AT LEAST THE SUN SHONE

At least it was warm and the sun shone. I’m not sure what else I can say about our first home game of the season. I had hoped for a better showing than last week at Coventry. I didn’t see that game so it’s really hard to make a comparison, but this week’s offering was pretty dire. Take nothing away from Gloucester. They brought a talented spirited young team who played for 80 minutes whereas our guys seemed to leave their mojos in the dressing room at half time.

Sarries made several changes to their starting 15 with Loz coming in as captain, Lewington and Parton starting in the back line, Davis getting a start at scrum half, and some new names in the pack: a new front row (Crean, Woolfie and Hoskins), Isiekwe joining Hunter Hill at lock and Tom Willis starting at 8. Alex Goode, Ivan Van Zyl, Rotimi Segun, Christian Judge & Kapeli Pifileti were the experienced names on the bench.

Our referee was Adam Leal, a man with premiership experience but crucially, I felt, no TMO so it was all down to him – or not as the case may be. In some ways the lack of an interfering Claire Hodnett was a pleasure but high tackles went unpunished, rucks were a total mess and as for the scrums …….

It all started pretty well although Callum Hunter-Hill could have scored from the kick-off following a charge down but he seemed to lumber towards the line in slow motion, the ball bobbled as he tried to gather it and bounced into touch. Still all was not lost as a couple of minutes later Harris & Davies combined to get close and the pack somehow got the ball over with Tom Willis claiming the try. Manu converted and the score was a healthy 7-0.

We then had a series of scrums, none of which I think was completed. Gloucester seemed to get the better of the scrum penalties but Sarries got one too. This sort of sequence generally reflects more on the referee than the forward packs! After 20 minutes Gloucester’s Academy winger Jake Morris scored a try from a line out without too much interference from Sarries. George Barton missed the conversion (in fact it was just as well he didn’t have his kicking boots on otherwise the final scoreline would have looked even worse than it did).

Sarries were unable to take advantage of a penalty kick deep into the Gloucester 22. The maul went nowhere and Gloucester cleared. Tom Parton seemed to have dislocated a finger – we felt his pain as the physio put it back and strapped it up. Perhaps surprisingly he stayed on the pitch. Sarries got a penalty from the scrum lottery and Crean lobbed a lovely inside pass to Isiekwe who charged for the line. Nothing was stopping him, least of all the 2 Gloucester backs who were swept out of his way. An easy kick for Manu and the score was 14-5. Crean was behind another promising break when Loz passed 1 handed to Lewington but he was pushed into touch on the line by a determined Gloucester defence.

Another attack by new boys Parton and Willis once again ended in a Gloucester penalty. Sarries disagreed and Mr Leal marched it forwards 10m. When will they learn? The half ended with another Sarries maul and another turn over. Still a promising first half and the prospect of more to come.

We were wrong. Gloucester took Hathaway off (who had been in the wars quite a bit) and replaced him with debutant Ioan Jones. It appeared Sarries thought the job was done and didn’t bother to turn up for the 2^nd half which resulted in a Gloucester try when Louis Hillman-Cooper broke from his own half, ran, unchallenged through a number of Saracens, and scored his side’s 2^nd try although Barton couldn’t add the extras.

It was a sign of the times when Manu decided to kick the points from the next penalty to give Sarries a 17-10 lead. It didn’t last long – another Gloucester penalty at the scrum produced a line out and Jack Clement burst from the back straight through everyone and over the line. Barton converted this one and the sides were level.

Sarries created a rare scoring chance with a nice chip ahead by Loz (and a tackle off the ball which went unnoticed). Harris was out wide but when the unsympathetic chip came it was slightly too far ahead of him and he knocked on over the line before he could ground the ball. Sarries kept the pressure on Gloucester but the passing left a bit to be desired. They were rescued by a Gloucester error and Manu kicked another 3 to put Sarries back in the lead 20-17.

McCall began to ring the changes: Goode for Parton, Van Zyl for Davies, Judge for Hoskins. Sadly not much changed. Isiekwe, who seemed to be “forwards Captain” was having a lot of exasperated chats with Mr Leal. Gloucester changed most of their front row and Sarries won a scrum penalty. Any respite was temporary though because Mr Leal didn’t like a Sarries’ lineout giving Gloucester yet another penalty (to the incredulity of an increasingly bemused crowd). The outcome was a 4^th Gloucester try scored by Blake from the back of the maul (Gloucester showing Sarries how its done). Barton converted to give the visitors a 20-24 lead.

Segun replaced Harris and Samson Adejimi replaced Knight. Sarries wasted another opportunity with a wonky lineout. Gloucester messed up a free kick to give Sarries another chance but this time the line out was lost. Pifileti replaced Woolfie. None of the officials noticed a Gloucester player blatantly coming in from the wrong side (summed up the officiating really) and as the clock wound down it was Gloucester who had the final say when Matty Jones, the replacement scrum half, off-loaded to Barton and he scored unopposed. The conversion was missed but the game was over and Gloucester deservedly took 5 points with a 20-29 win while once again Sarries came away empty handed.

So yet again the scrum was second best. Whatever we think of the officials, Gloucester played them better, especially in the set pieces. This has to be a worry for the management: 5 of the Gloucester pack are Academy guys so it wasn’t exactly their strongest offering. I thought Crean had nice hands but was less impressed with Hoskins. The half-back pairing was once again ponderous. Manu doesn’t seem to be able to put any pace on the game or even get the backs involved. Poor Segun might as well have sat in the stands: he was desperate to use his speed against his opposite number but only got his hands on the ball when he went into midfield to get it. Sarries weren’t able to find any width and the backs made little if any breaks, unlike the Gloucester lads who look consistently dangerous. The maul was largely unproductive and Gloucester found it pretty easy to turn the ball over.

They say winning is a habit, but then so is losing. Sarries might not be overly bothered about the Premiership Cup but the first league game against Exeter isn’t that far away and an awful lot of work needs doing before then. So not the best of afternoons: but as I said, at least it was warm and the sun shone.

SARACENS

Parton (Goode) Harris (Segun), Lozowski, Hartley, Lewington, Vunipola, Davies (Van Zyl); Crean (, Woolstencroft (Pifileti), Hoskins (Judge), Hunter-Hill, Isiekwe, Michelow, Knight (Adejami), Willis (Wardell)

GLOUCESTER

Dunn, Hathaway (I Jones), Hillman-Cooper, Llewellyn, Morris, Barton, Englefield; Ford-Robinson (McArthur), Socino (Blake), Knight (Fasogbon), Clark (Ludlow), Jordan, Thomas, Donnell, Clement

SARACENS (20) Tries: Willis, Isiekwe; Conv: Vunipola (2); Pen: Vunipola (2)

GLOUCESTER RUGBY (29): Tries: Morris, Hillman-cooper, Clement, Blake, Barton; Conv: Barton (2)

Referee: Adam Leal