ONE FOR THE BOYS

  The LV cup – you either lurvvv it or hate it! Sarries have tended to treat it as a development competition and have having reached the semi final stage 4 times previously, stayed true to the spirit of the competition – and lost! So would it be different this time?  

Well those previous 4 defeats were all away from home and this time Sarries had home advantage – against Northampton Saints who had twice been semi-final winners over Sarries in this competition – and of course Saints had the huge incentive of a Final at Franklin’s Gardens. But Sarries have always put great store in teamwork and team spirit and the core of this LV squad are the players who won the A league and who, afterall, had made it this far.

It was, however, reassuring to see a sprinkling of first-team regulars in the starting 15 – Strettle, Bosch, Ransom- and some impact on the bench especially in the forwards: Kruis, Brown, Barrington. Northampton were also fielding a mixture of youth and experience, but lurking ominously on the bench were Myler, Dickson & Clarke.

As Northampton took the field, their shirts blended in well with the Allianz “turf” – hopefully Mr Richards the Referee would be able to see them!

Northampton started better and worryingly won penalties at the first 2 scrums. However the Sarries’ defence was good, forcing Northampton backwards and ending in a rather dodgy drop goal attempt from Sam Olver. He made amends with a tricky penalty as Saints spent most of the first quarter in the Sarries’ half. A second penalty was inevitable and Saints went 6-0 ahead. From the restart, a chip ahead by Collins led to a race between him and Ben Ransom with Ransom just getting there in time.

Finally Sarries got a bit of momentum and a huge effort at an attacking scrum looked to have born fruit only for Mr Richards to give Saints the penalty against Gill for not driving straight. Needless to say the crowd disagreed. Justice was done when Smith stole the lineout and at last a sustained attack from Sarries led to a try when Bosch found Strettle fast, deep and on the diagonal and he scored in the corner. Spencer couldn’t quite add the extras with a difficult kick into the swirling breeze but at least Sarries were up and running.

Hayden Smith departed only to be replaced by England international George Kruis. Almost immediately, Olver dodged round Mordt and ran through the entire Sarries defence to score near the posts for Saints. He converted his own try for a 13-5 lead. This was beginning to look like men against the boys and Saints were becoming ominously good. But then Maro Itoje, who in his younger days was apparently a winger, showed a pleasing turn of foot down the left wing from a quick tap penalty. It didn’t result in points but it was impressive. He then stole the Northampton line-out and set off again like a train, finally offloading to de Jager. The ball found its way to Kruis who found Spencer outside him. However unlike Strettle’s try a couple of weeks ago where he managed to ground the ball with his entire body in the air, Waldouck dragged Spencer into touch so the “try” was disallowed. Sarries drove hard from the resulting scrum but Mordt’s chip didn’t find Ellery. Mr Richards was playing advantage so another penalty went in the corner but this time, agonisingly, the ball was overthrown and Northampton were able to go into half time with their lead intact.

None of us were very confident at the interval. It seemed like just a matter of time before Northampton consolidated their lead. But no one told Mike Ellery who scored a superb try, collecting the ball on half way and jigging through the entire Northampton defence to touch down in the corner. Spencer kicked a lovely conversion to reduce the advantage to 1. Saracens seemed to find another gear. A lovely catch and drive from a line out was stopped illegally and Spencer kicked another penalty to finally give Saracens the lead. This was quickly followed by another penalty and now the lead was 18-13. The arrival of Barrington & Spurling led to a scrum penalty and a warning to Northampton. Spencer kicked this one too – the easiest so far – and Sarries were now more than a score ahead at 21-13. Northampton messed up a scoring opportunity and Mallinder had clearly had enough. Time for the cavalry - Myler & Dickson stripped off to a chorus of boos and whistles.

Straight away Northampton looked a different team. The pace went up, they looked more fluid and threatening. It wasn’t long before Myler plonked a penalty right in the corner, the Northampton forwards drove the ball and Dickson scored in the corner. Myler converted and it was back to a 1 point game. Still 15 minutes left and most of us thought that was it. Northampton would run away with it. Unlike the last round against Exeter, when Alex Goode came on and turned it around, there was no fly-half on the bench. Mordt was in his arm bands in deep water. It was just a matter of time.

Well how wrong can you be. Northampton’s edginess seemed to rub off on Sarries, helped by the arrival of Kelly Brown to add a bit of Scottish steel. Sarries launched a sustained attack but couldn’t break through. The ball came back to Mordt who slotted a lovely drop goal. 24-20. Northampton needed more than penalty to win and time was running out. Saracens regrouped. Spencer had a long penalty attempt but the ball dropped short. Sarries played deep in the saints half but Northampton won a penalty and Myler found a good touch. Kelly Brown won Sarries a penalty on half way with just over a minute left. The decision was to put the ball into the Northampton 22. Mordt took the kick – and missed touch. Immediately Northampton launched a final attack. They got the ball deep into the Sarries half and won another penalty. Mordt’s error was looking costly. Dickson took a quick tap and Northampton bore down on the line, flinging the ball out wide to Dickinson. He tried to get the ball back inside but the pass was poor, Kruis turned the ball over and a relieved Spencer booted it into touch as the clock went dead.

So a victory as delightful as it was unexpected and finally Cinderella gets to go to the ball. As I write this, the identity of her prince is unknown – Exeter or Leicester – but it was a good feeling overhearing Saints fans talking about “offloading” their final tickets. They, like us, had expected a Northampton win! Maro Itoje deservedly won man of the match for yet another awesome performance, he just gets better and better. Bosch, Ellery, Hankin, De Jager, Spencer all put in a good shift. At the end of the day the boys came good and beat the men. Can they do it again next week – who knows? I for one would feel better with the insurance of Goodey on the bench, just in case. Whatever! The LV may be the Mickey Mouse Cup – but at least Sarries get the chance to go to Disneyland.

Saracens:-

Ransom, Ellery, Bosch, Streather, Strettle, Mordt, Spencer, Gill (Barrington), Saunders (Spurling), Figallo (Alo), Itoji, Smith (Kruis), de Jager, Hankin (Brown), Joubert

Northampton:-

Tuala (Wilson), Elliot, Stephenson, Waldouck, Collins, Olver (Myler), Fotuali’i (Dickson), Corbisiero (Waller), Haywood (Williams), Ma’afu (Denman), Manoa, Ryder (Nutley), Fisher (Denman), Dowson, Dickinson

Scorers:-

SARACENS: Tries- Strettle, Ellery,   Conv; Spencer,   Pens: Spencer (3,   DG Mordt

NORTHAMPTON: Tries: Olver, Dickson,   Conv: Olver, Myler;   Pens; Olver (2)Attendance:

Referee Dean Richards