END OF FIRST TERM REPORT

  So as we reach the first break in this year’s Premiership campaign, it’s time to reflect on this term’s work. After 7 Rounds in the Aviva, Saracens sit on top of the table by a point from Wasps and having lost just one game (to Quins). 2 European Games have produced 2 wins, 9 points, and a first home defeat in European competition for Toulon. It would be a harsh schoolmaster who didn’t award the team an ‘A’. So how do we sum things up so far ?  

There are of course lots of positives to take from this. First of all I think we now know our best 15. Last season it was less clear-cut but this time it seems that the best players have just taken another step up. The front row picks itself. With the season he has had, Mako Vunipola has to be one of the best loose heads around. He has taken his game to another level. The advent of Ian Peel has improved his scrimmaging, he has the hands of an angel and he now appears to be our back-up kicker! Jamie George has finally come of age, overtaking Brits as our first choice Hooker. His scrimmaging is more solid and he has enough pace to score tries. Juan Figallo has also really stepped up this season, taking over from Petrus at Tight head and making mincemeat of most of the Premiership’s best loose heads. And of course Vincent Koch has yet to join us full time. “Kritoje” of course make up our first choice second row, not only for Saracens but for England and potentially The Lions. Both Kruis and Itoje have risen meteorically over the past 12 months to the point where they would probably walk into any side in the world. Jim Hamilton has also stepped up with the recent injury problems and alongside him Michael Rhodes, by all accounts a reluctant lock but a no less good one. In the back row, Rhodes has continued his form from last season and would be first pick at 6. Schalk Burger has slipped into the team like a knife through butter, already displaying his class and his intent to be a full member of the Saracens’ family and of course the incomparable Billy Vunipola is there at No 8, getting better and better. Just a mention for Jackson Wray who would walk into most teams and deputises admirably across the back row.

Richard Wigglesworth is probably the best scrum half in England. No one else controls a game like he does. It can only be his age that keeps him out of England team. And Ben Spencer is there sniping at his heels. At stand-off Owen Farrell showed he is world class, walking back into the team after 4 months out as if he had never been away. His kicking is nerveless and to his solid defence, he has added some of the Hodgson magic which really does make him the best fly half in the world (remind me why he plays 12 for England then?) Alex Lozowski has made a promising start – it is easy to forget just how inexperienced he is at this level. He just needs to firm up his goal-kicking skills. I see Lozowski blossoming, particularly alongside Spencer’s more solid kicking.

Brad Barritt continues as our Captain courageous. Chiselled from granite, he is the rock around which the team is built. Alongside him Marcello Bosch has shown his most consistent club form, solid in defence, exciting in attack and there is always the potential for another miracle with his enormous boot. Nick Tompkins has shown a hint of the future to come, tackling well and with surprising pace which will catch out a few defences. We have yet to see Duncan Taylor this season but if last year is anything to go by, he’ll be there in the mix too. Captain America, Chris Wyles, goes from strength to strength. He has inherited Strettle’s instinctive awareness of the touchline. On the right wing, Chris Ashton, when he is allowed to play, is still, I think, the best England qualified wing around but the national team’s loss is our gain – at least until the end of the season. Sean Maitland has done superbly this season, filling in at wing or fullback, powerful in the tackle and strong in attack. The promise of Nathan Earle is yet to come. At fullback Alex Goode is peerless. He gets better and better and what else he has to do to convince Eddie Jones that he deserves the England shirt is beyond me.

Another positive is the team’s self-belief. They now win the close matches. As double Champions they know they are good, very good. Reputation precedes them onto the pitch and is worth a few points start. And when things get tight, the team back themselves to come through. And usually they do.

Ian Peel seems to be a real asset to the coaching team – the scrum is looking much more solid this year and presumably that is down to him.

On the negative side I would mention 2 aspects of discipline. On the field we continue to get too many yellow cards. No matter how good we are, we can’t keep giving the opposition a one man advantage. Sooner or later it will come back to bite us. Arguably a yellow card cost us the try bonus (and almost the match) in Toulon and against Leicester. It could have been very expensive against Llanelli. Either way, 4 yellows in our last 3 games is too many.

The other aspect of discipline is that metered out by the RFU. It has cost us the services of Ashton until Christmas and has been instrumental in his decision to leave. The level of proof doesn’t even seem to be “balance of probabilities” rather “who do I believe tonight” – and unlike a court of law, a player’s “previous” is there to damn him to Eternity. If your face doesn’t fit then forget it.

One more negative is the injury toll. We are unlucky to have lost Itoje and Kruis at the same time (although arguably the timing is good for Saracens, somewhat less so for England as we would have lost the guys anyway). We are also very vulnerable at fly half should anything happen to Owen or the Alexes (or should they all be in the international mix). Is Charlie still fit enough? And where’s Nils Mordt when we need him (actually I don’t think we’re that desperate!) Hopefully we can find another little gem like Justin Marshall out there to hold the fort.

We now face a difficult International period. Between now and the end of January we play 2 Anglo-Welsh games, 4 European games and 6 Aviva Premiership Games (of which our Internationals will be absent for 3). If we are still top of the Premiership by then we will have done very well. But you can’t put anything past this team.