JUAN HAS FUN IN THE SUN

I wish I could tell you about Alex Goode’s emotional arrival on the pitch, walking through a guard of honour: players past, present and future, holding his 2 little ones, for his 400th cap. I wish I could tell you about the applause for Maro itoje, the new British and Irish Lions Captains. I wish I could tell you about the first half an hour of the match but along with many others, I was stuck on the A1, inching towards Apex Corner, because of a burst water main and the complete lack of any police directing the traffic! Instead we had to rely on some very dodgy commentary from Radio London and a quick catch up on Discovery + once we got home!

So here it is: a bit of a mishmash until half time! Anyway apparently Alex played his first game for the club 17 years ago to the day at Milton Keynes. (A quick delve into the archives tells me it was Richard Hill’s final game and Sarries beat Bristol 25-20 with a late try by Kameli Ratuvou. The BBC report stated: “Debutant Sarries fly-half Alex Goode impressed kicking 10 points.”)

After 4 minutes of play, as we were inching towards the traffic lights, “and he’s got the ball and scored” (that was the standard of radio commentary!) – It transpires Van Zyl took a quick tap penalty and Gonzalez scored under the posts giving Burke a straightforward conversion. After 10 minutes we are still about 10 cars away from the traffic lights when we hear a Sarries penalty gave them a 5m lineout and the rolling maul did its job, helped by most of the backs, Dan coming up with the ball. A much trickier kick for Burke but he nailed it for 14-0.

After 13 minutes we are almost at the traffic lights as Sarries gave away a soft try letting Hearle run from deep onto a pass from Connon and then to Stuart who scored a bit too easily. Connon converted for 14-7. As we finally get through the traffic lights, Sarries won a scrum in their own 22 and Earl, in best Billy style, bulldozed his way off the back and over the line. A tricky conversion from out wide on the right and Burke just missed it.

Finally we get round Apex Corner and now we’re moving. The commentators describe a lost lineout (Sarries I think) and a better scrum, then Goode, Burke and Tompkins combined to set Elliott away down the right wing. A well timed pass to Van Zyl brought the bonus point try inside 25 minutes. Another good kick from Burke and its 26-7.

We’ve made it to Hendon Rugby club: no David to “help” us park so we leave the car on the grass and leg it across the old rugby pitch to the ground. We hear a loud cheer as another successful drive sees Maro score the 5^th try and a lovely conversion out wide from Burke. 33-7

No time for a wee or lunch, I run to my seat just as Sarries seem to have scored a 6^th with some lovely attacking play, a break from Segun and Elliott touching down but the TMO says no – apparently an offside way back at the start of the move. Frustrating. Even more frustrating for Segun who departs for an HIA, not to return however he is replaced by the Angus Hall who has looked like the real deal since his breakthrough into the first team.

Not sure what’s going on here because the dominant Sarries we have been hearing about on our tortuous journey seem to have gone off the boil and for the last 10 minutes it’s all Newcastle who make very heavy work of eventually scoring a try through Lockwood as the clock is 3 minutes dead. So it’s 5 tries to 2 for Sarries at half time: unfortunately the bit I have seen is 1:0 to Falcons! Hopefully that late score will wake them up at half time!

Quick wee, tea and a lemon drizzle and just time to catch the Pope playing tag rugby before we’re off again. And it’s not long before Sarries are back on the roll, this time Tompkins finds Gonzalez who shows a clean pair of heels to a flagging Falcons defence and scores try number 6. Once again a nice conversion from Burke. A few minutes later our Juan’s at it again when a bit of messy ball allows Tompkins to pick it up and Gonzalez scores. To be fair the referee did wave his arm about and I think a lot of the players stopped, thinking some offence had been committed but not our Juan! Play to the whistle boys! Another nice conversion and Juan is off for an early cuppa taking his hat-trick(and probably MOTM) with him and being replaced by Andy Onyeama-Christie. Theo Dan also gives way to Jamie George: another curate’s egg of a performance, great in the loose but a couple of wayward lineouts and a rather insecure scrum.

