alongside him will be the amazing 37 year-old Ding Dong Duncan Bell, who put in a barnstorming performance in a losing cause last time out. Behind them we will see another ex-Sarrie, the hard-working but unspectacular Stuart Hooper, along with either club servant Danny Grewcock (another ex-Sarrie) or the Argentinean veteran Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe.
The back row, as is the case for the Men in Black, is an area of strength, despite the absence of England captain Lewis Moody and Andy Beattie, who only returned from injury on Monday night, when incidentally a strong Storm team got hammered down at the Rec – bad omen maybe? At 7 (and I think captain) will be the slightly out of form Luke Watson, who is returning back to South Africa at the end of the season and whose head may have already left, but he is a very fine player on his day, especially on the hard grounds. On the blindside ANOTHER EX-SARRIE Ben Skirving will probably be packing down, having strung together a good run of games, with performances against Northampton and Exeter a few weeks ago drawing the attention of ESPN’s Ben Kay, I seem to remember. At 8, guess what, ANOTHER EX-SARRIE (albeit only briefly!) in the form of experienced Scottish international Simon Taylor, who adds control to the Bath pack and has had a good first season since his arrival from the Men with the Silly Pink Shirts.
Overall a very strong side – on paper – but recently they have lacked the composure or the clinical ability to score points and win games. There is a sense that the experienced, big-name players like Watson and James have their heads on other things, and maybe this is compounded by the injury to Moody. Equally possible is that the whole furore over Meehan’s departure distracted coaches and players alike, and that this weekend they will turn up right on their game. Either way, whatever recent form may say, they are not a team to be taken lightly.
The side facing them is starting to develop a settled look in several positions, while the rotation policy continues to work its magic in others, such as second row, scrum half and centre.
My side would see the same front row starting, giving Matt Stevens a chance to meet up with his old team-mates and further his chances of a late charge into the reckoning for the RWC, and retaining the scrummaging and experience of the evergreen Carlos Nieto, and the indisputably brilliant running game of Springbok Schalk Brits. Second row, as usual, is tough – Borthwick is sure of a starting berth and the captaincy. Like Stevens, he will be up against some old friends and his inside knowledge of their lineout operation, having worked with the likes of Grewcock and Mears, could prove invaluable. Indeed, I predict that the set-piece – both scrum and lineout – will be an area where we can exert significant dominance against the much-maligned Bath front five. To add some bulk and solidity to both of those areas of the game, I would start with Mouritz Botha, even though leaving out either Hayden Smith or Vyvyan from the 23 is frankly unfair.
I would continue with the same back row – Mr. Consistency Justin Melck, who aside from his usual fearsome work rate showed a delightful sleight of hand to put James Short over for a try last week, young No. 7 Andy Saull, who gave Jimmy Gopperth a torrid time last week and seems to have a penchant for covering every blade of grass on the pitch, and the brilliant Ernst Joubert, whose excellence at lineout time could prove crucial, as could his leadership skills. Kelly Brown, despite strong performances in the Six Nations, may have to be content once again with a bench spot.
In the backs, I would prefer to see Neil de Kock starting at scrum-half, but on the assumption he has regained full fitness, England international Richard Wigglesworth provides excellent cover. The departing Kevin Barrett may at last get the opportunity to see some first-team game time from the bench. Despite the inane outpourings of our new favourite poster, young Owen Farrell is not the most recent incarnation of Satan, and he is sure to start at 10 as he continues his rapid trajectory into the forefront of the English game. Outside him will be the other Mr Consistency Brad Barritt, whose name is increasingly being thrust into the arena as a potential replacement in the England side for Shontayne Hape. Sunday would be a good day for Barritt to stake his claim. At 13, I would like to see Adam Powell reinstated, as Chris Wyles, wonderfully talented as he is, looked somewhat out of place against the Falcons – Powell will need to remember to watch out for flying, late, off-the-ball shoulder charges from Mr. Abendanon, having only recently recovered from the injury he suffered down at the Rec in October after one such hit.
In the back three I would expect our first-choice, of Alex Goode, who last week aside has looked assured with the boot and is starting to rediscover his running form after an indifferent, injury-plagued first half of the season, David Strettle, who tops the list for defenders beaten and is one of the best kick-chasers in the league, and the aforementioned Chris Wyles, who is just class. It would be a little hard on James Short, who has been in great try-scoring form this season, including one in our victory down at the Rec earlier in the season, but I would like to see Noah Cato given another chance off the bench (hopefully a good 20-25 minutes) after an encouraging cameo last week.
Overall, I predict that form and statistics will prevail and the home side will continue the winning run and take the spoils. In that case, the already intriguing game between Quins and Leicester at the Stoop may prove even more important as it could see the Men in Black rise to the top of the table. I can’t make Sunday’s game – due to a combination of morning rugby commitments and afternoon Mother’s Day (!!) engagements – but when I look back at the game on ESPN I will be hoping not just for the victory, which would obviously be nice, and no mean feat, but also a performance that would set a marker down to Gloucester, Northampton and Leicester that we can play free-flowing, expansive, try-scoring rugby and compete with the very best.
Safe travels to all Bath fans making the trip…
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:04:04:21:18:00 by Fozz1e.
Excellent work again and very insightful.
Thank you!!
And no Rodd to get us out of jail...