Saracens 19 Harlequins 24
By Josh Black
April 3 2012
Such is the gulf in belief in Harlequins and Saracens that you would have been hard pressed to find someone predicting an away win at the weekend. After a scintillating victory over Sale, and no less for Quins' faltering streak of victories in recent weeks, even club stalwart Will Greenwood had written off his team.
Yet the difference in preparation was soon apparent. Sarries came out with fifteen mascots, had their picture taken in front of the record crowd and only then began to look to the game. Many in the crowd were too busy fiddling with their placards to cheer.
Harlequins were more than good for their victory, taking their tries clinically and denying Saracens the space to get over the line until the seventieth minute. A lack of concentration and a certain flippancy did not help Saracens, who had more try-scoring opportunities than penalties over the course of the match. Yet if there was one facet of the game in which they were completely outweighed it was in the heft of the forwards. Athletic though the Saracens pack might be, it lacked the forward momentum to draw in defenders and at no time was this more evident than in the crucial final quarter, played in its entirety with a man advantage and in the Quins half, yet with only one score to show for all that dominance.
Saracens were on the back foot as early as the third minute - a loose pass from Neil de Kock leading to a turnover. Nick Easter arrived at the ruck and seeing no player between him and the posts, set off for the line. Quick hands took the ball into the twenty-two, Nick Evans parried the ball onto Tom Williams and the inside ball allowed Jordan Turner-Hall to muscle over the line. This shambles was repeated twice more, essentially costing Saracens the game despite poor kicking from Nick Evans and his half-time replacement, Rory Clegg, handing them a lifeline.
After the disappointment of the early try, Saracens set out to claw their way back into the game and Quins duly obliged, giving away three penalties, which Owen Farrell converted. Saracens' half back partnership is in stunning form at present, and a break from de Kock, fresh from masterminding the victory over Sale, released Brits before James Short was hauled into touch by George Robson with the tryline beckoning.
Despite taking a 9-7 lead, Saracens were not to make it safely to half time. Quins built on their forwards momentum to muscle into the twenty-two and though there seemed to be nothing on, a quick show and go from the outstanding George Lowe saw the centre cut inside Chris Wyles and flatten Alex Goode for the try. Clever positioning by Turner-Hall slowed Joubert's cover tackle, but the Sarries defence looked painfully outwitted.
The second half promised more for Sarries, and three impressive breaks took the team close. Mouritz Botha was put into space by a Hodgson pass, but turned over when tackled. De Kock took a quick tap penalty and the ball reached David Strettle with clear space between him and the whitewash, but the ball slipped from his grasp. Strettle re-appeared on the other side of the field as the recipient of a Farrell long pass but his limp pass to Short went to ground.
Quins then put the game beyond Saracens with a penalty and a third try. Unbelievably, given Saracens' reputation for defence, Quins worked overlaps on both sides of the pitch, first for Turner-Hall to make ground, then after a powerful drive by Rob Buchanan, a three-on-one for Danny Care to stroll over. Had the next twenty minutes not seen three Harlequins sin-binned and countless waves of attack by Saracens' backs, the game would have seemed lost from this point.
The ability of Saracens' backs, and particularly the directing of Charlie Hodgson at first receiver was hardly at fault. Time and again lineout ball and a long pass from Owen Farrell served as the platform from which Sarries stole into scoring positions. Goode, in great form, beat three players before offloading to Jackson Wray but the replacement flanker could not get the ball to Michael Tagicakibau for an almost certain try. The ball was spun wide to Wyles, who passed the ball lamely into touch.
That Saracens only scored once in the next twenty minutes, despite almost constantly being in their opponents twenty-two, was remarkable, though not as I first thought wholly to do with cynical defending. Quins' shaky lineout almost let in Will Fraser, who was just tackled short of the line. Marler infringed at the ruck, which was brought back for a sin-binning but a scrum was given further along the field. Had Saracens been able to get a drive on, or make some yards in the backs, the forwards might have got behind the ball but it went wide too early and Strettle's support run was too close to Goode when the latter was caught in possession. Then the first of two wonderful tackles from George Lowe prevented a try for Tagicakibau. Just minutes later, with the symmetry that gets players talked about for international honours, Lowe denied Chris Wyles on the other wing by dragging the Saracen out of play.
Again, Quins' lineout yielded possession too easily and Saracens worked the ball wide from another shaky scrum. At this point Danny Care intervened from an offside position and the referee reduced Quins to thirteen men, albeit justifiably awarding Saracens a scrum and not a penalty try as there was no clear scoring opportunity. That did not especially matter in any case, as Richard Wigglesworth took advantage of the first solid shove to wriggle over, making the score 19-24.
Quins missed another penalty and Saracens broke again through Goode, Brits and Tagicakibau. Yet despite Easter being sin-binned for pushing in the lineout, Saracens could not get a rolling maul going and the referee blew for full time.
Saracens: Goode; Strettle, Wyles, Farrell, Short; Hodgson, de Kock; Stevens, Brits, Nieto, Borthwick (capt), Botha, Melck, Fraser, Joubert.
Replacements: George, Vunipola, du Plessis, Kruis, Wray, Wigglesworth, Powell, Tagicakibau.
Harlequins: Brown; Williams, Lowe, Turner-Hall, Monye; Evans, Care; Marler, Buchanan, Johnston, Kohn, Robson, Fa'asavalu, Robshaw (capt), Easter.
Replacements: Croall, Lambert, Collier, Vallejos, Guest, Dickson, Clegg, Chisholm.
Attendance : 83,761.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:04:12:14:49:26 by TonyTaff.
Lets hope all the talk about working on problem areas and intensity is put into practice, and they get things right against Clermont.
Nous sommes l'armée noir et rouge !