SARACENS AVOID BATH CHAIR

It is not easy to write up a match like yesterday’s.  No TV to record a replay from which to gather a coherent picture, and most of the game itself watched whilst hiding behind hands covering the face, and behind the proverbial sofa.

During the warm-up I watched Johann van Graan.  He spent most of the time on his side’s 10-metre line, back to his players and coaches, intently watching the Sarries forwards going through their drills.  Most coaches, DoRs and the like claim that their sole focus is on their own players, their own game plan.  Was this Mr Van Graan’s first visit to the Stonex and he wanted to see the mountain that his team was about to try to climb?  I have no idea, but just to see him watching so intently was itself an interesting study, just a lone figure, standing very still, impassive.

It was clear from the moment that I arrived high in the East Stand that the wind was going to play a significant part in today’s game.  It seemed at times to be blowing straight along the stand, but doing something quite different if one looked at the flags over the North and South Stands.  Rain had been forecast earlier, but that seemed unlikely to arrive, as indeed proved the case. 

Why are away kits so drab this season?  I thought that Tigers’ kit was designed to attract the attention of any passing dung beetle, but the Bath choice of anonymous grey, with a blue hint, made worse by the decision to print player’s name in anonymous blue with a hint of grey, was every bit as dreary.  If rugby is in the entertainment industry, let’s see some decent strips, home and away.  When it’s almost impossible to read the players’ names it makes it difficult to relate to them as people.

It seemed that Bath won the toss and elected to play into what seemed to be the general direction from which the wind was coming.  Sarries kicked off, anyway.  The first ten minutes were harum-scarum stuff, an opportunistic 7-0 to Sarries after four minutes, Alex Goode and Farrell obliging, 7-7 after less than ten.  A pattern was beginning to emerge.   It seemed that Bath were setting out for an afternoon in which they would press and contest every last scrap, at speed and with intent.  And for the entire game it was to work for them.  I have rarely seen Sarries so out of sorts, so harried by a side supposed to be short on confidence and themselves so lackadaisical in basic execution of routine skills.  Turnovers, knock-ons, missed tackles, line-out malfunctions were there for all to see, and Bath were plundering at will.  It has to be said that Sarries were not far behind in this aggressive defence, so that the game was scarcely able to flow.  Phases tend to fizzle out, either by unforced error or defensive pressure.  I would guess that the number of five-phase plays was close to a record low for this competition.

If most play was disjointed, I have to admit that I was impressed by a new Bath backs combination.  Ollie Lawrence has been a stand-out player throughout his progression at Worcester Warriors.  Bath signing him as short-term injury cover, taking one look and immediately offering him a full contract may turn out to be one of the smartest in-season signings ever made. Not only is he an exceptional thirteen himself, but he has established an instinctive rapport with his wingers, especially Cokanansiga.  At times they seem to think as a single unit, a dangerous thought for opposition players, when both have speed, handling skills and over 100 kgs apiece. Some options have opened for Bath, with succession to Jonathan Joseph apparently and fortuitously secured.  One day Eddie Jones may rue his constant attempts to build a team around a player more often injured than fit, when he could have done more to bring on a player like Lawrence.

After the opening exchange of tries, penalties became the only means of scoring.  One was for Matt Gallagher, looking like the successful development of the prospect whom we used to see at intervals in a Sarries shirt some time ago, three for Owen Farrell.  Half time at 16-10 was a fair indication of how the game had gone for the teams, four penalties to two tries reflecting the way in which it had gone.  Certainly not good enough by Sarries and a considerable improvement by Bath over all their previous games this term.

I cannot say that the second half offered any great improvement in spectacle or achievement. Max Malins opened the Bath defence with a try of great skill, helped by some Bath indecision, but as in the first half, Bath immediately replied, this time a fast move in which the centres sliced through the Sarries defence, ending with a crisp interchange of passes that gave Cokanasiga an easy dot-down. 

Soon after Ben Earl had come on, Bath’s Scotland prop, D’Arcy Rae, was trudging off.  If Ben Earl had not been judged to have altered his running line, there would have been red, but the slight change of direction mitigated the shoulder to Earl’s chin into a yellow card offence.  It was costly, with Elliot Daly scoring from the ensuing penalty and Alex Lewington crossing within minutes after him.  It was costly ten minutes.

With clear water between the crews, Sarries had but to hold their game together, but it was not turning out to be that sort of afternoon.  Ojomoh scored as almost his first act after coming on as a substitute. Lawrence had a try, but it was disallowed after a call-back by the TMO for a knock-on by back-rower Schreuder in the turnover that set the Bath line free.  However, with time running down, sustained pressure on the Sarries line eventually saw another South African, Wesley White, take Bath to within eight points.  The conversion took it to within six.

I don’t know about the kitchen sink but for the remainder of the game Bath certainly threw everything into seeking the score that would end their losing run, as well as ending Sarries winning run, and upsetting the apple-cart at both ends of the table.  It was to come to nothing, Sarries holding on, with one remarkable play to round off the spectacle.  Two Bath players, line within their easy reach, only Farrell to beat.  How he pin-pointed one player and mesmerised him into failing to pass is a mystery, but that was the outcome, tackle, rip backwards, gather, get up, hold on until support arrives.  It was an outstanding individual play, saving the game, Sarries lead and table-topping position.  In the crowd, we liked it.  Bath will look on that moment and wonder.

All in all, not one person would have been surprised of Bath had won.  Sarries were out of sorts, low on apparent energy at times, and Bath wanted the victory, with an intensity that was evident in their every action.   It is not for me to name the man of the match, traditionally going to a player from the winning side. If that has to be the case, I’d name Eliot Daly, but my less traditional eye says that Lawrence was by a country mile the outstanding performer on the day.

At this absolute moment, I have no idea of who is where in the table.  Warriors results, Wasps results, some teams may have played five games whose results will stand, some may have played only three.  This is a sad time for rugby, not what we commit our weekends to supporting.  Will any other club now go to the wall?  Will one be culled whether they can afford to stay in the game or not?  Will we see a ten club Premiership, ring-fenced for many years to come?  Would that mean four in the southern part of the M5 corridor, three in London, two in the East Midlands and the rest of the country served by one each in Suburban Manchester and Newcastle respectively? Can’t be, that’s eleven, so who goes?  Logic says it should be one of the southern M5 clubs, but who will decide which it should be? Exeter, Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, would you like to choose?  Should one club be a franchise in Yorkshire, or Lancashire?  Our game is messy and it will get worse before it recovers.  If the RFU and PRL are left to sort things out, it may never recover.

And by the way, I thought Luke Pearce had a good game in trying conditions.  `but wouldn’t it be nice if players could shut up and get on with playing instead of bending the ears of the referee and every other official in sight?

Saracens: Goode; Malins, Daly, Lozowski, Lewington; Farrell, Van Zyl; Mawi, Pifeleti, Riccioni; Itoje, Tizard, McFarland, Wray, B Vunipola.

Replacements: Dan, Flynn, Judge, Christie, Earl, de Haas, M Vunipola, Hallett.

Bath: Gallagher; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Redpath, McConnochie; Bailey, Schreuder; Schoeman, Dunn, Stuart; Attwood, Roux, Bayliss, Reid, De Carpentier.

Replacements: Annett, Cordwell, Rae, Lee-Warner, White, Carr-Smith, Worboys, Ojomoh.

Referee: Luke Pearce.