Newcastle Red Bulls v Saracens Preview
More of this today please
By saracensfan62
September 26 2025
Apologies for the delay in a preview for this week’s game folks. Inbetween moving back to Birmingham, working most nights in nightclubs till late (full of 18 yo freshers who are steaming drunk and sometimes a bit rowdy…) and general bits and bobs, I haven’t really found a huge amount of time to compile a decent preview. Rather a shame given that this is the first ‘proper’ game of the season. Oh well, I shan’t grumble for much longer.
I thought I would give a brief mention to two other items of relevance. The first being last nights match, Sale vs Gloucester at the AJ Bell. What benefit a Thursday night game brings (apart from extra TV coverage I suppose) is still up for debate, but to be honest I had totally forgotten it was happening and didn’t watch it. The second is the rebranding of the gloriously-named English Premiership to the PREM. Whilst I am of mixed opinions on this, it will make it much easier to write/type the name of the competition for people who struggle with spelling.
Onto tonight. Sarries are missing an enormous number of players due to either international standdown, injury or general absence. It seems to be a case of when are players available nowadays compared to when they aren’t. I read through a few of the chats on the Saints Sinners f'book page (call me a traitor for being on it, but they do discuss some interesting topics) regarding player absence and discovered they seemed to have suffered just as much as us with the constant international breaks of last season and thus a lack of cohesion at times. It was comforting to hear we are not alone in suffering the tyranny of constant disruptions!
Breakdown and Rucks - I think much of the game will be won/lost at breakdowns and rucks. We are missing 2 of our peskiest pests at the breakdown (JMG and Ben Earl) so I expect Nathan Michelow and especially Andy O-C to step into their shoes and compete as aggressively as they can. Newcastle are not a team renowned for counter-attacking tries so if we can exploit their potentially weak breakdown, we could enjoy a lot of territory.
Scrums and Mauls – I think we can all agree that scrums and mauls have once again become an area of concern this season. The scrum was solid at Leicester but capitulated badly against a much stronger Northampton pack at StoneX, often getting shoved off our own maul. Both replacement props last Friday had a torrid time, but Tietie Tuimauiga was the main culprit, conceding 3 or 4 penalties before getting yellow carded for his efforts. I found a statistic from last season on, oddly, the Red Bulls homepage – in the first 6 rounds of the competition, our scrum success rate was a mere 78.8%. By this, I mean how much of our own ball we retained at scrums. This was by far the worst out of all teams in the Premiership. Most noticeably we seemed to be collapsing the scrum a lot. Whether Tuimuiga struggled to get into a legal position or not, this cannot continue. I hope the front row of Carre, Dan and Riccioni will stand the test tonight. As for the mauls, well where to start... We conceded 3 tries to mauls against Northampton and it looked like either we forgot how to do it or half the team couldn't be bothered to push. It was men v boys at maultime. Get it sorted sarries!
Bench Impact – I say this, and hopefully it’ll finally click tonight, but tonight’s bench looks like it could make some serious impact later on in the game. We have become a 60-minute team of late, starting really well and then collapsing as soon as the replacements come on. Much like Arsenal, we have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, whereas we used to be so good at edging out games and snatching the win when all looked lost. I do not understand why this unfortunate habit has been the case, on paper we have a bench featuring some seriously physical and strong players. Olamide Sodeke, Charlie Bracken, Noah Caluori to name just 3. The return of Faz might help motivate a few players to buck their ideas up and get on with playing to the best of their ability. Not going to name any names on here, but last season a few names significantly underperformed. Having a leader like Farrell will not only motivate those on the field to perform, but those either as replacements or reserves to up the ante and try and get that starting spot.
Now, onto the teamsheets:
Newcastle Red Bulls
15 Boeta Chamberlain
14 Oli Spencer
13 Sammy Arnold
12 Max Clark
11 Alex Hearle
10 Brett Connon
9 Sam Stuart
1 Murray McCallum
2 George McGuigan ©
3 Luan de Bruin
4 Oscar Usher
5 Jamie Hodgson
6 Cameron Neild
7 Tom Gordon
8 Amanaki Mafi.
Replacements:
