(MAN IN) BLACK MAGIC
By The Saracens
December 27 2021
When I was a little girl, my best friend’s dad was a magician. She took me once to the Magic Circle, home of the most famous Magic Society in the world. In those days the Magic Circle was a very secret place. Admission was only for true Magicians and their families and friends. In front of my eyes I saw amazing things happen: people disappeared, rabbits reappeared, cigarettes were pulled from my ear (yes it was a long time ago), along with yards and yards of knotted handkerchiefs. To a young and impressionable girl it was another world where incredulous things happened.
His name was Don Robertson and for 53 years he was world Yoyo champion. He could make that yoyo do anything on the end of its string. Just for a little while I was back there again today. There was magic in the foggy air at StoneX and this Magician was doing incredible things with a rugby ball as if it was Don’ yoyo - totally and utterly obedient to his commands.
But let’s start at the beginning. Somehow (yes more magic) our entire party of 8 managed to avoid COVID and assemble at StoneX. For Mr DG it was his first visit in over 2 years. Despite the morning torrents, although the air was damp, the rain stayed away. The atmosphere was, I think, a bit flat, probably down to COVID, and there were few Santa hats and Christmas Jumpers. We watched a funny little man scuttle by, his mask pulled up so high it almost hid his eyes – almost, but not quite. Eddie Jones was here. By the time Worcester kicked off it was dark, even though it was barely 3.00pm. The supporting cast threw the ball about, then after 5 minutes, our Magician did his stuff. I expect he knew Eddie was watching somewhere. I also expect he didn’t care – such matters are now buried in the past. But this was his time, his moment. Alex was about to make magic happen.
Having kicked a scrum penalty into the 22, the ball came out to Alex Goode. He started with a show and go, then threw the ball – to himself - creating just enough space and time for Alex Lewington on his outside to run onto a pitch perfect pass and score in the corner. Loz just pulled the conversion (his only mistake of the day) but 5-0 so early on was great. Shillcock tried an ambitious penalty from his own half which was on target but short. Aled Davies made a super break into the Wuss 22, a knock on and Wuss conceded a 5m scrum. There was only ever going to be one outcome as the pack powered over with Billy touching down and Loz foot perfect. 12-0 now in even time.
The Magician stepped up again, this time a delicious pass from Goode found Malins who set off for the try line. He was stopped just short when he probably should have passed out to Lewington on the wing. However the ball was recycled and Goodey Potter timed his run on to the pass to perfection and touched down almost under the posts to make the conversion easy for Loz. 19-0
After Wuss made a first brief excursion into the Sarries half, Goodey kicked a long penalty up to the Wuss 22. Magic in the air again – it looked like the Wuss defender had just kept the ball in play but the Assistant Referee disagreed. Wuss briefly went off-script by nicking the line-out but Maro ensured Sarries regained possession and Maitland was almost through. Magicial Goodey called the ball back to him then produced the most perfect little kick through for Tompkins to collect and score the bonus point try (which Loz again converted) after just 22 minutes.
Even the greatest Magicians’ spells occasionally misfire and Goodey didn’t quite find touch with his penalty. But it didn’t matter. Malins forced Wuss to carry the ball over for a goal-line drop out. Sarries renewed the attack. Goodey’s exquisite pass to Loz then found Malins who, having studied at the feet of the master, delayed his pass to Isiekwe who dummied Shillcock and scored a 5th try. Loz made it 33-0 after just half an hour.
Wuss got themselves up to the Sarries’ 22. Sarries seemed to have averted the danger forcing a knock on but from the scrum, Aled and Billy got their wires crossed with Billy seemingly not expecting the pass. Wuss earned a 5m scrum then a penalty and finally Batley got over the line. Smith converted for 33-7. From a penalty, Alex’s magic feet just found touch on the 5m line. From the line-out, Goodey’s pass through the backs found Malins out wide and he was able to find Lewington for number 6. Loz converted on the stroke of half time for 40-7.
Wow what a mystical, magical, exceptionally extraordinary display by our 10, truly touched by stardust tonight.
Wuss replaced Alex Hearle with Melani Nanai (for what would prove to be a brief stay) but the half time break, as is often the case, seemed to interrupt Sarries’ Karma and soon after half time, Wuss scored when Francois Venter seemed to run through the entire Sarries defence. Smith again added the extras for 40-14. Ethan Lewis looked to have picked up a shoulder injury and was replaced by Tom Woolstencroft. Our Wizarding 10 first kicked on for Malins who almost scored, he then put a long kick up and under which everyone stood and watched apart from Ben Earl who plucked the loose ball from the foggy sky and scored Sarries 7th try under the posts. Loz again converted for 47-14 and Nanai departed for Oli Morris. With half an hour to go, Mako, Aled and Lewington departed to enthusiastic applause to be replaced by Baz, Van Zyl and Elliot Daly. Goodey directed a penalty to the 5m line and the squad performed a perfect training ground move with a short throw duly trundled over by Billy in his last act of the day. Loz added 2 more for 54-14 as Theo McFarland arrived. Daly also announced his presence with an almighty flooring tackle on Shillcock.
