Looking ahead to the big Match
By Behind the Bench
March 21 2014
I’ve been looking forward to this one for weeks, and given England’s stirring Six Nations showing and the international contingent on both sides, this should be even more intriguing, with a world record club rugby crowd in prospect too in Saracens’ eleventh visit to the National Stadium.
In terms of the significance of the match to both sides, it is probably not as key to Saracens’ season as the home clash with Northampton Saints on 13 April which will probably decide who finishes top, whilst for Quins, their Good Friday home clash with Leicester Tigers almost seems to be a Quarter Final for the top four, and they face Bath on the last day. But back to this contest. Ahead of the team announcement, Alex Goode and Chris Ashton, and of course David Strettle, against his former club, will have something to prove in the England context against the hugely successful Quins international quartet of Chris Robshaw, Mike Brown, Danny Care and Joe Marler, the first three of whom are in contention for the Six Nations player of the year. Nick Evans, ably backed up by Ben Botica, remains ever influential at fly half; they have 177 and 87 points respectively at the time of writing. Worcester-bound wing Sam Smith tops the try scoring charts with Brown on 5 apiece.
Harlequins have had an odd season, in truth, a slow start in the Aviva Premiership linked to an underwhelming Heineken Cup campaign, a double over Racing Metro aside, and a somewhat faint defence of the LV Cup. That said, whilst there have been notably fewer high scoring matches, with a relatively modest 27 tries scored and only two try bonuses, Quins have demonstrated an unmistakable resilience in eking out results, most notably in three consecutive home games against Wasps, Newcastle and Worcester since the start of February, when they only secured the wins in the closing minutes. Much was said about the loss of James Johnston and Ollie Kohn from their pack at the start of this campaign, but they seem to have just about coped since a rather uncertain beginning to the campaign, having benefitted from a fairly settled line up. Notably, they boast the third best defence in the league behind Sarries and Saints.
Their campaign began with a 16-15 London Double Header win over Wasps in which Andy Goode missed a last minute conversion for the Wycombe based side, and the first match of the season at The Stoop was lost 13-6 to Northampton in appalling conditions. A relatively rare bonus point was collected at Worcester in a 37-13 success, but Sarries collected a 22-12 win at The Stoop at the end of September, thanks to an Ashton try and a recovery from 12-6 down at half time. Quins stuttering start continued into October as they lost 18-13 at London Irish, and the Heineken Cup began with an epic, if disappointing, 33-26 reverse at home to Scarlets. However, they restored some pride by taking a losing bonus point from the fortress which is Clermont Auvergne.
November promised better, as Quins got one of their results of the campaign in a 23-16 win at Leicester, where they lost a semi-final last year, only to lose their first game in the LV Cup following last year’s success, 19-5 at Exeter. The defence of the title effectively ended in a home loss to Sale, but back in the Premiership, Gloucester were seen off 27-19 before four tries were scored in a 35-9 win at Newcastle. Harlequins breathed new life into the Heineken Cup campaign by recording away and home successes against Racing Metro, a stunning 32-9 bonus point win in Nantes followed by a solid 17-3 victory on home turf. However, they lost out to another of their close rivals in a 14-3 defeat at Bath before bouncing back to defeat Exeter 22-6 at Twickenham in the Big Game.
2014 opened with a loss at Northampton, but a 16-13 home loss to Clermont and 22-20 win at Scarlets was enough to deliver a Quarter Final berth in the Amlin Challenge Cup at Stade Francais Paris, who Quins won this competition against in dramatic style in Cardiff in 2011. The LV Cup fizzled out after a 20-6 home win over Leicester was followed by a comprehensive loss at Cardiff, but that trio of home wins against Wasps, Newcastle and Worcester, and a losing bonus point at Gloucester has kept them in the top four running.
So what of the Wembley concept? Well, for a start, it is great to see the club looking to fill the ground, and fewer games with larger crowds is probably the way to go. Targeting the record has in some ways become a self-fulfilling prophecy as it attracts ticket sales to people who “want to be involved”, and is an important part of raising the club’s profile and continuing the impressive level of commercial sponsorship already attracted. It should too, in time, ensure sell-outs at Allianz Park by converting just a fraction of the enlarged support into regular attendees. The addition of music acts and, this time around, Olympic Gold medallist long jumper Greg Rutherford catching for £1 million in aid of Sport Relief only adds to the buzz and the family experience the club is endeavouring to create. Just go easy on the Mexican Waves please!
