Sarries vs Toulon - Match Report

As we prepared to leave the ground last night, and it certainly was last night, perhaps the latest ending that I have seen an afternoon kick-off, I was asked which fairy-tale I would borrow to tell the tale of what we had just witnessed.  Well, it was no fairy-tale, and the only person capable of doing justice to the events was Richard Wagner, creator of some of the longest, most dramatic and gripping tales of men and gods ever staged.

First of all, let us look at the length of this opera in two acts. Act One lasted 54 minutes, and Act Two lasted a little longer, about 56 minutes. With a 15 minute interval, the game would have ended at about 4.50 in the afternoon. Despite referee Nigel Owens’ known preference for a flowing game, this one managed to run on for a further 30 minutes. Wagner would have managed to spin out the tale over four operas and four days, but even the pace and physicality of this game could not make us endure that much.

Wagner required casts that mix heroes and gods. Allianz Park required a similar mix: the gods of the all-star squad of Toulon and the heroes of the distinctly earth-bound squad of Sarries. Before the curtain went up at 3.15, how many of the heroes would have been selected for the gods’ team? Would members of the earthly chorus, like Barrington, Wray, Tomkins or Lozowski even get a look-in as understudies at Toulon? Gods, like Ma’a Nonu, Halfpenny, Vermeulen would never allow their starring roles to be outshone by mere extras.

Act One opened in thunderous style. The gods had the humble at their feet twice in seven minutes, but twice they forgot their lines. Habana forgot that double movements don’t score tries  and Tuisova so forgot his lines that his superb solo at the end of a great choral effort was marred by his wanton failure to hit the one note that mattered, the sound of a ball being grounded under control beyond the whitewash. The gods could not have started better nor have wasted their start so comprehensively if they’d rehearsed all week.

The torrid start for the earthbound Sarries had achieved little or nothing for the gods, but for the next 25 minutes of playing time, probably about an hour of real time, we saw the grimmest of struggles. Chorus after chorus, recitatif after recitatif, ten phases frequently, up to 15 or more on occasion, but if the gods had the possession, they could not gain the territory. The trouble about an opera full of the world’s great soloists is that they have forgotten that great opera companies rely on singing and acting together, not on individual stars singing their own parts but doing little to support others when those others are singing. Thus, we had the sight of two great stars, Bastereaud and Nonu, each singing superbly at times but each frequently unaware that the other was also on-stage.

Scene Two of Act One, the second quarter of the game, brought the first realisation among the gods that they might well be about to be out-acted by the mortals. Nonu and Halfpenny so confused their lines that both could be blamed for a dreadful clearance that turned lineout honours well within their own part of the stage. Principal star of the gods’ company Vermeulen panicked and picked of Tomkins with a reckless wave of his sword, and the earthlings were granted the right to act out the last ten minutes of the act with a man advantage.

Although Farrell at last put points on the board after Vermeulen’s stage fright, Bosch was infected by the same problem two minutes later when he frankly butchered the easiest of arias and failed to notice that half the company was lined up outside him ready to take up his song.

The interval lasted its allotted 15 minutes, scarcely long enough for all the queues hoping to get hot chocolate from the legendary Crush Bar.

Before Act Two we had fireworks. I don’t know why they happened now rather than before Act One, but they add a momentary bit of fun, and many Wagner operas seem to have an overture before each act, so why not Allianz Park?

The second act was similar to the first, but with a difference. In Act One, the gods were trying to win but in Act Two they appeared to be trying not to lose. More and more we saw them resort to a kicking game that is clearly alien to their ethos: the kicking game requires accuracy from the kicker and whole-hearted support from the follow-up. Halfpenny’s kicking was enthusiastic, so much so that he usually gave Lozowski or other receivers plenty of time to gather, weigh up options and take the right decision before the chasers got close. That style plays right into Sarries’ hands, literally, and if we wanted to compare anything it would have been how an inexperienced fullback, Lozowski, managed to kick into the empty spaces into which big and tiring gods would have to turn and cover back.

As Act Two, Scene Two began we had the usual rash of replacements. Perhaps now we might see the advantages that come to an all-star cast at full strength when compared with an ensemble opera company shorn of many of its leading players. In fact, that seemed to make no difference, and as we began the defining last scene, it was two of the god’s greatest stars, Nonu and Halfpenny, who managed to trip over each other and allow Ashton, the one mortal sprinkled with the stardust of the gods, to scamper through a non-existent gap and demonstrate to Tuisova that there can be one-handed touchdowns that hit the right note.

A late three-pointer gave the gods some respectability, but in truth this opera belonged to the earthlings, the mortals. That belonging was underlined as Rhodes more or less wrapped up the evening with a cover tackle that prevented the easiest of finishes for Giteau.

So, back to Barrington, Wray, Tomkins and Lozowski. Not an international cap between them, and perhaps some of that quartet will never get one. How did they fare against Chilachava, Vermeulen, Nonu and Halfpenny, sharing 242 international and Lions caps? Barrington was under pressure at time in the scrum but outplayed Chilachava in the loose. Wray comprehensively outplayed Vermuelen in all aspects. Tomkins made up in work rate and commitment the hundred or so Kg that he gave away to Nonu in bulk, and that difference became clearer towards the end as Nonu’s apparent fitness and commitment diminished. Lozowski simply outplayed Halfpenny, and, despite his evident lack of experience, shown by his positional play at times, his is clearly the talent that will only develop, whereas Halfpenny is unlikely ever to get better than he is now.

Great opera companies require great directors and great houses. Ending this operatic odyssey therefore requires us to look at these aspects of the two houses. Mark McCall has taken over a brash new opera house, but has the support of a board who now know how to let him run the performance whilst they maintain the edifice. Mike Ford has taken over a great house, with great traditions and records, but it seems as though he has little control over who gets signed to sing for the company. McCall believes in a company where the stars are interchangeable with the understudies, where every member of cast has the chance to develop to play on the largest stages and where every member knows that he is there on merit, is expected to develop and is given the opportunities to do so. Ford is expected to meld his motley into a cast, and although he has the stars it is less clear that he has the ability to persuade stars that their greatness lies in their ensemble work as much as in stardust.

All in all, yesterday may have gone on too long, and a single try and two penalty goals may seem like a meagre return. But yesterday offered something else, two differing styles, delivered at their maximum by their exponents, in a thoroughly gripping spectacle. Not everyone likes Wagner, not everyone likes Sarries, but any rugby supporter will agree that yesterday offered rugby as gripping drama, unfolding at its best.

Final score, Saracens 10, RC Toulon 3

Scorers:

Owen Farrell (Saracens) 1 Penalty 1 Conversion

Chris Ashton (Saracens) 1 Try

Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon) 1 Penalty

Teams:

Lozowski, Ashton, Bosch, Tomkins, Maitland, Farrell, Wigglesworth, Barrington (Lamositele 60), George (Brits 52, George 73), du Plessis (Figallo52), Itoje, Hamilton (Skelton 52), Rhodes, Burger, Wray.

Halfpenny, Tuisova, Bastereaud, Nonu, Habana, Giteau, Tilous-Borde (Pelissie 62), Deldoulbes (Chiocci 41), Guirado, Chilichava (van der Merwe 52), Gorgodze, Taolifenua (Suta 51), Smith (Manoa 64), Lobbe (Gill 60), Vermeulen.

Referee Nigel Owens