SARACENS v BULLS: please post match-related comments here
By The Saracens December 4 2024
After a brief and particularly ineffective flirtation with the Premiership last weekend, we now turn our minds to the Investec Champions Cup on Saturday. This season the format is almost as impenetrable as it was last year but I’ll give it a go. The competition is made up of 24 clubs: 8 each from England and France plus the top 8 clubs from the United Rugby Championship (in practice 3 each from Ireland and South Africa and 1 each from Scotland and Italy). Those clubs have been drawn into 4 pools of 6 (2 teams from each of the 3 leagues). Each team plays the other 4, NOT from their league, once - either home or away. The top 4 teams from each League progress to the next round (ie we play 4 matches to eliminate 1/3 of the teams) with the top 2 getting home ties. The 5th placed team drops down to the Challenge Cup and the team finishing last goes home to drown their sorrows.
Sarries find themselves in Pool 3 along with English Champions Northampton (who we won’t play) Castres and Stade from France, Vodacom Bulls from South Africa and our old Irish friends Munster. We start off with a home tie against Bulls (only fair as we had to travel to Northern Transvaal last year) followed by a visit to Paris next Sunday.
Sarries get an 8 day turnaround – and given the dire performance last Friday up at Kingston Park, they will probably need every one of them. Bulls completed a 28-14 win over Connacht at the Dexcom Stadium last Saturday. They are on a decent run of winning 3 of their last 4 away games (their last 4 games have been away from home) and 5 of their past 6 fixtures in the URC putting them in 3rd behind Leinster and Glasgow, both of whom have played 1 game more. Sarries meanwhile have lost their past 2 Premiership games and 3 of their last 6 games in all competitions. Despite the debacle in the frozen north, Sarries are clinging on to 4th place in the Premiership, level on points with Tigers.
Scene set! And so to Saturday. Well it’ll need to be a MUCH better performance. We really lacked leadership and direction last Friday but I would expect Jamie, Maro and Ben Earl to return, any one of whom would have made a difference in Newcastle. Jamie should be able to steady the lineout and the 3 of them should be able to restore our scrum to its new found strength. They will need to be because under coach Jake White, Bulls are a pretty formidable team. Last season, they very much concentrated on winning their home games, often sending a weaker squad to away fixtures but I don’t think we can bank on that this time. The team had a 3 week break prior to the Connacht game. However many of those international players had been away from home for 9 weeks by then – will they have stayed in Europe or will some of them returned home? Fly half Johan Goosen returned from injury last week too.
Last season the South African teams very much concentrated on home ties, often sending weaker squads for the away games. What will they do this season (and given last Saturday’s performance would it matter anyway) so whether we will see some, any or all of the Bulls’ Springboks (Steenekamp, Nortje, Wilco Louw, Van Staden, Arandse and Le Roux to name a few) remains to be seen.
Hopefully Sarries have had a real bonding week and we will see a bit more cohesion from the team. I would expect MMc to go all out and field his strongest possible 15. So something like: Carre, George, Riccioni, Itoje, Isiekwe, McFarland (Gonzalez looked knackered last week) Earl, Willis; Van Zyl (although I’d love to see Simpson or Bracken start – Charlie is featuring on the advertising!), Burke, Parton (I think Segun needs to learn to pass the ball), Tompkins, Cinti (assuming Loz isn’t fit), Elliott, Daly. Hopefully Hartley or maybe our Liam on the bench?
Our referees are Welsh: Craig Evans has the whistle assisted by Ben Whitehouse and Keith David with Aled Griffiths in the truck. Make of that what you will. The forecast looks OK so no excuse for the terrible handling of last weekend. UPDATE: the appropriately named Storm Darragh is on its way so we're now looking at heavy rain and strong winds (oh joy!) Potentially in our favour?
So much will depend on which 2 teams turn up, physically and emotionally. If Sarries are serious about Europe then a big performance is required both this weekend and in Paris next weekend. We CAN do this……..but will we?
SARACENS v BULLS: please post match-related comments here
Posted by: TheSaracens.com (IP Logged)
Date: 04/12/2024 07:51
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:12:19:13:03:14 by Darraghgirl.
Excellent preview! After a barnstorming start to the season I think expectations are probably falling back to where they were before we started. This is a transitional season and we can’t ignore the upheaval that has happened and that is continuing behind the scenes with Mark Thompson gone and Morrow likely leaving for England. Add to that injuries in key positions and we’ve come back to ground with a bump.
I’m certainly ramping back my expectations for this competition, I think we can do it but this isn’t great timing for us. Hopefully Maro, George and Earl feel decently rested and bring the leadership and muscle that was missing last week.
I feel that’s a bit harsh on Roti though, I thought he was one of the few players who could hold their head high after last week. He got isolated but to me that looked like the rest of the team were not providing support, indeed they looked shocked anyone was making any ground! He also won a great turnover in the second half, if the forwards had reacted to the way Carly was reffing the breakdown in similar fashion we might’ve made a better fist of things.
dirtybertie I'm looking forward to the 50mph winds from my seat in the W Club
I think you will be alright as the winds are Westerlies so you should be protected by the stand. It is those in the East Stand that will have the wind in their face. Funnily enough I think the extreme weather conditions are probably a help to the Sarries cause as I can’t imagine the Bulls get a lot of wind on the high veld.
Not sure I will go with the weather forecast as it is, a long walk to the ground in high winds and pouring rain when I can watch it on TV is the dry. Shame its an evening game, makes it even less attractive
I actually rather like 5.30pm kick offs and I expect they are popular with the catering outlets. The lights are normally pretty decent and the atmosphere has often been better. Can still get home at a decent time. I do accept that strong winds and rain are a negative but the very rare visit of the Bulls to North London is sufficient attraction for me to turn out, assuming the A1M remains open!