16 Ollie Fletcher
17 Adam Brocklebank
18 Richard Palframan
19 Freddie Clarke
20 Fergus Lee-Warner
21 Freddie Lockwood
22 James Elliott
23 Elliott Obatoyinbo.
Saracens
15 Max Malins
14 Brandon Jackson
13 Nick Tompkins
12 Owen Farrell
11 Rotimi Segun
10 Fergus Burke
9 Ivan van Zyl ©
1 Rhys Carre
2 Theo Dan
3 Marco Riccioni
4 Nick Isiekwe
5 Hugh Tizard
6 Nathan Michelow
7 Andy Onyeama-Christie
8 Tom Willis
Replacements:
16 Eoghan Clarke
17 Eroni Mawi
18 Alec Clarey
19 Harry Wilson
20 Olamide Sodeke
21 Charlie Bracken
22 Cameron Hutchison
23 Noah Caluori
Two excellent teams full of talent. Should be an entertaining match, not least it being the first one of the Premiership season but also because these are two teams who were somewhat in the wars last season, both for totally different reasons but nonetheless finished in the bottom half of the table. Enjoy, all those who are travelling or have travelled to geordie land and cheer loud for us!
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:10:08:19:33:51 by Darraghgirl.
Edit: middleage unawareness of rule changes, i still don't like a 20 minute red....
Ninjafez - supporting Sarries and cleaning their signs since 2006!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:26:20:17:47 by ninjafez.
Quote:ninjafez
oh dear.... well at least we have some life after that, almost 80 mins with 14 men 0- we gotta smart'n up pretty quick!
20 minute red, not a full red
We need to actually get the ball and keep it for a bit
Also any chance of them taking a restart from the halfway line rather than 3 yards past it?
Supporting Saracens for over 55 years.
We need to keep the ball more and for longer and the rewards will come.
Scrum looks very powerful.
Decent half. The game is there for us if we can impose ourselves a bit more.
No qualms about the red card. Tbh I’m not sure this is what the 20 mins red was brought in for. Lucky break for us in that regard.
Really hope to see more of that this season
Let’s go!
So far that’s 10 yards conceded for backchat.
And a penalty against for backchat.
Why do we do it. Stop it!
Supporting Saracens for over 55 years.
Quote:#wolfpack1
One thing that absolutely does my head in is our backchat.
So far that’s 10 yards conceded for backchat.
And a penalty against for backchat.
Why do we do it. Stop it!
Ref has not been great tbf.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:26:22:04:07 by TommyKentish.
Attack in the first half was very good at points. We showed intent which was what we’ve been crying out for. I think we need to do it for longer though. Our defence was aggressive but against better teams we can’t over rely on it - we need to impose ourselves more.
Our tempo which was good in the first half, dropped in the second and in places we became a bit directionless. The three tries came from errors really rather than us fashioning anything (whereas in the first half, we created both tries (both very nice tries too)).
We couldn’t really hold onto the ball for long enough.
Our breakdown work needs improving.
Fantastic moment for young Noah.
Scrum really positive all night.
Very decent start. Things to work on.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:26:21:49:03 by #wolfpack1.
Job well done with lots still to work on, but banana skin dodged.
As a first Prem game and as Strangelove says a potential "banana skin" of a game that was a really satisfying performance with obvious improvements and also things to work on.
Well done to Newcastle RedBulls for putting on a cracking evening and good luck to their supporters for the rest of the season (incidentally our after match "twitter/x" post is classless bobbins. Be better Social Media team)
Massively improved ruck speed and the game played at tempo and you get a quality game from Van-Zyl in attack and defence, could easily have been MotM.
Almost 60% of our ball at 3 seconds or under and it had an immediate impact on the attack.
Nick Tompkins too showing the quality we don't get to see when the ball is kicked away before it gets to him. Very satisfying.
I feel for Mitchelow. Obviously trying to make an impact and whilst I think the card was the right call it was a tricky one significantly impacted by an additional Newcastle player joining the tackle and lifting Anyeama-Christie and unbalancing him and Mitchelow.
Huge positives:
Scrum, obviously stiffer tests ahead but those first two 7 man scrums were brutal. Ruck speed. Attacking intent and some of the execution. Lineout accuracy, very good throwing from Dan and takes, mainly from Isiekwe it felt. Very good performances all round. Tompkins and Van-Zyl very impressive. Willis great in attack and defence. Jackson composed before his knock. Calouri looked sensational taking his try. Front row was superb. Carre brilliant in defence in that 20 minute period and then scrummaged brilliantly. Lovely pat-pass from Wilson to help set up one of the trys.
