SO GOODE TO BE HOME,,,

This is an emotional evening for all of us fortunate enough to be walking into the ground many of us left as Allianz Park in March 2020, never imagining in those early days of the pandemic that aside from one test event in front of 1,000, it would be 14 months until we once more had our tickets checked at the stadium now known as StoneX.  To say it’s good to be back, as we walk in through Gate B and head towards the piazza for some food and a drink, is a huge understatement; just seeing so many familiar faces, greeting the Pioneers, making our way past the East Stand - glancing up at the seats we’ve occupied for the last six years - it hits home just how much this club and the people associated with it mean to us. Life really is starting up again.

The Sarries squad is true to Mark McCall’s stated intention to give some of his younger charges an opportunity to learn from playing alongside their international colleague, with Joel Kpoku, Elliott Obatoyinbo and Ali Crossdale all starting alongside the likes of Owen Farrell, Sean Maitland and Maro Itoje. It’s good to see Callum Clark, in the lineup for the first time this season, starting at blindside. I’m also pleased to see Ralph Adams-Hale continuing his return to action from the bench.

Also on the bench, wearing shirt number 23, is David Alexander Vallance Goode....

Darrahgirl has already given you a detailed rundown of the Ampthill squad in her superb “Welcome Back” piece and suffice to say none of the Sarries players currently plying their trade at Dillingham Park are available tonight.

You’ll allow me at this juncture to crave your indulgence if I've missed any incidents from the game, with note-taking proving difficult on a damp phone, and with the steamed-up glasses that have become such a bane of masked specs-wearers’ lives over the past fourteen months. Nothing whatsoever to do with a little moisture that built up a few times around the eye area during the course of the evening….

The splendidly monickered Grimoldby starts things off amid a pleasing cacophony of real human voices, and Sarries gather and begin to work forward in a decent opening few minutes – I’m pleased to see again that the pre- and early season tendency to slow starts has been dealt with.

This game turns out to be the fastest start of all.

After a handling error – not at all surprising in these conditions - costs us a chance through Crossdale, sporting a very sharp new haircut, Sarries take the lead after only 4 minutes when a Sarries penalty is kicked to the corner and after an almighty push to the line involving, so it seemed through my steamed up specs, most of the Sarries players, Tompkins drives over amid the unrecorded roar of the Sarries faithful. Farrell adds the extras for 7-0 and it’s a good start from Sarries.

Ampthill look at this point to be a big and hard-working side, but four minutes later it’s another penalty to Sarries, again kicked to the corner. A solid lineout exit and Sarries rumble to the line again, with George this time driving over, again to raucous applause from the great majority of the crowd – I’m very pleased by the way to see a group of Ampthill fans have got to the game – and the strains of Jamie’s try music, the bizarre “I Am A Mole..”. Again, a relaxed looking Farrell converts, and at 8 minutes it’s 14-0.

Even after such a spectacular opening spell from Sarries, the game was inevitably going to settle down and we start to see what a very capable side Ampthill are as, by no means overawed, they push forward to the Sarries line and are able to sustain a period of good pressure without breaching our characteristically well-organised defence.

Sarries eventually break the siege, and following a good exit from a scrum deep in Ampthill’s “red zone”, Tompkins charges over on 15 minutes to edge us towards the bonus point. Farrell plants the pill between the posts to make it 21-0.

Ampthill are clearly not going to roll over - and it is still early in the game despite the score line – and mount another spell of pressure on the Sarries line, looking, like so many other sides in the Championship, strong and well-organised, and this time their hard and good work pays dividends as the hooker Blackmore forces his way over, with Grimoldby converting to make it 21-7 after 21 minutes. It’s nothing less than they deserve.

The contest is pretty even at this stage, with Ampthill continuing to give as good as they get, until five minutes after Ampthill’s score  when Sarries open up the gap after a great run from Davies, who it must be said is forming a strong midfield axis with Farrell after a relatively short time together makes ground with a darting run, which sets up Maitland to go over in the corner to secure the try bonus point on 26 minutes. This time, and from a wide angle, Farrell fails to convert and it’s 26-7.    

The next noteworthy bit of action sees Tompkins finding space and charging headlong through the Ampthill defence, with Mrs Jonny’s and my screams of “GO ON NICK!!!!!” wrecking our throats unnecessarily as the referee, whose name escapes me, calls play back for an infringement.

Ampthill, unbowed, continue to toil hard although Sarries, at times playing some slick running rugby, look comfortable in this period of the game and the half is moving to a close when a lovely passing move up the right sets Maitland free to glide over. Farrell, again kicking from a wide position, makes no mistake this time and we reach half-time at 33-7. Ampthill’s Porter has gone to the sin bin for what looks through my fogged bins like a trip.