I too enjoy a 5:30 kick off, means you can still get regular Saturday stuff done and then go to the rugby after. Plus agree atmosphere is generally better
Indeed, we have loads of difficult fixtures one week after the next now (well, maybe not Exeter) and no significant 'rest' period until the 6N:
Bulls (h)
Stade (a)
Northampton (h)
Bath (a)
Bristol (h)
Munster (a)
Castres (h)
With the need for squad rotation and a higher probability of injuries, I guess we may have to select game/s to send a skeleton squad to and rest up the internationals (Earl, Itoje, George, Dan etc). Such is the schedule this year unfortunately.
saracensfan62 Indeed, we have loads of difficult fixtures one week after the next now (well, maybe not Exeter) and no significant 'rest' period until the 6N:
Bulls (h)
Stade (a)
Northampton (h)
Bath (a)
Bristol (h)
Munster (a)
Castres (h)
With the need for squad rotation and a higher probability of injuries, I guess we may have to select game/s to send a skeleton squad to and rest up the internationals (Earl, Itoje, George, Dan etc). Such is the schedule this year unfortunately.
Really looking forward to it despite the predicted weather! I do like the 5.30 kick offs with a nice meal before. I'm bringing an Argentinian mate who owns an Argentinian restaurant in the City and so we are both pleased that both of his fellow countrymen are playing!
Husband is quite poorly and the weather is atrocious so decided not to drive down from Cheshire. So, 3 Tickets for today's game in WU05 - 1 adult - 1 over 65 and 1 under 16. Perhaps someone more local could use them. I assume if given freely that it won't break any ticketing rules. Received by e-mail so hopefully can be passed on the same way.
Helluva shift from many players but Nick I looks to be hitting some really decent form and got through so much work. Willis deserved MOTM but great to see Nick playing so well after everything he has gone through.
I thought that was the best game Fergus has played for us so far. Almost every pass was above his head or at his knees, but never looked flustered, despite missing the sitter. Got his confidence back off the tee, great decision making all round.
Given the conditions and the quality of the oppo I think that was our best performance of the season so far. I also noticed some useful contributions from Nick I. but to be fair I think all the pack fronted up today. Really committed defence in the first half when it was really hard to get out of our own half! With the wind at our backs we were able to turn more field position into points. Thoroughly enjoyable outing on what was a pretty cold and wet evening.
Agree our defence in the first half into a howling gale was very impressive & possibly the decisive factor in the game. You really had to be there to appreciate how much the wind affected the game - even players with the kicking power of Elliot Daly & Willie Le Roux couldn't make any inroads with the boot into the teeth of this. Bulls discipline around the tackle area was non-existent & the only surprise about the first yellow card was that it hadn't been brandished 10 minutes earlier.
Big Nick was very good, shoutout for big Theo who put in a shift, good to see Fergus have one of his best games and big Tom…well…h e just does it week after week. Glad he is my fantasy league skipper
That was better! Couldn't get to the game but paid for the Premier Sport subs so we could watch it and I'm glad it was worth it! Felt we were much more like ourselves, more clinical and ruthless than we've been for a while. Given the conditions, that was impressive in itself. Tom Willis is excellent but have to agree with others, Nick I is starting to come into some very good form.
Looked ominous in the first few minutes but we responded superbly. Whole team played well but Isiekwe and Willis stood out. Jamie back to his best too.
One of those welcome days when belief that we really are a top team is restored.
Good to see Fergus get a couple of difficult kicks after a very poor miss early on even allowing for the conditions.
Really pleasing win that! In recent seasons we haven’t dealt well with either weather or bigger packs but the forwards were magnificent to a man. Echoing the above, Isiekwe was class all match, Jamie and Maro led from the front and I thought Carre was great. His size and carrying is a real point of difference. Our lack of depth at lock is a worry though with the matches we’ve got coming up. Maro will need more games off and Theo is too leightweight for second row now IMO.
I thought Fergus looked a lot better today too, he didn’t let the kicking get him down and eventually nailed one from the touchline which was damn near miraculous and looked a lot more comfortable ball in hand. Still a few times I felt IVZ could've got the ball away faster from rucks, especially in the first half but lovely pass for the Earl try.
Enjoyed the day despite being in the worst seat in the house, my usual spot in the south stand. Stand itself was actually falling apart around us by the end of the game. Half time I rescued a drainpipe that had detached and was flailing about, and about 15 minutes from the end one of the cross-beams at the front of the stand unbolted and fell off. Hope it didn't go any further than that after the match!
It was a great night in which us supporters were back to near our best. Tough European nights seem to suit us. I don’t sit in either North or South but expressed concerns about their safety before the game. Glad nobody was hurt.
The Bard I see Stade have taken a shadow team to Munster so will probably be full noise for us next week…
I'm not so sure. Just one heavy defeat without even a bonus point puts a club at a serious disadvantage in this tournament so, if you have ambitions, you need to be at full-throttle every match.
Looking at the Top 14 table I wonder if SF are prioritising their top-flight survival. French clubs are notoriously single-minded once they've decided which tournament really matters.
Back to yesterday. I drove home just thinking "What....a.....performance"!!! I think it would be unfair to criticise kicks for touch going backwards and other errors when even some simple 5 metre passes were being blown off course. We played the conditions brilliantly, Bulls didn't, simple as that IMHO.
I don't think anyone is criticising the reversing kicks and stray passes too much - there's always a bit of humour in adversity.
Possibly we were a bit slow to switch tactics.
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) and no significant 'rest' period until the 6N: