Old Boys Reunion-Saracens v Sale Vicarage Road 6th November
Matt scores by PNH
By King Zak
November 8 2011
I confess that Sale is one of the more eagerly awaited games in our household – me because my nephew is a season ticket holder at Edgely Park and my wife because of some blonde haired bloke who used to play for Sarries. A bit of extra spice was added this time round as Charlie Hodgson would be facing his former teammates for the first time since his summer move south
It was new ‘boy’ Hodgson who got the game underway and Sarries were presented with an early attacking opportunity asSalefailed to deal with the kick off. The Men in Black showed their attacking intent by moving the ball quickly, sadly more lateral than forward, before the move petered out.Salewere given the first scoring opportunity of the afternoon when Sarries were penalised for not releasing the tackled player. The penalty was just inside the Saracens half but Macleod’s kick sailed to the left of the posts to leave the game scoreless.
It wasSalewho continued to make much of the early running and prompted a cry of ‘can we have the ball please’ from a fellow Sarries fan. They would have taken the lead had Hodgson not been alert to an excellentSalemove that resulted in the livelyAddisonbreaking free on the right wing and heading for the corner. It required a full length tackle from behind by Hodgson and suggested that he was very keen to get one over his former employers.
This seemed to galvanise Sarries into action and some good attacking play opened up an opportunity for Strettle on the right wing, unfortunately he was unable to hold onto the pass and the opportunity went begging. Sadly, he repeated the feat a few minutes later following good work from Botha & Borthwick as they crashed through theSalemidfield.
The scrum was proving a difficult area for Sarries in the opening 20 minutes; they conceded a free-kick at the first then a full arm penalty at the second.Salewere looking comfortable and controlling the ball well without posing any real threat to the Sarries line.
It was a case of third time lucky for Strettle as he finally opened the scoring on 19 minutes. The move started near halfway as Sarries retained the ball well, looking to create an opening. The opportunity came from a wonderful break by Barritt who, taking the ball at first receiver as flat as legally possible, burst deep into theSale22. WithSaleon the back foot the ball was moved quickly through a couple of phases, allowing Strettle a simple run into the right corner. Farrell’s conversion made a mockery of the breezy conditions to give Sarries the lead 7-0.
Four minutes later the almost unthinkable happened, Schalk Brits proved himself to be human after all. Acting as auxiliary fullback he fielded a kick downfield and promptly put the return directly into touch. The lineout came to nothing I think but I was still trying to get over the shock of a Brits error.
As the half wore on, so Sarries started to dominate the set piece. They were able to disrupt theSalelineout and were beginning to earn penalties at the scrum. One of these gave Farrell the opportunity to extend the lead; he duly obliged from 35 metres out to take the score to 10-0.
Salewere finally able to exert some pressure on the Sarries line as the half drew to a close. It started with an excellent chip-kick from Cliff, forcing Goode to take the ball into touch 5 metres from his own line. Sarries were penalised at the lineout andSaleopted to kick to the corner again. The defence was able to repel the drive legally this time, but the relief was short lived as a break through midfield by the tireless Sam Tuitupou once again threatened the try line. The defence, as so often, held firm and forced the turnover to clear the danger following excellent work by Kelly Brown.
Half time: Saracens 10 – 0 Sale
Sarries seemed to start the second half with more purpose and Farrell extended the lead to 13-0 with another excellent kick in tricky condition; slotting a penalty from 45 metres. He repeated the achievement three minutes later, from just inside the Sale 22, when Andy Powell was penalised for a high tackle on de Kock; 16-0.
Macleod had another opportunity to get Saleon the scoreboard in the 51st minute but his kick from halfway again drifted to the left of the posts.
Sarries then started to ring the changes, (Smith/Botha; Gill/Carstens; Stevens/Nieto; Short/Goode) and as so often seems to happen, it disrupted the pattern of play.Saleseemed to sense their chance and only excellent tackles by Short and Wyles prevented a score in the right hand corner. A quick tap penalty by Cliff led to the opportunity; Short chased down the initial break and Wyles bundledAddisoninto touch 5 metres from the corner. It was a perfect reminder of Wyles reliability and positional awareness, particularly as he had just switched to full back following the departure of Goode.
Sarries scored their second try of the afternoon with 20 minutes remaining. A penalty kicked into the corner and a catch and drive from the lineout allowed Matt Stevens to be the grateful beneficiary of the forward effort. Farrell again proved unerring to give Sarries a 23 point lead and I was happily awaiting the next two tries and a bonus point victory. That Sarries were unable to add any further score to their tally is credit toSaleand their never say die attitude – a distinct Steve Diamond trait.
The lineout throw for Stevens’ try was Brits last action of the afternoon, as he was replaced by Jamie George and Spencer came on for de Kock. This was followed by a host ofSalechanges and shortly afterwards Adam Powell came on for the flawless Farrell.
If the initial changes by Saracens had led to a loss of momentum, there now seemed a loss of direction and urgency.Salekept on pressing and trying to move the ball wide whenever they could, finally getting reward with two tries in three minutes. The first saw fullback Miller score in the left corner to finish off some excellent ball retention; the second came as a result of poor defence, allowing Mark Easter to touch down near the right corner.Saleconfirmed their 100% kicking rate by missing both to give a final score of 23-10. Andy Saull made a belated entry into the fray, replacing Burger between theSalescores.
For Saracens, I guess it was a case of job done; the game was won comfortably enough without ever having to stretch themselves too much. They will be disappointed with the lack of precision at times and certainly with the defending forSale’s second try.
Sale, although offering little by way of scoring threat, were always competitive and combative; none more so than David Seymour. The ex-Sarrie showed why he’s one ofSale’s top performers this season and his erstwhile mentor, Richard Hill, will have been pleased with what he saw.
Man of the Match went to Jacques Burger for his trademark industry and robust tackling; although I confess I would have been tempted to give it toSeymour!
Attendance 6,012
Referee; MartinFox
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Owen Farrell, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock; 1 Deon Carstens, 2 Schalk Brits, 3 Carlos Nieto, 4 Steve Borthwick (capt.), 5 Mouritz Botha, 6 Kelly Brown, 7 Jacques Burger, 8 Ernst Joubert
Replacements 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 Hayden Smith, 20 Andy Saull, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Adam Powell, 23 James Short
Sale: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Will Addison, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou (capt.), 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Will Cliff; 1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 5 James Gaskell, 6 RichieVernon. 7 David Seymour, 8 Andy Powell.
Replacements 16 Marc Jones, 17 Vadim Cobilas, 18 Tony Buckley, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Tasesa Lavea, 23 Tom Brady
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:11:14:16:32:41 by Fozz1e.
Nous sommes l'armée noir et rouge !
Couldn't resist a copy of the big picture! Click it for the REALLY BIG picture.
Can't wait for Sunday.
Daniel
PotNoodleHorn
