Sarries-Irish report, from radio commentary

Apparently, I'm writing about a 'sun-drenched October afternoon in Barnet'. I'm jealous. I'm writing this sheltering from cold, grey, miserable fog.      

But on to the game. After half an hour, I was starting to think that Saracens would end up losing the game 15-17, based on the sheer number of parallels to the Gloucester game last week. The home side had the lion's share of the possession, had scored one penalty and missed a couple, and when the away side got the ball, there was a try.

Fortunately for Saracens, there the parallels ended. Although when we didn't score anything for the rest of the half, I did wonder if we would start to rue the penalties that didn't go over.

After just three minutes, Irish were on the attack with a very long driving maul. However, the pressure was relieved when Saracens were awarded a scrum, from which we were awarded a free kick. The Irish line-out seemed to be malfunctioning slightly, as Maro Itoje managed to steal two in quick succession.

Ten minutes in, Saracens could have been on the board. Ellery sprinted down the side of the pitch and passed to Joubert, who touched down easily over the line. The only problem was that Ellery sprinted a little too close to the side of the pitch, and according to the officials had one foot in touch before he passed. It's hard to judge from the video whether or not this was the case; nevertheless the try was not awarded and the game remained at 0-0.

Five minutes later and Sarries had another chance to get on the board, this time through a penalty. Farrell sent the ball between the posts and the first points were ours. However, he seemed to be having an off-day, as the next two kicks went wide, denying Saracens the chance of a 9-0 lead.

The first try of the match went to London Irish, Tikoirotuma bursting far too easily through the Saracens defence and practically jogging to the line. This went almost completely against the run of play; Saracens had had, up to this point, most of the possession and the most chances. However, they had only managed to take one of them, yielding just three points. Irish took their chance and for the rest of the half were leading by 7 points to 3.

Half time for me entailed tea, cake, and (for reasons that I didn't catch and don't understand) listening to Chariots of Fire being played to the crowd. In other words, a not-very-productive end to a not-very-productive 40 minutes.

The second half had far more going for it in terms of action. 7 minutes in, Saracens started to claw back the penalties that went astray in the first half, and Irish led by just one point. But on 50 minutes, a high tackle from Tikoirotuma on Ashton led to bust-ups and a yellow card. But it was Tompkins who seemed to come off worst when he ended up in the advertising hoardings, and he left the field shortly after. From the resulting line-out and with just 14 men defending, the Exiles could no longer hold back the Saracens attacks, and Jackson Wray found himself at the back of the maul when it crashed over the line. The try was not converted but Sarries now led by 4 points, a lead they would not relinquish.

The crowd's spirits were lifted once again when Jacques Burger came on to rapturous applause. Maro Itoje came in for scrutiny for a possible high tackle, but it was adjudged that he was attempting to charge down McKibbin's kick, and missed. Quite badly. And hit him on the head.

Sarries increased their lead on 61 minutes when Goode scored after much resetting of scrums. A few quick passes to the other side of the field led to a simple run-in for the full back. This time, Farrell converted to bring the score to 18-7 to Saracens.

After a long period of pressure, Irish won a penalty about 10 metres out from the Saracens line. They kicked to the corner, and after a short maul went over. So after 65 minutes it was yet again a four-point game as Geraghty converted. The final two scores of the game both came from the boot of Owen Farrell, although Irish could have got back into bonus-point range had Geraghty kicked a penalty with two minutes to go.

After time was up, Irish continued to push for the losing bonus point. However, it was not to come and the final score remained Saracens 24-14 London Irish.

Given the recent thread 'Is the AP Match Day experience losing its Mojo?' it was interesting to hear the commentators for Radio Berkshire praising the atmosphere and the food at the stadium. Despite the crowd not seeming very big (according to premiershiprugby.com there was no attendance, although I definitely saw people there when watching it back...).

After last week's match I thought the Gloucester commentary wasn't great. But generally I found Berkshire to be much worse. They could barely even tell you whereabouts on the pitch play was going on; fortunately having been a Sarries season-ticket holder for a few years I know the rough geography of the stadium, in particular which direction is being referred to when a team is 'playing into the sun'. However, I could not tell you where the radio commentators sit. So when something is happening 'right in front of [them]', they could be talking about the queue for tea for all I know.

In terms of the match, Sarries won, but not prettily. We could have made it much easier for ourselves, but at the end of the day a win is a win, is four points on the board come the end of the season.

In terms of the commentary, there's definitely a ranking forming:

Radio Gloucester          2/10

Radio Berkshire            1/10

Radio London 94.9      0/10

I couldn't even get the latter to work this week, let alone give me rugby!

And so my quest through the foggy realms of commentary continues. Much like my quest through the foggy realms of campus.