Saracens to win Toulouse to lose
By The Saracens
January 12 2026
This isn’t quite the report I expected to write . I expected I would be watching some of the greatest rugby players in Europe putting on a showpiece. I thought I would be exhilarated by their skill, their power, their passion. I believed I wouldn’t care about the result but be happy to immerse myself in the sheer delight of watching rugby played at the highest level
Well I did all that - except most of the superlatives came from Saracens (and I did care very much about the result!)
Let me apologise now for the lack of detail in this report but when you sit in the front row of the East stand and the rain is horizontal, your note pad quickly becomes papier mache. So this is largely from memory, more an impression than a match report, from an incredible day.
It didn’t start too well. Sarries presumably lost the toss as they started the match with a strong wind behind them. Nevertheless it was Toulouse who came out of the blocks fastest. Sarries were hanging in there, showing a lot of courage and fight, but it was only a matter of time before the dam was breached. We witnessed R1 of Willis v Willis with Willis senior making sure his younger brother knew who was boss. Inevitablly Toulouse scored when Kinghorn found a hole in the Sarries defence to score under the posts and give the clinical Ramos an easy conversion. Oh well, that’s what we expected. But Sarries hung in there and scored with their first venture into the Toulouse 22. Theo Mc charged down a kick from DuPont into the strong breeze and eventually Segun scored in the corner. Burke couldn’t land the extras from the touchline but a much healthier score. It could have been even better when Willis junior carried superbly from the kick-off, Burke kicked ahead and Loz got there first but the ball bounced unkindly for him and he knocked on as he tried to touch down. Loz made amends with a lovely dummy which saw Segun score his 2nd. An easier kick for Burke to make this time and he duly obliged to put Sarries in the lead for the first time. Apparently it was almost half time (the clock, low down in the corner, was totally obscured from our viewpoint and no timings shown on TV screen. Yet again the poor old spectators left out in the cold). Sarries were feeding off their success and junior Willis scored a 3rd try (to get the edge over his brother). Once again the conversion missed but 17-7 at half time was beyond our wildest dreams.
HOWEVER the weather was getting worse - driving rain had now joined the fresh breeze, and Sarries would have to play into the wind in the second half. We weren’t confident but we were happy with what we had seen. After some strange business with a lot of zorbing (not sure what the point of it was) the game restarted and Toulouse as expected scored again, this time through Lebel with Ramos landing a superb touchline conversion. A 3 point lead looked far too slender but Sarries were up for a fight. Despite getting on the wrong side of Signor Piardi and conceding a lot of penalties, the bridge was held and Toulouse were repelled. And they were rattled. Handling errors came in. Penalties went over the dead ball line. Restarts went straight out. Carre replaced Mawi and instantly the scrum started winning penalties instead of conceding them. Faz replaced Loz and we saw the Faz of old that rallied the troops and steadied the ship. Bracken replaced Van Zyl and his pace around the scrum seemed to bother even the great Monsieur DuPont promptly moved himself to outside half). Sarries won a penalty which Faz prudently kicked extending the lead to 6 points. Still not enough we felt. As the rain got heavier, French hands fumbled while Sarries caught everything. How frustrating to have no idea how long was left on the clock. Encouragingly play was now in the Toulouse half, edging ever closer to the 22. Mr Pinardi seemed to have awarded Sarries a penalty but play continued and Sarries seemed to be trying to keep the ball. Little DG said – “I think the clock is nearly dead” and as she spoke the hooter sounded. Someone got the ball back to Burke who booted it into the East stand.
What a result. The whole team looked ecstatic as were we. Almost unbelievable- a team unrecognisable from last week’s shambles. Chapeau to Jamie George and Marcus Street who scrummaged for 80 minutes against a huge French pack and were winning penalties at the end. Itoje was back to the giant of old. Tom Willis (who else) won the battle of the Willis boys and the Man of the Match. How on earth are we going to manage without him?