But not everything was going quite so well. The scrum conceded a 3rd penalty (on out own put-in). The forward replacements at least appeared a bit lacking. And now it was time for our very own Albus Dumbledore to leave the stage. The sorcerer’s apprentice. Manu Vunipola, took over the wand but sadly for him, the magic had all but gone with its master. Still there was a tiny bit of stardust left when some nice handling from Manu found Max Malins who scored Sarries’ 9th and final try with 15 minutes remaining. Loz made it 61-14. Vincent and Maro departed for Beaton and Swinson and the sky fell in.
An awful Sarries lineout gave Wuss possession. Being Boxing Day it was not surprising there was a bit of fisticuffs but Sarries were penalised. Wuss missed touch with their penalty, Daly made a lovely break, Wuss turned the ball over and Venter ran the length of the pitch, brushing off Sarries’ defenders like irritating dementors, to score the visitor’s 3rd. The crowd wanted a forward pass but Mr Ridley mimed “flat” back to them in an encouraging show of engagement. Smith’s conversion bounced off the posts. Max should have scored from the restart but Van Zyl’s pass was not the most sympathetic and he didn’t quite grasp the ball with the try line begging. His angry kick spoke volumes. Wuss however were not so wasteful and having worked their way into the 22 scored a 4th and, I suspect, unexpected bonus point try through Gareth Simpson. With just a couple of minutes left, Daly decided to try and emulate Henry Slade with a long and ambitious penalty destined for the Wuss 5m line. Sadly the execution was poor, he missed touch, Wuss collected the ball, ran the ball up the field and Beck scored a 5th try for Wuss. The conversion was missed again but it hardly mattered. Just when we thought it was all over, Manu’s restart didn’t go 10. Wuss opted for a scrum on half way which led to a penalty. Wuss tapped, surged into the Sarries 22 and Oli Morris should really have secured a 6th try for Wuss but he knocked on when trying to ground the ball. Christophe Ridley’s whistle was a blessing.
So what to make of that? An entertaining game for a murky Boxing Day afternoon with 14 tries which contributed all the points. For an hour, Sarries were sublime with Alex Goode, enchanter- extraordinaire, pulling the yoyo strings. The whole team seemed to gel – it was like Bath all over again. But with the departure of Aled, Mako, Billy, Maro, Mako, Vincent and most of all Alex Goode, the whole thing fell apart. Ben Earl suggested in an interview that the enforced COVID break had maybe impacted on the team’s stamina. The squad only trained together for the first time in 10 days on Christmas Eve. Maybe. But how much of that excellence was down to Alex Goode? He was Midas today, everything he touched turned to gold. His departure did seem to signal a sea-change. But to me the quality of the bench was just so far removed from those they replaced. Starters – great, finishers – not quite! I doubt if even Goodey, in the form of his life, could have raised the mediocre to the stars. But no doubt he would have tried.
It will have made no impression on Eddie. You see what you want to see. In the words of Roald Dahl “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it”
SARACENS
Malins, Maitland, Lozowski, Tompkins, Lewington (Daly), Goode (Manu Vunipola), Davies (Van Zyl); Mako Vunipola (Barrington), Lewis (Woolstencroft), Koch (Beaton), Itoje (Swinson), Isiekwe, Wray, Earl, B Vunipola (McFarland)
WORCESTER WARRIORS
Shillcock, Hearle (Nanai) (Morris), Venter, Beck, Van der Merwe, Smith, Chudley (Simpson); Waller (Owen), Baldwin (Annett), Tyack (Judge), Batley, Kitchener (Kvesic), Hatherell, Hill, Vailanu (Lewis)
SCORERS
Saracens: (61) Tries: Lewington (2), B Vunipola (2), Goode, Tompkins, Isiekwe, Earl, Malins. Conv: Lozowski (8)
Worcester Warriors (29): Tries: Batley, Venter (2), Simpson, Beck
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Here's hoping for a better 2022!
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2022:01:13:12:06:07 by TonyTaff.
I felt the difference wasn't so much Goode but the speed with which the team recycled and played mainly created by almost every player, from what I could see, stepping in to play scrum-half at one point in the first half. Wuss simply couldn't cope with the speed of the game and a number of players especially Tompkins and Billy rescued some frankly poor passing with exceptional hands to keep try-scoring moves going.
For me it was a day much more about the team than one player. Isiekwe and Wray were rock solid under the restarts. Maro snagged a couple of box-kicks. Koch played brilliantly and his offload under a defender for the tracking Malins try was a thing of beauty. Malins himself looked a handful all afternoon and both centres were excellent with Tompkins relentless physicality and Lozos ice-cool kicking both very impressive. The Vunipolae were immense as ever and I continue to be very impressed by Lewis despite the odd wobble at lineout. I hope he's ok. Ben Earl also had his best game for a while IMO.
McFarland looked excellent when he came on and with Jamie George handling the physio side of things his best mate Daly looked lined-up to take over the nickname the Chiropractor after his thunderous hit on Shillcock.
Yes there was stuff to work on from the second half but Wuss also played some great rugby. All in all and given the preparation time they had that was a job well done.
Innings
Points win matches: tries win hearts and minds.