Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Win

By King Zak
March 1 2015

Another uninspiring performance from the men in black, which remarkably sees them move to second in the Aviva Premiership. Yet again it was a display littered with needless errors and a lack of direction in both attack and defence. It was good to see former players, Adam Powell and Andy Saull return, both were given a warm round of applause as the teams were announced pre-match. There was also a switch to the Falcons team, with Alesano Tuilagi coming in on the left wing to replace Tiesi and Tom Penny moving into the replacements.

The first error of the day belonged to Saracens as Wyles was caught offside chasing a box kick from de Kock, close to the Saracens 22 metre line. Falcon’s fly half Tom Catterick chose to kick to the corner and, much like Sale the previous week, the rest was simple. Catch, drive, try – ironically scored by former Sarries favourite Saull. Catterick missed the conversion, but Falcons held the early lead at 0-5.

Saracens hit back and were rewarded with a penalty on the Newcastle 10 metre line that, despite the very blustery conditions, Hodgson slotted straight through the posts – 3-5 after seven minutes.

Saracens finally found some cohesion and continuity in attack. A very simple but brilliantly executed loop round from Hodgson resulted in Strettle sliding in to score by the right corner flag. It was an outstanding finish, from the ‘Left’ wing (wearing 11 but playing on the right!), and one we have come to take for granted! His finishing ability is second to none and hopefully his omission from the England squad is not something Lancaster, Rowntree et al will come to regret. Hodgson added the conversion from the hardest of angles to extend the lead to 5 points. However, just when it seemed like the home team would take control of the game, more errors crept in to cost them again.

With the ball bobbling around on half way, it fell invitingly to the giant winger Tuilagi. He needs no second invitation to run with the ball. Brushing aside a couple of would-be tacklers, he set his sights on fullback Ransom. What ensued was highly reminiscent of Lomu v Tony Underwood/Mike Catt – Ransom was splattered! The saving grace for Saracens (other than Ransom escaping physically unscathed) was that by the time he reached the try line, the winger was too tired to run towards the posts and merely fell over in the left corner. The conversion was missed again and the scores were level after 20 minutes.

The one thing that was going right from a Saracens perspective was the scrum. Not something we’ve been able to say very often this season, but they were totally dominant and much credit should go to the starting front row of Gill, George, du Plessis and their second half replacements Figallo & Barrington.

Saracens regained the lead just before the half hour mark through another Hodgson penalty. However, as halftime approached, they were struck with a double blow. De Kock got it all wrong in attempting to tackle fullback Tait, suffering a head injury. The ball bounced loose to Hodgson who set off to run and then pulled up sharply, clearly having aggravated his hamstring injury. They both left the field, to be replaced by Spencer and Mordt, which only emphasised the lack of direction on the field. Spencer is very talented but his decision making and passing under pressure still leave much to be desired at Premiership level. However, one area that has consistently been excellent is his goal kicking – something Saracens can be very grateful for.

The second half started in similar vein to the first – Falcons forwards driving over for the try, this time scored by Welch, with Catterick adding the conversion to give the visitors a 13-17 lead. The driving maul is a very powerful weapon, and one that Saracens are going to have to work hard on stopping legally if they are to have any realistic chance of winning the title this year. Four of the last five tries conceded have been based around opposition maul.

Sarries continued to dominate possession without looking the slightest bit creative. It is of concern that neither Barritt nor Bosch, on current form, offer any real threat or ‘go forward’. It was also a worry how easily Falcons were able to open up Sarries defensive midfield. In the game at Kingston Park earlier this season it was Socino who posed the major running threat. I don’t know if he was the focus of attention, but it certainly allowed Catterick and Tait opportunity to make good line breaks.

Whilst Mordt may not be the most gifted fly half, he did manage to retrieve several sloppy passes from Spencer which were much closer to his ankles than his hands, and tried to inject some pace into the backline – but it remained pretty lateral and one dimensional. As the game entered the final quarter, Saracens forwards finally managed to get over the gain line on a regular basis – particularly through Figallo, Wray and man of the match Itoje. Falcons defence was at last looking stretched and the penalties came Saracens way. When they did, Spencer stepped up and knocked them over with unerring accuracy. The third one, with three minutes left, gave Sarries a five point lead and some sense of relief in the crowd. That said, I suspect the biggest cheer of the day at Allianz Park was reserved for a try scored some 200 miles away by Exeter scrum half Will Chudley, denying Bath a losing bonus point and sending Saracens to second place in the league. It is a position they would dearly love to be in come the end of the season – much improvement will be required to see that dream become reality.

In the short term, they face a real problem at fly half. Hodgson is clearly struggling with an injury of some sort, Farrell is missing due to injury, Goode is currently away with England and, depending on Mike Brown’s recovery and events in Dublin, may also be unavailable for the trip to Coventry next week. So, Mordt looks likely to play, with back up from ……….??????

As for the win over Newcastle; Falcons are a much tougher proposition than in previous years, they are developing into a very strong all round team. They outscored Saracens three tries to one; they took every chance that came their way – if only the same could be said of Sarries! De Jager made his first start in the premiership and seemed to be one of Saracens better performers on the day. Individually the players are doing ‘okay’ but there appears to be a real lack of team cohesion. Quite why this is the case is beyond me, and seemingly at this moment in time, beyond the coaching staff too.

Final Score: Saracens 22 – 17 Newcastle Falcons

Saracens: 15 Ben Ransom, 14 David Strettle, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock; 1 Rhys Gill, 2 Jamie George, 3 Petrus Du Plessis; 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Alistair Hargreaves ©; 6 Nick De Jager, 7 Jacques Burger, 8 Jackson Wray

Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Jim Hamilton, 20 Matt Hankin, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Nils Mordt, 23 Tim Streather

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Alex Tait, 14. Sinoti Sinoti, 13. Adam Powell, 12. Juan Pablo Socino, 11. Alesano Tuilagi, 10. Tom Catterick, 9. Mike Blair; 1. Rob Vickers, 2. Scott Lawson, 3. Juan Pablo Orlandi, 4. Kane Thompson, 5. Dom Barrow, 6. Will Welch ©, 7. Andy Saull, 8. Mark Wilson.

Replacements: 16. Rob Hawkins, 17. Alex Rogers, 18. Mark Irving, 19. Calum Green, 20. Chris York, 21. Ruki Tipuna, 22. Rory Clegg, 23. Tom Penny

Referee: Andrew Small

Attendance: 7,473

Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Win

Posted by: TheSaracens.com (IP Logged)

Date: 01/03/2015 12:38

Thanks Chris, another excellent report!
Re fly half options - I think Wiggy has played 10 before and Wyles for USA? But we really are scraping the bottom of the barrel!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015:03:08:19:11:34 by Darraghgirl.