SARRIES RIDE THE TIGER

If one leaves a rugby match and the prevailing image is of the referee, then it is clear that one of three scenarios has played out: either the referee has had a poor game, or the teams have been under such pressure that the referee had had to play a starring role, or the laws of the game are actually getting in the way of the game.  My eventual thinking after this game is that all three played their part.  The referee failed to impose his authority from first to last, got several important decisions wrong, missed some obvious ones, and was plain wrong in over-ruling his fellow officials’ recommendations in a major one.  The teams were so matched, and played with such intensity, that each side imposed penalties on the other.  The laws of the game are frankly a lawyers’ night-time reading, guaranteed to produce insomnia as well as provide a living for them.  The result: a game to delight the committed supporter but certain to cause a casual visitor to wonder why they bothered. 

The first moment of serious action was during the warm-up routines, when a clash of heads saw Ethan Lewis leave the pitch bloodied and shaken.  Fortunately, Vincent Koch, the other party to the collision, was not injured and was able to start, play like two men in different places at the same time, and deliver one of his best performances.  As the game went on, it was a relief that Tom Woolstencroft was not injured whilst playing, leaving the coaches options at hooker throughout.

Any side that comes to the Stonex knows that a windy day means gales atop the hill in Barnet, and we were to feel that throughout the afternoon, strong, occasionally swirling, and at all times a factor in game management.  Some armchair experts in the stands consider that the side playing with the wind in the first half needs a lead, ten points or sometimes a lot more, if they are to be in front after the second period.  Yesterday, it felt as though that ten-point buffer would be absolutely essential.  Sarries always play into the wind if they win the toss, so we assume that Tigers won the toss and took the first advantage of the wind.

This report in not a blow-by-blow account of the game, but I want to look at three or four key passages of play.  They illustrate three separate aspects of the day’s events rather than attempt to repeat what any reader here will already have absorbed from their morning paper.

The first passage begins with a line-out on three minutes.  Sarries are still digesting the loss of Mako Vunipola with a turned ankle and the team seems unfocussed.  Alex Lozowski, good game by him, has a ‘wind moment’ and the ball goes out on the full.  Tigers throw in, Sarries player jumps across.  Penalty, Ford to the corner, shortened line-out.  Tigers drive, penalty for collapsing, Ford to the corner, line-out. Ball to the backs, Sarries off-side, penalty. Ford to the corner, a bit of a drive, ball out, cover too close, Snyman try, 0-7.  A classic Tigers’ play, exactly what their supporters know and expect.  Sadly, the numbers of Tigers supporters to appreciate this seemed down from those we normally expect welcome on these biggest of match days. 

For the next period, the game runs very much like a swing boat at the fair, one side up, then the other, but nothing to show for it but a lot of pulling and pushing.

The second notable passage begins on 22 minutes.  It begins close to the Tigers’ posts, with a high tackle on Vincent Koch.  An easy three points are on offer, but Alex Goode, wearing the metaphorical arm-band in Mako’s absence, goes for the corner.  The wonderful sight of the everyone-in driving maul, and Tom Woolstencroft scores in his fifth consecutive game.  7-7 and things are good for Sarries on this upswing of the boat.

Almost immediately, a contentious penalty against Sarries for not rolling, one which could equally have been a penalty against Tigers for holding the player in.  Ford misses a relatively simple kick, actually a banker for his standards.  The ball hits the posts, Tigers react, Sarries are slow, and in the scramble go off-side.  Ford is grateful for the second chance, 7-10. 

After all that, with intense pressure by both sides, some very fast and accurate work by Sarries backs puts Alex Lewington into the corner, where he is egregiously followed by opposing wing Murimurivalu, leading with a shoulder and forcing Lewington into the side barrier.  Try awarded, 14-10, penalty restart from the halfway line, converted by Lozowski, 17-10.

Almost at once, Tigers win a penalty, Loz trapped on the wrong side of a tackle, 17-13.  Restart, Maitland takes the ball, off-loads to Tompkins, into the corner, not converted, but half-time reached with a justy-about acceptable 22-13 scoreboard.

The second half opens with a fourth Sarries try, the easiest that Koch will ever score, as he takes an inside centre’s running line and strolls in, untouched, almost under the post.  29-13.

Contentious moment, when the referee confuses Billy’s head with a hand, and awards a knock-on.  I am not a fan of TMO intervention for such things, but we have seen it all too often for it to be excusable that the TMO did not draw the referee’s attention to his error in calling the knock-on.  It leads to another Ford to the corner, line-out, penalty, repeat, repeat, try sequence, 29-20.

On 60 minutes, my third notable passage of play occurs.  Scrumhalf Davies clashes heads on the tackle with Ford.  Davies goes to the bin, perhaps correctly, but Ford, clearly shaken and down, is not removed for an HIA.  He should have been.

Almost immediately, a melée under Sarries post ends with a clear, blatant neck roll on Billy.  Close review by the match officials, the TMO states explicitly that he sees it as deliberate, but the referee decides that he can see mitigating circumstance.  There are none, it is a dangerous, red card offence. 

Sarries close ranks and the Davies yellow card period ends.  Commentator Dallaglio, having lauded Tiger’s best-in-class record of scoring in such periods of advantage, is left ruing that he may be a good commentator, (not to my ears), but that as a prophet he is useless.  Tigers have not scored.

The final ten minutes, tense and committed, are made more lively with a third Tigers driven try on 72 minutes.  Anything might happen, and in this game probably will.  The ‘anything’ is a penalty to Sarries, an all-in drive, and Wolstencroft emerging for his second try. 34-27.

A few moments of tension, final whistle, Sarries have taken five league points, Tigers one.  On balance a fair result.

Nick Tompkins is Player of the Match, it could have been Koch, Billy, Lozowski or Goode.  Mark McCall is on duty, happy to be back, happy with the win.  Erstwwhile Sarries favourites, Borthwick and Wiggy, are greeted by players, coaches and supporters. Borthwick has said in his pre-match interview that Sarries are the best team in the Premiership, and dogging out this win against the runaway league leaders adds weight to that view.

The referee has had a game that he needs to remember and from which to learn.  In this game he was the weakest link in the chain that leads to the development of rugby as something beyond a minority interest. 

Saracens: Daly, Maitland, Lozowski, Tompkins, Lewington; Goode, Davies; Mako Vunipola (capt), Woolstencroft, Koch, Hunter-Hill, Swinson, Christie, Wray, B Vunipola.

Replacements: Segun, Taylor, De Haas, Earl, McFarland, Wainwright, Barrington, Lewis. 

Sin-bin: Davies (60)

Leicester: Burns, Potter, Moroni, Scott, Murimurivalu; Ford (capt), Van Poortvliet; Whitcombe, Dolly, Heyes, Green, Snyman, Chessum, Reffell, Martin.

Replacements: Nadolo, Porter, Wigglesworth, Wiese, Robinson, Leatigaga, Van Wyk, Clare. 

Sin-bin: Murimurivalu (29)

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys (RFU).