It doesn’t end here. Next week will be an even bigger ask away to the group leaders, Glasgow but with everything to play for (a top place finish, while unlikely, is not impossible). It will be a huge game but after today it could just be you! Just goes to show what happens when you believe.
It’s a long time since I felt like this watching Sarries but it’s worth all the bad times when you feel this good and as I lie in my hot bath writing this report and finally able to feel my toes again, I have never felt so good, soaked to the skin.
Saracens: Daly, Caluori, Lozowski (Farrell), Hartley, Segun (Malins), Burke, Van Zyl (Bracken); Mawi (Carre), George, Street, Itoje, Tizard, McFarland, Gonzalez (Earl), T Willis (Onyeama-Christie)
Toulouse: Ramos, Delibes (Graou), Costes (Vigneres), Chocobares, Lebel, Kinghorn, Dupont ; Ainu’u (Bertrand), Marchand (Mauvaka), Aldegheri (Mallez), Flament, Meafou (Brennan), J Willis, Jenlonch (Elias), Roumat (Banos)
Scorers:
SARACENS (20) Tries: Segun (2), T Willis; Conv: Burke; Pen: Farrell
TOULOUSE: (14) Tries: Kinghorn, Lebel; Conv: Ramos (2)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Iita)
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:01:19:15:22:47 by Darraghgirl.
Felt Bracken coming on and injecting that pace was a key to the last 20 mins
Hartley , Street , Carre and Segun some of the lesser names and were outstanding. Obviously big Tom was immense as wss Maro.
A great result but means nothing if we dont back it up next week..
Shout out to Tizard who also tackled his heart out against a world class and massive second row, second most tackles and led with three dominant tackles- that’s who we want to see against Meafou and Flament!
Maro was a colossus as was Willis. Theo M charging down Dupont for the first try was great. Still not convinced by IVZ but one of his better games but I thought Bracken was superb off the bench and the confidence of the coaches to bring him on in a game that important with it in the balance 53 mins is great news.
Burke was excellent and I thought facilitated by a great midfield of Hartley and Loz (two beautiful assists for the latter) who overshadowed a vaunted combo of Chocobares and Costes. Burke was able to make so many line breaks, his pace genuinely scared them and he was third biggest carrier behind Segun and Willis. And it demanded that Faz came on at 13 to continue that set up.
Segun was superb, just made metre after metre, thank God he got up after his first try when we all thought he’d done the usual. Noah I thought had a really mature game in defence bundled a lot of players out of touch and we still need to stop being surprised when he actual takes a kick off and take advantage of it unlike this time getting turned over and Bath throwing an intercept pass.
One of our great European nights. To bring it done a notch and less of an Adrenalin filled comment we need to figure out how to bring close to that level of intensity each match.
That was top level and we can’t reach the heights every week but we need that level fight back. It was brilliant to see, like Gustard had brought wolves in midweek or something!
Quote:JK12
Weather was horrendous i was glad i was ill so couldn't make it.
Felt Bracken coming on and injecting that pace was a key to the last 20 mins
Hartley , Street , Carre and Segun some of the lesser names and were outstanding. Obviously big Tom was immense as wss Maro.
A great result but means nothing if we dont back it up next week..
"I was glad I was ill so I couldn't make it" Might be one of the strangest posts I've seen on this channel. Might be the best live win I have witnessed at Allianz / Stone X. Barely felt the rain and was standing on halfway and hour and a half before kick off.
Quote:Agree wholeheartedly with this. Drenched through but barely noticed. The atmosphere was the best it’s been in a long time toojimfitz12Quote:JK12
Weather was horrendous i was glad i was ill so couldn't make it.
Felt Bracken coming on and injecting that pace was a key to the last 20 mins
Hartley , Street , Carre and Segun some of the lesser names and were outstanding. Obviously big Tom was immense as wss Maro.
A great result but means nothing if we dont back it up next week..
