The Shed Stormed
Match winner
By Fozz1e
October 31 2011
I had asked for volunteers for a report for this game, and as there were no takers, yours truly was going to have to stand in. So, with 10 minutes to go, and eight points adrift, the realisation that I would have to do a report of yet another failure at Castle Grim dawned……. and then……. dinner got put on hold!
The Rugby club had focused on a couple of specials, the Charlie/Owen axis, and the impact and advantage that the Shed gave Glos. Both of these were to play a part in the drama as it unfolded. Smit was in the stands early getting briefed on this very matter, but it must have been a shock to experience it as the game wore on. The atmosphere as certainly electric as the game started, it took less than a minute for a mass mêlée to develop with Rhys Gill at the center of things. He was to star in a number of such instances throughout the match. Both sides continued to niggle each other as the match developed, to say it was a pretty fractious affair, was somewhat of an understatement, resulting in both Gill & Wood getting a 10 minutes rest to ponder what might happen should they return.
In the early exchanges, the Sarries scrum came under a lot of pressure, leading to an early penalty against Carlos, a situation that wasn’t to be resolved until a rash of enforced changes later on in the game.
Maybe I should gloss over the first 70 minutes, when the coaches review this period, it won’t make pretty viewing. Too many mistakes, dropped passes, wrong calls and allowing great holes to appear in our defences, that lead to Olly Morgan scoring a great try.
Saying that, the indomitable Sarries spirit was much in evidence, the baying crowed doing their usual of trying to intimidate both the opposition and the officials (I suppose they think the referee is the opposition anyway). They came to this pumped up, and weren’t going to let anyone blow them off course, although this exuberance was their undoing, exemplified by Brits taking a quick tap and making a complete horlicks of it along with Burger “you have to be brilliant to be that bad” Barnsey opined. That was quickly followed by Owen putting a fractionally late shoulder charge to let Trinder know he had arrived, thus giving Glos their first three points from Freddie Burns, another youngster who had a great impact during the game, but who was inexplicably substituted later on whilst he was one of their star players. For the second time this season, the kick off from Charlie went straight into touch, something that is unnecessary and careless, a couple of plays later, Glos another penalty, and so it continued thus.
An aimless kick from Farrell, poorly followed up was fielded by Morgan who saw a gap and went for it, the scurrying defence could not stop a pass to and from Trinder allowing Morgan to finish off a great score. It did appear as if EFS had very slyly blocked Mobo, but in truth it wouldn’t have made any difference. The half ended with Saracens down 11-3.
Come the second half, after Charlie had missed a penalty things improved. He wasn’t allowed to take another, with Farrell taking over the kicking duties, a harsh decision perhaps, but a crucial one as it turns out. The Sarries play was still littered with mistakes and over enthusiasm, although one good point was the counter rucking. We appear to be standing off more, only committing one or two to a ruck, unless we spot a possible turnover then everyone piles in, which proved successful a number of times.
Farrell pulled a couple of penalties back, before Glos got them back through Taylor who had replaced Freddie Burns. A curious decision as Burns was playing excellently, he is fast (completely burnt our defence to almost score a great try), has good vision and is an all round good footballer, at 20, one to watch.
Come the inevitable binning of Gill & a.n.other (could have been any of the opposing front row, as Gill wound them all up as well as Hamilton, but Wood took one for the team). Scrums improved after the forced change in the front row (Stevens & Carstens), although the penalty against Stevens when he got turned in, enabled Glos to make it 17-9. That’s when it got exciting in the last 10 minutes. Games like this come down to who can marshal their reserves stay focused and keep their nerve. One team did, the other started to panic.
With Nils making a break from a ruck, at the ensuing breakdown, Gloucester failed to release after the tackle giving Farrell an easy job of reducing the deficit to within a try.
Then, Lawson knocked on a kick from Nils, and Lewis covering back, but still in front of Lawson, completely forgot himself and picked the ball up, resulting in a penalty. Somewhat surprisingly, Borthwick chose to go for the corner and a line out, which was successfully won. A driving maul developed which Glos brought down, leading to a penalty advantage. What happened next was shear class, and not just from Farrell. As the ruck started to break up, Andy Saul drifted out towards the wing, taking two, then three defenders with him, one being crucially the second line defence behind the backs. Realising this as Nils passed to Farrell, the young fly half saw the mistake and put in a beautifully weighted kick in between the posts for Brad to run onto, Lawson had seen this, but from his position covering the wing could only make a despairing dive to put off Brad, who got downward pressure before the covering defence could rest the ball away. Geech has called for TMOs to be in place at all matches, and not just those that are televised, I fear that if there hadn’t been a fourth official, the Ref would have been reluctant to give the try as there was a mass a swirling bodies and great confusion. As it was, there was, and it was given.
The last five minutes needed surviving, but Glos didn’t seem to have the nouse to string a proper plan together, and the match ended with a penalty which was duly buries into the stands. Game over, bring on the hurled abuse, twitter rants etc, but the result was a good one.
And just a few quotes to finish with from the pundits;-
Saracens are very cynical off the ball and around the break downSerial jersey tugger (Gill)Huge mental resolveOn the road “no one has been this successful since the Vikings”,Faced a team that has a knack of sacking fortresses.-Bryan Redpath (who also said Brits was the best player in the prem).Irresistible force meeting immovable object.A pitch perfect kick, straight out of the rugby league handbook.This is as good a side as we’ve ever seen in the premiership- Greenwood.Gloucester: Morgan, Sharples, Trinder, EFS, May (Qera 59), Burns (Taylor 54), Lawson, Wood, Dawiduk (Lewis 59), Harden, James (Savage 75), Hamilton, Strokosch, Narraway (Buxton 71).
Saracens: Goode, Strettle, Farrell, Barritt, Short (Wyles 52), Hodgson (Maddock 65), De Kock, Gill, Brits, Nieto (Stevens 50), Borthwick, Botha (Smith 52), Brown, Burger (Saull 65), Joubert. Replacements: George, Carstens (50-60), Spencer
Ref Tim Wigglesworth
TMO Geoff Warren.
Attendance; 11, 949
MOM Farrell
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011:11:08:11:48:41 by Fozz1e.
Sorry Foz . You will have to go. This is nothing like the match reported by the Shed Head gazette and fellow Shedites and tweeters.Everything transpired against them and you have not berated our coaches the ref and our travelling fez boys who had the audacity to win at their Kingsholm ground.
You really should show more understanding about unjust we were in your report
I also suspect we chose to keep the ball in play at the end rather than opt for the scrum we could have been awarded for fear of a penalty award.
As for Freddie Burns, it was his inability to kick points that robbed them of the chance to make a winning lead when they had us under the cosh so it was no surprise to me when he was subbed for the more reliable Taylor.
Quote:The Bard
I also suspect we chose to keep the ball in play at the end rather than opt for the scrum we could have been awarded for fear of a penalty award.
My thoughts exactly; it highlights the importance of clear thinking at crucial times and the invalauable experience of NdK!
Nous sommes l'armée noir et rouge !