Wasps Take the Praise but Sarries Take the Points

By Innings
March 30 2014

Driving home from Adams Park, I tried to work out why I had not enjoyed the afternoon as much as an away win would justify. It little helped that arriving on the A404 and having to cross the M40 junction took me through what seems to be turning into South’s worst permanent traffic bottleneck.

But to make up for that the Park and Ride worked most efficiently in both directions, the sun was shining, the pitch in excellent condition and I found myself next to knowledgeable and welcoming London Wasps” supporters. And we won, with a bonus point.

So why the unease? This was another stuttering Sarries performance, adequate for the task of the day, but scarcely worthy of the AP leaders and top scorers. London Wasps provided the four stand-out players, and if one had not stood out for all the wrong reasons, Sarries would tonight be heading home with no more than an LBP and TBP for their pains.

The three Wasps players who stood out on the plus side for me were No 8 Nathan Hughes, flanker James Haskell and scrum-half Joe Simpson. Hughes is one of the better No 8s whom I’ve seen this season, with good hands, including an off-load, ability to carry the hard yards, and willingness to work on the defensive chores that are so important against a side like Sarries. Haskell played at his old best level, I don’t know how many tackles he completed, but several were influential in stopping Sarries attacks at source. One rip-out of the ball early in the game was simply a masterpiece. Joe Simpson was always a threat, distributing well, making some telling breaks, of which more later, and having the sort of game which reminds me of how close he must have been to achieving a great deal more than the nine minutes as a substitute winger that represents the tally of his senior international honours. However, Sarries were very fortunate to meet the fourth influential Wasp on one of his worst days with the tee. Andy Goode was excellent in his game management and his positional kicking, but the key job of the main kicker is to score off the tee, and Goode had a ‘mare in this aspect of play. From a position on the halfway line nobody can truly judge how difficult all the kicks were, but to miss three penalties and two conversions at home is not a good effort, leaving 13 points untaken when the losing margin is 12. My Wasps advisors sitting alongside me had noted before the start that Adams Park wind is notoriously hard for visiting kickers to master, which reminded me of one difficult afternoon experienced here by Glen Jackson – Peace be upon Him - some years ago. However, Charlie – even more Peace be upon Him today – seemed comfortable whilst Andy Goode certainly was not.

Enough of the after-thoughts, what about the game? A pretty dreary start, with two sides anxious to do the business. Sarries have a home semi-final to cement, and London Wasps are desperate, not only to catch Quins for the 6^th spot but to cement the end of a run of five consecutive losses before last week’s two point win against Worcester. The previous five had been close, all delivering an LBP, but close doesn’t take you up the table. Playing into the strong wind, Sarries made a couple of early visits to the Wasps red zone, as we fashionista scribes must now call it. Haskell put in a big but armless, in both senses of the word, hit on Matt Stevens, right in front, and Charlie opened his tally pretty easily. On the next foray, Duncan Taylor took his Scottish border riever ancestry to heart, burst through some defence - I think there was some defence - to put Jackson Wray in for a try that took some earning in the grounding, and for Charlie to convert.

Wasps set out to respond, with some forceful play, which led to what would normally have been a convertible penalty for Andy Goode, but the ball hit the upright and passed outside. Shortly afterwards came a moment that you might not see in watching Sarries for an entire season. Wasps simply took the ball into a maul at about half-way and marched upfield for fully 30 metres, with Sarries impotent to influence the event. In the current jargon, Mouritz Botha took a yellow for the team, Andy Goode took three points on easy offer, and Wasps were getting going. In the ten-minute advantage period Wasps pressed hard. A delightfully weighted kick to the Sarries try line, a poor fumble by Ashy, and Jonah Holmes was quick enough to take advantage. Not a difficult conversion attempt for Andy Goode, but the Adams Park hex was on him today rather than Charlie.

Botha came back and there was time for some spirited play, with Sarries pressing into the wind, in the Wasps left hand corner. Then a switch, a line-out on the right and the Sarries 12-man maul swung into action, driving Jamie George over. That was the second time that I’ve written of the joys of the 12-man maul, and this time was as exhilarating as the first. Charlie took the points and at half-time Sarries were a tad fortunate to take their oranges at 8-17 ahead.

