Saracens v Bristol Bears Report

I’m sure it was Simon Greenhill, the matchday announcer at sarries who described this game as ‘a lame camel against a wounded bear’, with both teams coming off the back of pretty embarrassing losses the week before and picking up numerous injuries along the way. Bears were nilled by a clinical Sale team at Ashton Gate whilst Saracens were ripped apart by a clinical Bath team at the Rec. But on a bitterly cold and wintery evening at the StoneX, it was Saracens who triumphed in the end with a resounding 36-25 win to mark the 300^th appearance for Jamie George. Despite long periods of possesion and red zone entries, Bristol (unusually for them) failed to convert entries into points, whereas Sarries were clinical and smart all around the field.

First Half

A late kick off, the floodlights were on, the teams had warmed up and Bristol kicked off. It didn’t take long for Saracens to start applying the pressure. After a lovely flowing backs move, Saracens wasted no time asserting themselves. A flowing backs move saw Lucio Cinti sprinting down the wing, only to be brought down just short of the try line. Capitalizing on the momentum, Tom Willis powered over from close range, demonstrating his strength and determination. 5-0 Saracens. Lozowski converted neatly and it was 7-0 after 8 minutes. Perfect start.
Saracens again reapplied the pressure and after some sustained pressure and solid phase play, Fergus Burke found himself with half a yard of space and that’s all he needs. Leaving a Bristol back for dead, he split the bears midfield and raced to dot down. Lozowski duely converted and it was 14-0 on 17 minutes. Just 3 minutes later, it was clear Bristol were starting to find their mojo. After a catch and drive and multiple pick-and-go’s from the forwards, a trademark Harry Randall show and go allowed him to sneak his way over the sarries line to get one back for the bears. Sam Worsley converted and it was 14-7. Bristol continued to apply pressure and after multiple penalties for Bears, a cynical lineout offence from captain Maro Itoje led to a yellow card and yet another chance for Bristol to score and level things up. However, the heroic Wolfpack defence held firm and Bristol knocked on. Chance gone.

Bristol failed to take advantage of the 1 man advantage and Itoje returned to the field. Bears were penalised at the breakdown on their 10m line. Daly stepped up and knocked the penalty over. 17-7 to Saracens. Itoje then made his mark on the game, starting perhaps one of the tries of the season. Intercepting a pop pass from Genge to other prop Kloska in the Saracens 22, Itoje sprinted down the field, selling an outrageous dummy to Jack Bates, who eventually managed to tackle him. Itoje smartly offloaded to Gonzalez who carried into contact. The ball was recycled and passed to Willis on the wing. Showing superb speed and determintation, he first beat Noah Heward on his outside, then escaped Bill Mata’s tackle before carrying through Rich Lane to dot down. Exceptional work from the 8. Surely questions will be asked about Willis in the England team come 6N? I would hope so at least… Half time and Saracens had a commanding 22-7 lead.

Second Half

The second half started with a bang. Sarries had possession around the halfway line and after a smart pick-and-go from Willis taking advantage of the slow Bristol defence, superb hands from Willis and Harry Wilson let IvZ down the wing and he offloaded to Cinti who has pace to burn and raced in to make the score 27-7 to sarries. Lozowski couldn’t  make the conversion but now sarries had raced ahead and, from Bristol’s perspective, were in danger of getting out of sight. Bristol brought on Harry thacker and Kalaveti Ravouvou from the bench – it was clear their intent was to go down with a fight. The impact players made a difference almost straight away for Bristol – Thacker breaking the Saracens defensive line and despite a knock-on, Steven Luatua forced Saracens to hold-on and Bristol were awarded a penalty. Randall tapped and went, dodging and weaving past a couple of defenders and did a long missed past to Ravouvou, who powered through 2 tacklers to score. The conversion attempt from replacement fly half Harry Byrne (new to the Bristol parish I believe) was successful. On 70 minutes Alex Lozowski was able to add a penalty to make the score 30-14 to Saracens. However, 10 minutes later Bristol were in again from a catch and drive, which had looked threatening all afternoon. Sarries were unable to stop Harry Thacker and the score was now less comfortable.
It was not to be for Bristol though as they started to force the play in their own 22 on 76 minutes and Benhard JvR knocked on. Sarries were handed an attacking scrum 20m out from the try line. The ball found Roti Segun who danced past defenders and got just short of the line. Not to worry though, Fergus Burke noticed the absence of a defender on the blindside and acrobatically dived over to confirm the 5 point victory for Saracens – 35-21 and the lead seemingly untouchable. Bristol did however have time for one more try from Jake Heenan – sloppiness from Saracens at the breakdown allowed Bristol a penalty and the chance to kick to the corner in the red. From the resultant catch and drive, Heenan rumbled over with alarming ease it must be said. All the same, the conversion went wide so no LBP for the Bears.

Key Players

Tom Willis is the clear contender here – his power, dynamism in the carry, defensive statistics and allround work rate are phenomenal. If he continues in this rich vein of form, I suspect he will be contender for player of the season.
Fergus Burke demonstrated his skill and prowess – scoring 2 tries along the way. His organisation of the defence and impressive attacking abilities were clear today.
Harry Thacker made an enormous impact from the bench when he came on. His carry led to one of Bristol’s tries and his lineout throwing was generally superb.
A notable mention must go to Harry Byrne. On-loan from Leinster and the younger brother of Ross, he sped up the ball significantly for Bristol in the second half.

Conclusion

A commanding win which was a joy to watch and certainly delivered excitement. It was a relief to see the scrum going from strength to strength and Tom Willis certainly deserved his MotM award. The final score was Saracens 35-26 Bristol Bears. We now jump to 3^rd spot ahead of the Champions Cup break and the 6N break.

Saracens: Daly; Segun, Lozowski, Tompkins, Cinti; Burke, Van Zyl; Carre, George, Riccioni; Itoje (c), Wilson, Gonzalez, Earl, Willis.

Replacements: Pifeleti, Brantingham, Clarey, Sodeke, Michelow, Simpson, Hartley, Hall.

Sin bin: Maro Itoje (25 mins)

Bristol: Lane; Bates, Janse van Rensburg, Williams, Heward; Worsley, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Kloska; Dun, Hodgson, Luatua, Harding (c), Mata.

Replacements: Thacker, Y Thomas, Halliwell, Barker, Heenan, Marmion, Byrne, Ravouvou.

Referee: Matthew Carley