SARRIES IGNITES, CROWD EXCITED

Never having been a great fan of the concept of taking one of the few home games away to a football stadium, I think I was nearly convinced on Saturday that I was wrong all along.  Doubtless, the eventual settling on the Tottenham Hotspur stadium has been a factor in that Damascene conversion.  It really is magnificent, a go-to venue, and I have no problem in acknowledging that some part of the crowd on Saturday went because of the venue.  That would be continuing a long tradition, beginning with the Roman Empire’s insistence that any colosseum should reflect the glory of Rome, the attention to detail that went into the building of the great Spanish arenas of the corrida, or the sheer flamboyance of the Baroque era, whether church, theatre or palaces.  Whatever reason they had for being there, it seemed to me, from afar, that the spectators entered fully into the spirit of the occasion.  Perhaps I should even mention the DJ-ing contribution of James Haskell, continuing the upward trajectory of his post-rugby career with a gig on Saturday that contributed to the overall feel of the day.

I do not suppose that any of the TV pundits, plenty of them, given live feeds of the game on two different sport TV channels, felt very confident when offering forecasts.  Quins had a better first part of the Premiership season, whilst Sarries had definitely stuttered at times.  Both sides are dealing with the announcements of the loss of talismanic players, Owen Farrell and André Esterhuizen, after this season.  Both sides were managing the challenge of re-integrating their returning international contingents.  Add in the genuine hot spices that set the palette tingling when these sides meet.  Dombrandt meets Earl, Farrell meets Smith, to name just two ingredients.  Add in the piquancy of Joe Marler’s regular cameo act of a one-man fight in a phone-box, to round off the feeling of memories about to be made.

There is little point in reciting the play-by-play as events unfolded.  Nobody reading thus far will be unaware of the result, nor of how it was achieved.  Instead, I want to comment on a few aspects that seemed to dictate the flow of the game and to contribute to the outcome of a game that will have some considerable effect on the reminder of the season, for both sides.

Before the meat and drink of play, it seemed early on that Quins re-start tactics were very flawed, and they were certainly to have many opportunities to re-think them.  It is standard that the re-start kicker kicks to the most dangerous ball carrier of the opposition, to take that player out of the counter-attack, forcing the defence to kick for clearance and effectively turn the initiative to the re-starting side. However, if that tactic requires selecting Theo McFarland as target, what return can you expect?  He is superbly athletic as a catcher, always delivers the right option from the take, and frees one of at least two carriers to begin the move out of the red zone.  As Saturday’s options always included Ben or Billy, the constant kicking to Theo was never going to look clever, but the game plan took precedence over playing any sort of option that might have caused the receiving pods to have to re-think exit plans.

In actual play, for me, absolutely first in importance was the clearly defined defensive structure that Sarries employed in the set-piece or when defending against a ruck.  Marcus Smith played extremely flat, a good tactic when receiving clean fast ball, but something like disastrous when scrum-half Danny Care is having to dig and fight for everything he can get.  As a result, Smith found all too often that his options as a distributor had been closed off before the ball arrived, the kicking option nullified by the closing net and running a poor last choice.  As the game went on, it was mystery to me why Smith did not buy time and options by dropping back, giving himself and his line time to do more than simply react to the Wolfpack, hunting faster and more effectively that I have seen for at least a whole season, perhaps more.  Not only did this failure to drop back prevent Smith’s playing the game that could achieve a little something for himself, it pulled Esterhuizen into the one thing that can nullify that formidable 12’s threat.  With the ball and a yard in which to work, a dangerous threat at all times, but receiving the ball static, and welcoming any combination of Nick Tompkins, Ben Earl, Owen Farrell and/or J-M Gonzalez into his rib-cage at the precise same instant is a different story.  Once or twice Esterhuizen did achieve some limited result, but this seemed to be a game in which neither he nor Smith was allowed to appear more than journeyman player.  Neither is, of course, but Sarries’ defensive planning was never questionable when the Quins’ attacking plans were so obviously worked out by the MMC brains trust. 

