UP WHERE WE BELONG

A game of rugby lasts for 80 minutes and if this team we support ever turned up for the full monty, they’d be a pretty decent outfit. As it is, they play for 40, sometimes 50 minutes: rarely the first 20 and sometimes not the last quarter. Today’s game followed a similar theme. As it turned out around 50 minutes was enough against a determined Irish team who ran out of puff after an hour.

We started with the National Alert – apparently. We were told the sound of nearly 10,000 mobile phones going off simultaneously at precisely 3pm would drown out everything else. Really? Mine went off at 2.59 and had I not been looking at it I wouldn’t have heard it, or indeed any others, above the roar that greeted Owen Farrell and co running onto the pitch. (God forbid there is a national emergency during a rugby match!) A late change saw Ben Harris replace Roti Segun on the bench. Irish were having to manage a month without a game while Sarries were managing tired bodies and injuries at the end of a long season to be ready for big stuff yet to come. Irish have been a bogey side for Sarries since their return to the Premiership with the home side’s only victory of late coming in the Challenge Cup last season. Sale’s 4 point win over Gloucester yesterday meant Sarries needed 2 points from today’s encounter to ensure they finished on top of the table.

The weather was near enough perfect: the rain had stopped, the sun was peeping out, there was a gentle breeze. Sarries were going for an unbeaten season at home in the Premiership (last home defeat was against Gloucester in January 2022). Having said that Sarries had lost their last 2 games so needed to regain some momentum.

Irish started strongly winning an early penalty and then a scrum penalty on Sarries’ put in which resulted in 3 points. Faz then put the restart straight out! It was all Irish so far, Sarries wasteful of what little possession they had. Jennings found a wonderful 50:22 and the big Irish forwards surged at the line with Rogerson seeming to score. Referee Leal referred it to the TMO but the try was awarded, Jackson kicked the extras and Irish had a handy 10-0 lead after 15 minutes.

Irish could have repeated the move again a few minutes later but Sarries escaped with an obstruction. As we entered the 2^nd quarter we saw the first crack in the Irish defence when Loader dropped a high ball but Dan’s lineout throw wasn’t straight and the momentum was back with the Irish.

We saw the first signs of the sleeping lion waking up when Loz burst into the Irish 22 then Maitland made a break down the left wing. Earl led some good Sarries’ pressure and Faz decided to take the points having politely queried a high tackle by Simmons on Tompkins. Breaking their duck seemed to galvanise Sarries. They secured their line out after a superb kick from Jennings pinned them deep in their 22, Ben Earl won a penalty at the breakdown and from the lineout, the forwards took the ball close, a Maitland belly-flop kept the attack going and finally Malins scooped the ball up and seemed to score under the posts. The TMO decided to check the grounding – not dissimilar to a try awarded a couple of weeks ago but this time not given. Malins looked exasperated. Faz kicked another penalty for 6-10. Suddenly we were seeing the real deal from Sarries as if a switch had been flicked and they’d all gone up a couple of gears while Irish began making errors. Tompkins knocked on but for some reason Simmons picked Tompkins up and dumped him which encouraged Mr Leal to give Sarries the penalty rather than Irish the scrum. Sarries failed to take advantage though and Irish cleared. As the clock went dead, Ben Earl broke down the wing and found Alex Goode inside him. Goodey wasn’t going to miss that and touched down for Sarries’ first try. To us, there seemed to be a clear knock on midfield but the officials decided it was a knee not a hand and the try stood. Faz kicked the extras and Sarries went in for half time 13-10 up.

The half time entertainment consisted of some rather embarrassing dancing and an obstacle race run by oversized Disney characters and won by Olaf the snowman. And so to Part 2. Tizard was on for Hunter Hill (who failed an HIA). Sarries carried on from where they left off. Simmons was again at fault when a high tackle on Theo Dan resulted in his 5^th yellow card of the season. Sarries attacked the try line and although the forwards couldn’t do the business, the ball came out wide to Maitland for an easy run in. Faz seemed to have put his time off to good use as his kicking today was excellent and once again he landed the extras to take the lead out to 20-10.

