Sarries avoid a scalping

 Saracens have struggled at Sandy Park in recent times, as do most teams, and today was no different with only some heroic defence for the last fifteen minutes and a try by Tom Johnson ruled out by the TMO bringing Sarries the win this week. 

A wobbly bridge separates Sandy Park from the local train station and the first few minutes were certainly that, with Charlie Hodgson going off injured after only a few minutes which saw Ben Ransom come on to play full back with Alex Goode moving into fly half. Exeter's start could also be described as wobbly, with Steenson missing an early kick and then missing a poor touch kick following a penalty for the tackler not rolling away.

Saracens soon moved into the lead, with a fantastic run by Chris Ashton, who was lively throughout, finding a way through the Exeter defence and a great offload to Ben Ransom, who stumbled across the line with what must have been close to his first touch. Goode converted to give Saracens a 7-0 lead after 8 minutes.

Then came the first Chiefs try to be chalked off by the TMO, with an overlap finding Ian Whitton who looked destined to score, however the Sarries scramble defence covered well and the ball was deemed held up with Saracens winning the penalty from the resulting scrum for the pressure to temporarily ease.

Another chance soon came to Sarries, with some sloppy handling by the Chiefs in their own 22 giving Sarries consistent good field position, however this time Strettle's attempted kick through was well covered by the Chiefs.

Saracens soon increased their lead though, with a deliberate knock on resulting in a yellow card for Steenson and an easy chance for Goode to make it 10-0, which he duly converted. The Chiefs were soon back in it, with good phase play bringing the ball deep into the Sarries 22. The game was stopped for a check upstairs for an alleged late tackle by Bosch, but with it not deemed a penalty offence play was brought back to the 22 and a scrum penalty was awarded to the Chiefs, and with Steenson still in the bin Phil Godman did the honours to make it 10-3 to Sarries after 32 minutes.
This wasn't the final action of the half, however, as the Chiefs were penalised in their own 22 to gift Goode the chance to make it a ten point game again, which he duly converted to give Saracens a 13-3 halftime lead.

The Chiefs came back into it in the second half, with much slicker hands and less unforced errors and they were able to make it a seven point game early in the half after a Steenson penalty. Then we saw Marcelo Bosch's monstrous boot for the first time, with a penalty kick from halfway striking the top of the bar and squeezing over to give Saracens a ten point lead again, however this proved to be their last points of the game and the score was 16-6 after 50 minutes.

The score remained 16-6 until the seventieth minute, when Saracens were dealt some bad luck, with Ransom and Tagicakibau already on the pitch Marcelo Bosch got his head on the wrong side in a tackle and knocked himself out, with Ben Spencer replacing him and moving to left wing and Tagicakibau moving into the centres. The Chiefs soon took advantage of this and Steenson had an easy chance to make it 16-9 and he comfortably converted to make it a very nervous last 10 minutes.

There were many nervous moments, noticeably a scrum from inside the Chiefs 22 which was hacked forward by Steenson and chased by Matt Jess who couldn't quite get there thanks to Chris Ashton and it was clear Sarries hadn't won just yet with only a few minutes left. Another strong Chiefs attack got them quickly up to the Sarries line with moments to go, and they thought they had scored when Tom Johnson bundled over, however Tim Wigglesworth was unsure so went up to the TMO with 1:44 on the clock. After a long delay, no try was the call and Exeter had a five metre scrum.
Saracens managed to turn it over from the scrum, and the win was sealed with the ball booted into the West Grandstand to signal an extremely hard fought win. Tom Johnson was named the official Man of the Match, which was hard to disagree with.

From a Saracens point of view, Goode had an excellent game at fly half and the centre partnership of Streather and Bosch seemed to work very well. Wiggy had a very good game, and Ashton was superb throughout. The forwards deserve a huge amount of praise, having come out on top in what was an incredibly physical encounter with everyone getting through a lot of work. Only potential problem could be Hodgson's injury which is reported to be a head issue, and Bosch which looked like a bad concussion.
Onwards and upwards....

Exeter:

Dollman, Newell, Whitten, Hill (Arscott), Jess, Steenson, Lewis (Thomas), Sturgess (Moon), Yeandle (Whitehead), Tui (Brown), Mumm ©, Welch, Johnson, White (Horstmann), Ewers

Saracens:

Goode, Ashton, Streather, Bosch (Spencer), Strettle (Tagicakibau), Hodgson (Ransom), Wigglesworth, Barrington (Saunders), George (Brits), Stevens (Du Plessis), Borthwick ©, Hargreaves, Kruis (Wray), Burger B Vunipola (Fraser)

Scorers:

Exeter – Pens: Steenson (2) Dollman

Saracens – Try: Ransom, Conv: Goode, Pens Goode (2) Bosch

Attendance: 9384

Referee: Tim Wigglesworth