Bedford – Think we have been here before?

By Gryff
November 16 2012

In the run up to the LV Cup match against Leicester Tigers there were 2 main topics of conversation. Firstly that this was Sarries 11th different ground of the season and 5th home ground though we had of course played at Goldington Road pre-season as usual but that was an away match! However, it was quite nice to be returning to fairly familiar surroundings and the infamous slope.

The main topic of chat however, was the quality of the squads and the missing unavailable players. Cockerill went as far as to give an interview about Tigers missing 20 being 13 with internationals, 6 injured and Dan Bowden on holiday and getting married. Sarries weren’t doing too bad themselves with a similar 6 injured and 10 on international duty, how times have changed. So poor Tigers but then I thought about this. If Tigers were adding in holidaying players the Sarries could add in Nieto, Borthwick, Fraser, Wray Joubert, NdK, Wiggy, Tompkins, Strettle so we win we had more missing and my Dad’s bigger than yours! What soon became apparent was that Tigers were sticking 2 fingers up to LV and keeping their powder dry for the Maori match and I can’t say I blame them we all remember what a special night the Wembley SA match was.

So we got to the ground quite early and initial impressions were that the Tigers fans out numbered us greatly every new bunch coming into the bar seemed to be in Tigers colours. This included the 4 in tiger onsies and I had to stop laughing at them when it was pointed out that if they did camel onsies I’d be wearing them! Gradually more people turned p sporting red and black surprisingly including BBoonie who had been tweeting his pub crawl to the ground and I had expected to stay in The Castle given the quality of the whiskey and the barmaid! As kick off approached the ground began to fill and it was clear that the Sarries faithful were turning up later probably due to their familiarity with the ground and the surrounding hostelries. By kick off the ground was effectively full and there was a cracking atmosphere.

We settled into the stand as play got underway. The crowd was pretty vocal and raucous lead by the mighty Large in his Large the fan rather than Jason the Commentator role for once. Sarries were quickly on attack but unable to break the Leicester defence until the 6^th minute when a kickable penalty was converted by Nils Mordt. Shortly after the Tigers number 8 was sin binned for coming in from the side in what seemed like a team yellow for constant infringements. Mr Cockerill was not a happy man maybe he had heard the shouted comment which I’ll attribute to Large of “aww they’ve even taught the babies to cheat”! The Welsh ref James Jones didn’t seem to know the offside law!

Tigers however survived the sin binning period without losing any points is this something Sarries aren’t very good at scoring in yellow card periods? The average is supposed to be 7-10 points but I’m not sure if Sarries achieve this? However, a minute after Guillame’s return Sarries favourite was driven over for the first try that Mordt converted. The next score was the result of a weaving Ben Ransom run of about 40 metres resulting in a penalty. Ransom was clearly enjoying his evening in red and black having been playing in the blue of Bedford all season.

The next try caused much amusement in the crowd when the Tigers centre Andy Forsyth attempted to chip Duncan Taylor from close range in midfield. Another player returning to Bedford Taylor was a standout player on the night and being 6ft 2 and a bit he plucked the ball at about chest height and cantered in 40 metres with a wide smile. Not best option by the Tigers midfield. Mordt converted.

Sarries had total domination by now and even the scrum was going back. Just on half time Andy Saull was able to break a tackle and feed Joe Maddock, another having a good game who crossed for a converted try and to make to half time score 27-0. The Sarries crowd were very happy at half time and a few people could be heard humming the Hawaii 5 0 song. Large had been in full throttle possibly for the benefit of the radio Leicester microphone which was close by with such classics as “ref we know where you live” “I’m a fezboy and I’ll sing on my own”.

Tigers came out fired up in the second half Mr Cockerill having worked his individual brand of magic but the first score was a Sarries penalty making it 30-0. Whether Sarries then lost concentration or Tigers upped their game the visitors then scored 2 quick-fire tries through Cain and Noone to bring the scores back to 30-14 and hush the crowd well the majority part!

Sarries brought John Smit on and there was no doubt he steadied the ship. Sarries got the next score the bonus point try after a good run from Short who held the ball in two hands fixed the defence and send Andy Saull over from 5 metres. A penalty increased the lead before the Tigers hooker Thacker went over with the last score of the match to make final score 38-21.

Great result great evening. As someone pointed out this season Sarries have got an opening bonus point in each of the 3 competitions. Boring boring Sarries! I actually thought the Coaches got it right giving Duncan Taylor mom he was outstanding and I thought most Sarries players had good games. Ransom stood out and both Spencer and Baldwin had good games though were outrageously man handled by Micky Young at scrum time without any protection from Mr Jones! Richard Cockerill, who I quite like (I know!!) happily conceded that Sarries were the better team with of course the dig of how they brought on an 18 yr. old hooker and we a World Cup winning captain. Richard where was Chuter oh playing against Maoris huh!

Goldington Road seemed full with 3168 in it and there was a great atmosphere. I hope we can recreate such nights/games at Allianz as it appeared to be enjoyed by all. Sale next another Friday night but a different kettle of fish with Sale looking to use the LV to kick start their season! I would quite like a run in the LV this season though it may be difficult to do it could be fun.

Saracens: 15 Ben Ransom, 14 Joe Maddock, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Sam Stanley, 11 James Short, 10 Nils Mordt (c), 9 Ben Spencer, 1 Nick Auterac, 2 Jamie George, 3 Petrus du Plessis, 4 George Kruis, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 6 Nick Fenton-Wells, 7 Andy Saull, 8 Jono Ross

Replacements: 16 Max Crumpton, 17 John Smit, 18 Lorenzo Romano, 19 Eoin Sheriff, 20 Matt Hankin, 21 Luke Baldwin, 22 Nick Tompkins, 23 Nathan Earle

Leicester Tigers:15 Niall Morris, 14 Henry Purdy, 13 Andy Forsyth, 12 Andrew Symons, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Matt Cornwell (c), 9 Micky Young, 1 Jonny Harris, 2 Jimmy Stevens, 3 Kieran Brookes, 4 Rob Andrew, 5 Joe Cain, 6 Lucas Guillaume, 7 Richard Thorpe, 8 Michael Noone

Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Fraser Balmain, 18 Ryan Bower, 19 George Oliver, 20 Tom Price, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 George Ford, 23 Mathew Tait