The second half saw a somewhat livelier Wasps performance. A Wasps lineout near the Sarries 10-metre line delivered slick ball to Simpson, and he darted through the slightly napping inner guard for a clean break and run for the line. However, Alex Goode caused Simpson to pause rather than simply round his man, the cover was back and the situation looked, very briefly, saved. However, quick re-cycle right put AP starting debutant Tom Howe in for a deserved try. Howe is another graduate of the High Wycombe Royal Grammar School production line, whose most famous alumnus is Matt Dawson. Another conversion miss by Andy Goode, albeit from wide out, was causing some anxiety among the partisan Wasps supporters.

Sarries now put together some better fare than we had seen from them for most of the game. A truly superb solo effort by Andy Goode took him through the first and second lines of Wasps defence, round the last ditch and over for the try of the day. Owen Farrell, now on for Charlie as one of the inevitable raft of replacements around 50-60 minutes, did the necessary, and soon followed with a routine penalty. At 13-27, Sarries would not normally ever look like losing with 20 minutes to go, and although they didn’t look so here either, Wasps rallied and played the better rugby for the final period. Schalk Brits had come on, but went off again with what looked like a shoulder injury, Sarries applied pressure and a penalty into the corner gave a line-out and driving maul of which Jamie George was the beneficiary, going over for his second of the day and a four-try bonus point. It was not an easy conversion, into the wind from fairly wide out, and Farrell couldn’t take the points. He had been given a most generous round of applause when he came on 20 minutes earlier, but that was not to stop the Wasps support from cat-calling his miss.

Perhaps appropriately, Wasps had the last word, with a try at the death, not converted. Sarries had recorded a 20-32 win, which I thought flattered them.

Some comments from around me were perceptive. In general people were astonished by Sarries line speed in defence. The need to think faster and more clearly than usual took some Wasps players by surprise. I heard no criticism of the referee from anyone; people thought Luke Pearce had a good game, interpreting exactly the same for every phase throughout the game and having the player’s confidence in his decision process. The two yellow cards – the Wasps one was just before Jamie George’s second try – were for identical offences, and all in all it was a pleasure not really to notice Mr Pearce at all, always a good sign. It was suggested that the evergreen Tom Palmer intends to play until he can draw the state pension, and he played through today, a remarkable effort for a man only marginally closer in age to the mini-rugby players than to his pension.

It would be difficult for me to offer my personal MotM. Tradition says it should go to player on the winning side, but the individual performers I have already noted for Wasps stood out for me. If I have to be traditional, I’ll nominate Jackson Wray. He put in another tireless performance, carrying in attack and covering in defence, whilst doing his full share of the grunt work at breakdown.

After the dire display against London Irish, Sarries raised their game considerably and went to Sale, to record a good win against a side enjoying some good form. This week, Sarries need to raise their game again, and take their best performance to Ravenhill, against an Ulster side who will be smarting tonight after surrendering their 2014 unbeaten record against an unfancied Cardiff Blues side. In the meantime, Sarries march on, sometimes not totally in step with each other, but never faltering for lack of endeavour or self-belief.

London Wasps: Masi, Holmes, Daly, C. Bell, Howe, Goode, Simpson, McIntyre, Lindsay, Cooper-Woolley, Palmer, Myall, Haskell, Thompson, Hughes.

Replacements: Hayter for Daly (41), Carlisle for Goode (58), Sheehan for Simpson (70), Reeves for McIntyre (65), Festuccia for Lindsay (61), Swainston for Cooper-Woolley (65), Cannon for Palmer (58), Jones for Thompson (58).

Sin Bin: Jones (75).

Saracens: Goode, Ashton, Taylor, Barritt, Strettle, Hodgson, de Kock, M. Vunipola, George, Stevens, Borthwick, Botha, Wray, Brown, Joubert.

Replacements: Farrell for Hodgson (50), Kruis for de Kock (49), Barrington for M. Vunipola (58), Brits for George (53), Johnston for Stevens (53), Wigglesworth for Borthwick (49), Burger for Wray (67).

Not Used: Bosch.

Sin Bin Botha

Att: 7,000

Ref: Luke Pearce (RFU).

Wasps Take the Praise but Sarries Take the Points

Posted by: TheSaracens.com (IP Logged)

Date: 30/03/2014 09:05

Thanks Innings, excellent write up. I was sorry to miss my annual trip to Waspies this year but at least I can see the Kites from my back garden these days!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:04:07:14:56:19 by Darraghgirl.