Irish took Creevy off which didn’t seem to bother them when they won a scrum penalty 7 v 8! Another penalty conceded allowed Paddy Jackson to kick 3 points. Henry Arundell replaced Ollie Hassell-Collins (who had been well marshalled all afternoon). Sarries conceded another penalty after a huge hit by Fa’aso’o on Tizard, then were marched forward 10m after Mr Leal objected to Owen’s query (which didn’t seem unreasonable given the size of the hit). Jackson kicked the points again and as Irish were back up to 15 the score was now 20-16. Perhaps a little strangely, that was Fa’aso’o’s last action as he was replaced by Cunningham South. Api Ratuniyarawa was also replaced by Chunya Munga. The change in personnel produced a Sarries’ penalty at the next scrum. Owen found a lovely touch and Sarries looked to have set a good lineout drive but Irish managed to conjure the turn over and a scrum 5m out. Once again Sarries won a penalty, this time on an Irish put in (from our vantage point pretty much in line it looked like we collapsed it but heyho). Owen took the points to restore a 23-16 lead.

An accidental head on head involving Riccioni allowed Earl to steal the ball and make a lot of ground then Maitland kicked ahead after a lovely little pass from Goode but although Pearson fielded the ball, he was isolated and conceded the penalty. Owen went for the corner and this time the catch and drive, joined by Maitland and both centres, wasn’t stopping, allowing Theo Dan to score Sarries’ 3^rd try. Owen again converted from out wide and Sarries now had a 30-16 lead. More changes with the delightfully named Lovejoy Chawatama replacing Ollie Hoskins and Eroni Mawi replacing Mako. Earl kicked the ball down the right touchline, fortune favouring the brave, the ball hit the corner flag and bounced into touch. Isiekwe stole the lineout and with his first touch, Mawi scored. Faz made his only error off the tee with the kick hitting the post. Still 35-16 with 15 minutes to go looked good – surely the come-back kings of all come-back kings couldn’t come back from this.

More changes saw Judge replace Riccioni, de Haas replace Van Zyl and for Irish, O’Sullivan replaced Ben White, Haffar replaced Fischetti and Gonzales came on for Pearson. Sarries’ scrum was now totally dominant. Jennings conceded another kickable penalty, taking Loz out off the ball, and Faz obliged for 38-15. More changes saw Theo Dan depart after another decent performance, to be replaced by fit-again Ethan Lewis, and Ben Harris replaced Sean Maitland.

A rare Irish attack was ended by who else but Ben Earl. Toby Knight replaced isiekwe and Hartley came on for Malins. Yet another Sarries penalty went to the corner. From the lineout, some lovely passing from Faz popped on by Earl almost put Loz over in the corner but the ball was recycled via Maro to Mawi for his 2^nd try. Owen kicked the extras for 45-16, home and dry. Irish scored a late consolation try when Willemse scored in the corner from an Irish lineout but it was too little too late.

So Sarries did the job in the end and confirmed top spot, at the same time denying Irish  a place in the semi-final and opening the door for Northampton to come down the M1 to the StoneX in May. Once they got themselves going there was no stopping them and they recorded their 9^th bonus point home win of the season (scoring 49 out of a possible 50 points – only Bristol Bears denying them a try bonus at home this season). Farrell was the official MOTM but for me Ben Earl was superb again and Nick Isiekwe wasn’t far behind him. But I guess Owen is the driving force behind this team, the beating heart of Saracens.

We were critical of the referee at the game although he did come across a bit better when I watched it on TV. I’m not sure Faz agreed though, he seemed to get pretty frustrated with Mr Leal and was very diplomatic in his interview after the match so perhaps my initial thought that the man in the middle was actually Jack Nowell on week 1 of his refereeing course was fair enough. Credit to Dean Richards the TMO though who seemed to me clear, appropriate and mostly correct.

No game next week (although I suspect it’ll be a full week at the training ground) before the final round of the regular season with a trip to The Rec. I think we’ll play a strong team again (please look after Ben Earl!) to try and combat the slow starts and put the team in just the right place for the visit of Northampton Saints (lest we forget what they did to us 10 years ago).

SARACENS:

Goode, Malins (Hartley), Lozowski, Tompkins, Maitland (Harris), Farrell, Van Zyl (De Haas); M Vunipola (Mawi), Dan (Lewis), Riccioni (Judge), Itoje, Hunter-Hill (Tizard),  Isiekwe (Knight), Earl, Wray.

LONDON IRISH

Loader, Cinti, Van Rensburg, Jennings, Hassell-Collins (Arundell), Jackson, White (O’Sullivan); Fischetti (Hafar), Creevy (Willemse), Hoskins (Chawatama), Ratuniyarawa (Munga), Simmons, Rogerson, Pearson (Gonzales), Fa’aso’o (Cunningham-South)

SCORERS:-

Saracens (45);  Tries: Goode, Maitland, Dan, Mawi (2); Conv: Farrell (4); Pens: Farrell (4)

London Irish (21):  Tries: Rogerson, Willemse; Conv: Jackson; Pens: Jackson (3)

Attendance 9,701

Referee: Adam Leal