A quick stretch of the legs and wipe of the specs, not to mention a minor mutual grumble when we realise that no half-time Bovril is to be had and I reflect that even on such a miserable, wet night in NW4, and even without the extremely minor inconvenience of being unable to warm ourselves with what Mrs Jonny and I affectionately refer to as Café de Boeuf, there truly is nowhere in the world I’d rather be.

I’m impressed with Ampthill – they haven’t for one moment looked overawed by what has been touted as the biggest game in their history, and as is such a feature of Championship sides, they’re well-coached and well-organised by Mark Lavery’s set-up, with solid set pieces and despite the score line Sarries have not overwhelmed them in general play.

Although the conditions have created a few handling errors, Sarries have looked ruthless in execution, Owen Farrell has been superb, Nick Tompkins is having a stormer and Ali Crossdale, like Tom Whiteley, is a player I’ll be sorry to see going at the end of the season.

The second half starts, after Farrell commences proceedings, with a bang. With a penalty advantage to Sarries, a quick-thinking Farrell kicks crossfield to allow Crossdale to scamper over on the left at 41 minutes. Farrell does the rest and it’s a now comfortable-looking 40-7.

Sarries then edge towards the half-century, when only four minutes later some great work from Daly sets up Obatoyinbo to go over on 46 minutes, with Farrell’s (almost) unerring boot doing the rest to take the score to 47-7.

With no disrespect at all to Ampthill, Sarries are eating into what at one stage in the season was a huge points difference advantage to Ealing…

The game becomes a little scrappy – literally in fact – as Ampthill work hard to stem the flow, and there is what the late and much-missed Bill McLaren would have called a little bit of argy-bargy breaking out. Ampthill have “fronted up” all game and they certainly don’t take a backward step here.  I think at first I’ve imagined this but Mrs Jonny confirms that we do indeed hear a boxing bell…

On 50 minutes, StoneX erupts in cheers as Alex Goode, fresh from his brief spell in Japan as a Green Rocket, swaggers on to replace the head-bandaged Farrell. Even from where we are sitting, high up in the East Stand, it's clear he is very pleased to be home.

The front row has been replaced in its entirety, with our incoming hooker making a more or less immediate impact on proceedings.

A penalty to Sarries is kicked long, and after a good lineout exit, we drive towards the line and eventually Woolstencroft forces his way over. Goode is not able to add the extras, and at 54 minutes it is now 52-7.

Ampthill look to be tiring, perhaps not surprisingly, and just a few minutes later, it’s another Sarries penalty, another long kick, another good lineout exit, and another Woolstencroft drive over the line, and this time Goode converts to nudge the score to 59-7 on 59 minutes.

Weary as they are, Ampthill won’t lie down and keep working hard to get something more from the game and with ten minutes left, albeit with a little help from the wet conditions, a grubber manages to elude the Sarries defence and Sutherland gets to the ball first to land Ampthill’s second try of the game, although the conversion is unsuccessful to take the score to 59-12 with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Sarries, in full control as the game draws to a close, are clearly in a ruthless mood and not content to simply manage the game out, as first Alex Goode breaks to set up Crossdale to go over for a deserved second try to take us to 64-12 on 77 minutes – the conversion is unsuccessful - followed in the dying moments by a searing break from Morris who, using the conditions to his advantage, slides over but again the conversation is unsuccessful with the game ending 69-12.

Five more points in the bag, and 57 more points to the good.

In spite of what looks like a cricket score, Ampthill have earned everyone’s respect at StoneX tonight, and as with the other sides we’ve faced in this division I wish them nothing but well.

For Sarries, it's another good job done.

Farrell has been superb, Tompkins continues to make his powerful presence felt, and Obatoyinbo continues to improve almost by the week.

And it’s so good, so good, to have Goodey home…..

We’re second in the table, four points clear of Doncaster Knights, still with a game in hand in Ealing, and, barring any catastrophe against Coventry or Hartpury, we’re set fair for the playoffs.

Teams:

Sarries

15  Obatoyinbo; 14  Maitland; 13  Daly;  12  Tompkins; 11  Crossdale; 10  Farrell; 9  Davies

1  Mako Vunipola; 2  George; 3  Koch; 4  Itoje; 5  Joel Kpoku; 6  Clark; 7  Wray; 8  Billy Vunipola

Substitutes

16  Woolstencroft; 17  Adams-Hale; 18  Clarey; 19  Swinson; 20  Reffell; 21  Day; 22  Morris

23  Goode

Ampthill

15  Anderson; 14  Brown;  13 Halaifonua; 12  Sage; 11 Sutherland;  10  Grimoldby; 9  Porter

1  Jack; 2  Blackmore; 3  Lutui; 4  Beckett; 5 Jones; 6  Humfrey; 7  Hudson; 8  Onojaife

Substitutes

16 Elrick; 17  Flynn; 18  Collins; 19  Johnson; 20  Arthur; 21  Law; 22  Bennett; 23  Hudson