Looking back at the matches since the concept opened with a 19-16 win over Saints on 12 September 2009, there were a further three matches there that season, with the classic 24-23 win over South Africa taking place on 17 November, as Sarries came from 18-6 down to win through a Derrick Hougaard drop goal – and Stuart Tinner’s kick won £250,000 at half time. That for me remains the classic match of the series to date. Normally the games have tended to be high profile and/or local derbies, so Worcester Warriors was something of an odd choice for the third match, but saw a 25-20 win, in mid February, and that season’s trips to HA9 were completed by a comprehensive 37-18 win over Quins as Saracens ran away with it in the second half.
In 2010/11, there were only two matches. Back in the Heineken Cup, Saracens took their pool match against Leinster to the national stadium, but were edged out 25-23 by the eventual final winners. With Copthall not having been identified publicly as a new ground, at this stage, there was even talk in the media of playing all games at Wembley or the Olympic Stadium given that a move from Vicarage Road seemed likely at this stage. The smallest crowd was on Boxing Day, when travel was disrupted due to a tube strike, and, questionably, the match was very close to Harlequins’ established Big Game at Twickenham. However, Sarries prevailed 13-6 against Wasps.
There were another pair of matches the following season, as well, with a Saturday evening Heineken Cup match with Ospreys being defeated 31-26 as Saracens took the summit of the pool. Then in March, Quins became the first opposition to return for a second time, but, in a crucial result in their march to the title, they won 24-19. It was also a blow to Sarries hopes, given that it contributed to missing out on a home semi-final and having to travel to Leicester instead. However, it created the 83,761 crowd record everyone is looking to break on Saturday. The nomadic existence for the first half of last season meant that there was only one game there in 2012/3, the early season 9-9 draw with Leicester Tigers, although the Heineken Cup clash with Munster would probably have been a logical match to hold there (at one stage, this was going to be played at Craven Cottage). Onto the tenth match, and the heartbreaking 17-16 reverse to Stade Toulousain on a Friday night in October, but given the calibre of opposition, easy to market.
What of the future? Certainly, along with Allianz Park and the “In the City” matches at the HAC, Saracens have got three distinct “brands”, in contrast to Twickenham, where internationals, sevens, The Big Game and London Double Header are all squeezed in, along with occasional European semi-finals, and now the return of Wasps for “The Stinger” on Easter Saturday, after the abandonment of the St George’s Day game a couple of seasons ago. The choice of fixtures for Wembley largely appears to have been correct, with the possible exception of Worcester in the first season, and the hopeful emergence of a new European competition should provide a wider range of competitive fixtures than this time around. Better finish this article now, I’m off to make sure I get a matchday ball.
Looking ahead to the big Match
Posted by: TheSaracens.com (IP Logged)
Date: 21/03/2014 13:49
Thanks Gerard, the site lives!
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:03:30:09:10:07 by Darraghgirl.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:03:30:09:10:07 by Darraghgirl.
Re: Looking ahead to the big Match
Posted by: derbyshire fan (IP Logged)
Date: 21/03/2014 13:52
Thanks BtB - great to have a preview for a game; so thanks for taking the time to write it. Getting all excited about tomorrow's game - we head south this afternoon so that we don't risk getting stuck on the M1 tomorrow!
Re: Looking ahead to the big Match
Posted by: Convex Hull (IP Logged)
Date: 21/03/2014 18:01
Thanks, very kind of you to find time to write this. I hope (and expect) to enjoy this one more than the last visit to Wembley.
Regardez mon visage. Suis-je bovvered?
Regardez mon visage. Suis-je bovvered?
Re: Looking ahead to the big Match
Posted by: TonyTaff (IP Logged)
Date: 27/03/2014 15:25
Encyclopaedic knowledge of Quins! Do we have a convert in our midst? 
It's a long time since Sports network paid anything!
It's a long time since Sports network paid anything!
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