Another sustained attack from Newcastle which Sarries seem to be defending well including a huge hit from Jamie. Tompkins thinks he’s got an intercept but the Ref blows for a Newcastle penalty. They go for the scrum and although the Sarries boys do much better (instantly looking more secure with Jamie and Christie coming on) Stuart sneaks through and scores a typical scrum half try. An easy conversion for Connon and Falcons have a 3^rd. 47-21

Both sides are now ringing the changes, Sarries swap their 2 props with Crean and Beaton coming on. Sarries have a penalty in the Falcons 22 which goes to touch and the rolling maul once again does its thing, this time for Jamie George. Mr Makepeace is not well-placed to see anything so reverts to his TMO who awards the try. Yet another super kick from Burke, wide out on the touchline.

And now the interesting change: Alex Goode leaves the field to huge applause to be replaced by Tom Willis! Seriously? No this is of course the chance to try Ben Earl at centre. Young Bracken also replaces Van Zyl at 9. Things don’t start too well as Falcons score their bonus point try out wide from Stevenson which Connon converts with the help of the posts. 54-28. Burke departs after a pretty useful stint and some solid kicking to be replaced by former Falcon Louie Johnson for just his 2^nd Premiership start. Daly puts in a long penalty kick to almost 5m and a well-worked lineout move sees Bracken score. Louie’s first kick from out wide is a good one and its now 61-28.

Louie almost lands a 50:22 from his own 22 but it’s a super kick anyway. Elliott makes a lovely break and who should be on his shoulder but back-row-cum-centre Ben Earl who scores in the corner. They aren’t making it easy for young Louie but he lands another cracking conversion. 68-28. With a nifty bit of handling, Earl almost sets up another one for Theo MacFarland but he is just brought down, but the scoring isn’t over. Daly plonks another penalty kick on the money and Willis barges everyone out of the way to score try # 11. Louie makes it 3/3 with another tricky kick and the whistle goes at 75:28.

So lots of fun in the sun. Gonzalez was phenomenal and deservedly won MOTM. Newcastle were poor but you can only beat what’s in front of you. Arguably the defence was a bit shoddy to allow Falcons to score 4, much of that down to a dodgy scrum and a suspect lineout. The second half replacements seemed to do a good job in that area and Willis just made a big difference at 8. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of Ben Earl and he deserves his Lions place but who would you play at 8, Ben or Tom? For me Ben’s a 7! Is Ben a centre? Well he didn’t do too badly today but I’d leave the chap alone. He can still be the best 7 in the world if only he’s allowed to be!

Both our fly-haves had a good afternoon. It was great to see Fergus looking confident and the team going forward. No pressure on Louie when he came on but he looked useful around the field and those conversions weren’t easy. And a quick shout out for the 2 young props, Sam Crean and Harvey Beaton. The scrum was if anything improved when they joined and they will only get better with experience.

So 2 games left. If we are to extend our season, realistically we need to win both with a bonus point. Our 2 future opponents will have their minds on other things: Saints have a European Cup Final to play the week after and Bath will have played a Cup Final the week before and have already got a home semi-final. These things can go both ways: look at what Saints did to Tigers the week before they played Leinster. Bath on the other hand, capitulated to Bristol this afternoon with something like their 3^rd team. Who knows? At least it’s in our hands. We need to win and win well. Keep playing like this and it could just happen.

SARACENS:

Goode (Willis), Elliott, Daly, Tompkins, Segun (Hall), Burke (Johnson), Van Zyl (Bracken); Mawi (Crean), Dan (George), Clarey (Beaton), Itoje, Isiekwe, MacFarland, Gonzalez (Onyeama-Christie), Earl

NEWCASTLE FALCONS

Obatoyinbo, Hearle, Calrk (Spencer), Arnold (Pepper), Stevenson, Connon, Stuart (Davis);  Brocklebank (Rewcastle), Blamire (Fletcher), McCallum (de Bruin), Hawkins (Usher), de Chaves, Lockwood (Gordon), Nield, Chick

SCORERS

Saracens (75): Tries: Gonzalez (3), Dan, Earl (2), Van Zyl, Itoje, George, Bracken, Willis, Conv: Burke (7), Johnson (3)

Newcastle Falcon (28): Tries: Stuart (2), Lockwood, Stevenson; Conv: Connon (4)

Referee: Jack Makepeace

Attendance: 9,204 (many of whom were stuck at Apex Corner)