Many commentators have noted that some of Owen’s best games have been when either Alex Goode or Elliot Daly has been at 15.  Actually, that limiting caveat is rubbish, because I would guess that a large majority of Owen’s games in a Sarries’ shirt have been played with one or the other has played at 15, and sometimes both have been on the field with him.  Nonetheless, a highlight of this game was the sense that Elliot and Owen were completely attuned to the thinking of each other, as was Alex when he came on in the later stages.  Eddie Jones prefers one sort of full-back, and that never produced the sort of all-court display that Daly delivered in this game.  He was sublime under the high ball, always looking to bring other players into the equation, to ensure retained possession, clear the lines or launch an attack out of nowhere.  This duality of thought was enough to mean that Quins were never, in any phase, given the luxury of time, that priceless asset in any top-level sport, to think and plan.  Reaction was the result, rarely conducive to substantial gain.  It occurred to me that the inflated Press ideal of a fullback is always the sort of heroic derring-do of a Mike Brown or Freddie Steward, rarely the second playmaker model like MTC, Alex Goode or Elliot Daly. 

In the centres, for this game, I thought that Nick was bound to find himself in a role that called for the dour infantry mindset rather than dashing cavalry.  Containing the threat of Esterhuizen calls for that, and it was his effect in that role that caused some to feel that he had a quiet game.  Of course he did, HRHRH had quiet games too, but in close quarter work the quiet bayonet of the infantryman is of more use than the lance of the plumed hussar.  Indeed, in this occasion Nick’s work in the down and dirty department was a clear factor in creating many of the broken-field opportunities that freed the cavalry, Lucio Cinto and the wings, to wreak havoc. 

So, the hot spice analysis.  Ben comprehensively demonstrated to Dombrandt where the England shirt is held, and that pretenders are, at the moment, just that, pretenders.  Owen reduced Smith to a contribution that must make the latter’s proclaimed plan to be the best player in the world little more than a delusion. After all, Boris Johnson wanted to be head of the world, and look how that turned out. Only Joe Marler lived up to his billing.  He is part of that cast of characters who enliven the memories of everyone who ever played with or against him or watched him. He is also a flea in every referee’s ear.  He had his regular tussle with himself in a phone-box, buzzed in the referee’s ear, actually a new sort of buzz that was quickly and easily suppressed, and was definitely part of the ‘entertain the punters’ mantra.

And finally, has any game ever reflected so precisely the score-sheet?  Divide the game into nine segments, each of about nine minutes.  Six segments, utter dominance by Sarries, six converted tries.  Two segments, dominance by Sarries but not total, two unconverted ties.  One segment utterly dominated by Quins, one converted try.

Man of the match, Elliot. Or Ben, or Owen, or J-M G, or Theo, or Ivan.  How many Quins would be selected from the two sides to form a joint Sarries/Quins team?

Match officials were there, far less obtrusive than in recent times, and far more demanding that time-wasting be reduced.  All good.

SARACENS: Daly (Goode), Maitland, Cinti, Tompkins, Lewington, Farrell, Van Zyl (Simpson), M Vunipola (Mawi), Dan (George), Judge (Riccioni), McFarland, Tizard (Isiekwe), Gonzales, Earl (Willis), B Vunipola (Christie)

HARLEQUINS Green, Lynagh (David), Beard (Northmore), Esterhuizen, Murley, Smith, Care, Marler (Baxter), Walker (Riley), Collier (Lewis),  Launchbury (Herbst), Hammond, Lewies (Trenholm), Evans, Dombrandt

SCORERS:

Saracens 52: Tries (8) Lewington, Dan (2), Maitland (2), Cinti, Gonzales, Goode. Conv: Farrell (6);

Harlequins 7: Try Dombrandt, Conv: Smith

YELLOW CARDS:  Lewies (Q), Care (Q), Lewington (S) 

Referee: Christophe Ridley 

Attendance 61,214