Van-Zyl lead well, excellent to see him just kick the ball off at half time when others were faffing around with it.
Work-ons:
Breakdown. Attacking fluency will take time. Several times we lost the ball as Burke/Malins weren't quite on the same page or the execution was slightly lacking but the ambition was great. As said above we lost direction a couple of times.
Less of please:
Farrell still kicking away attacking ball just outside the opposition 22 with the option to pass in one case to an overlap. It's low % play, lets back our in-hand skills.
Agree about the back-chat and yet a fair bit seemed to be coming from Burke who doesn't have form for it. I think he was maybe unimpressed at coping a couple of cheap shots at clear-outs.
Intrigued by:
Wilson at lock with Isiekwe shifted to 6. Is Wilson just an incredibly strong scrummager or do the coaches prefer Isiekwe at 6 in that instance.
Bristol's visit next week will be a great test of that defence and also interested to see if we continue with the same attacking ambition. Last season the two Bristol games were probably the pinnacle of attacking ambition in the season and were both cracking wins.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:26:22:36:18 by PaulHerox.
And Noah... wow.
Wilson packed down at lock with Sodeke at 6 in the prem cup which I found odd, he must have some shunt.
AOC excellent tonight, ditto most of the backs. Max caught out turning a couple of times as he was at Leicester but he’ll get back up there.
Dream start for Noah, shame for Brandon as he’d had a good game too. Roti is developing into a serious player.
Delighted with the last 79 minutes!
Wasn’t looking forward to next week but definitely now am!
And he’s taken a lot of stick from me and from others over the last 2 seasons, but I thought yesterday’s first 40 was IVZs best for a very long time. His tempo was so much better. He lost his way a bit in the second half in attack, but swept the back field very calmly and neatly in defence.
Quote:Sarriebone
It would be good if Leal actually penalised NRB rather than keep advising them not to do what they're doing or they'll get penalised...
I felt NRB quite lucky to get away with a croc-roll on Riccioni that landed him on his head/neck.
Generally I thought he was ok.
Fantastic work from our defence and whilst Leal obviously had a good view of both groundings to award the NRB trys I thought on another day both might have been given as held up.
Talking about defence how good was Burke. We already know from last season that he is both brave and technically very good but yesterday he twice tackled Mafi 1v1 successfully in the wider channels.
Malins also "survived" Mafis attempts to smoke him in a tackle which also felt like tough stuff.
Good point above by MonaghanBoy about Onyeama-Christie returning to his quality form.
Watching again this morning it is startling how good Van-Zyl was once allowed to play his more natural game. Vital in keeping the attacking tempo up, snipes at the base, limited box-kicking, great defence and good leadership.
As soon as Cinti is back I want to see Burke/Tompkins/Cinti.
Quote:The Bard
Do we know if Brandon passed his HIA? Back 3 was looking thin before last night…
I think I heard on commentary that he'd failed it.
So far Jordan for Bears and Varney for Chiefs look quality signings.
Bears got a very good win against Tigers but look to have lost McGinty, Randall and Ibitoye to leg injuries which would seem a pretty devastating bunch so early on but they still seemed very composed. Stuck to their play style and Jordan stepped seamlessly into 10 and looked great.
It will be interesting to see them at the StoneX next weekend.
I'm hoping for a great game given the quality of our two meetings last season.
I've also enjoyed watching our game again.
How good was Riccioni. Massive shift all around the park, great in the loose in defence and showed up in attack. Hopefully Street is back soon as I feel keeping Riccioni at that level he needs to not be doing 70 minutes a game.
Both he and Isiekwe also really good in calming things down and telling a few of their team mates to chill which was needed.
Both Isiekwe and Tizard put great shifts at the ruck. You only get ball of that speed with a number of players committing to to resourcing rucks quickly and well.
I'm interested to see if we retain the same ambition for next week or if we take a more conservative approach to try and limit Bears. I hope we stick with the former. There will inevitably be teething issues but I think it will be worth bearing with.
Does anyone really think doing another 17 games is worth it.
I think it’s a bit of a theme of rugby at the moment with teams racing into leads then fading. It’s a lot harder now to sit on leads with the way the laws have developed and the game as a whole is better for it.
I haven’t watched it back but I thought there were probably some monstrous performances in the pack that I hadn’t noticed live. Glad to hear Isiekwe is stepping up as a leader, absolutely love him.