"I was glad I was ill so I couldn't make it" Might be one of the strangest posts I've seen on this channel. Might be the best live win I have witnessed at Allianz / Stone X. Barely felt the rain and was standing on halfway and hour and a half before kick off.
Quote:Stumpy7780Quote:Agree wholeheartedly with this. Drenched through but barely noticed. The atmosphere was the best it’s been in a long time toojimfitz12Quote:JK12
Weather was horrendous i was glad i was ill so couldn't make it.
Felt Bracken coming on and injecting that pace was a key to the last 20 mins
Hartley , Street , Carre and Segun some of the lesser names and were outstanding. Obviously big Tom was immense as wss Maro.
A great result but means nothing if we dont back it up next week..
"I was glad I was ill so I couldn't make it" Might be one of the strangest posts I've seen on this channel. Might be the best live win I have witnessed at Allianz / Stone X. Barely felt the rain and was standing on halfway and hour and a half before kick off.
Very odd indeed! Loved very single second. Dancing in the rain by the end!!
Quote:Stumpy7780Quote:Agree wholeheartedly with this. Drenched through but barely noticed. The atmosphere was the best it’s been in a long time toojimfitz12Quote:JK12
Weather was horrendous i was glad i was ill so couldn't make it.
Felt Bracken coming on and injecting that pace was a key to the last 20 mins
Hartley , Street , Carre and Segun some of the lesser names and were outstanding. Obviously big Tom was immense as wss Maro.
A great result but means nothing if we dont back it up next week..
"I was glad I was ill so I couldn't make it" Might be one of the strangest posts I've seen on this channel. Might be the best live win I have witnessed at Allianz / Stone X. Barely felt the rain and was standing on halfway and hour and a half before kick off.
Not to up the ante like the Yorkshire man skit but I dragged myself there with a herniated disc and @#$%& delighted I did so!
Then walked uphill both there and back obviously.
Massive shout out to MM and all the coaches as well. Got the team selection spot on, team were obviously in the right place mentally and replacements all had a big impact.
Both assists were sensational really.
It has been astonishing to see our park team rise to such hights over the past two decades, sadly soured recently by posters allowing their disappointment and frustration as we inevitably fall from these heights, to spill over into anger, repetition and abuse on this board. Unfair on our moderators and unwanted by most. If you're one of those who post criticism, often including "as I keep saying ..." please (genuinely please) ask yourself is it necessary/useful for others to read yet again? Constructive criticism is so different from repetitive anger and abuse.
On a brighter note, as I crossed into North Yorkshire on my way home, up came a sign "A1 closed ahead ..." (no problem, I'll cut across to the M1). Next sign, still on the A1, "M1 closed ahead ..." followed by 3rd matrix with both messages. Fortunately, unlike most others, I knew the very old course of the A1 through the quaint long linear village of Aberford (crosses the male hen river) deserted, but displaying a mass of beautiful Christmas decorations. A fitting conclusion to a fantastic day. Thank you Sarries for drawing me to yet another fantastic game.
The ref obviously has a track record of punishing back chat , and saw Maro instinctively pulling Farrell away at one point towards the end of the game when he was about to question the ref
So much positive about that game but for me the highlights were the attacking ambition for the first 50 especially given the weather. Great to see Burke's impact at the line and Segun is a different prospect ball in hand vs being sent after endless box-kicks.
It was great to see the attacking and defensive maul perform so well and our lineout defence must have been a nightmare for them.
I think the centres who were rotated/dropped would have thrived in that game given how we played but I also thought both Hartley and Lozo were impressive. Lozo in particular after a rusty first 20 or so really shone especially as a play-making option wider out and stepping in at 10 on occasion.
I was sceptical about Street's signing who at Chiefs always seemed decent but never especially worried me but it feels like he's had a big impact on our scrum not least meaning Riccioni doesn't play 99.9% of most games and end up knackered by a couple of months into the season.
I really hope we can keep the later as he's a class act. Good in the loose with a little carrying and link play and the odd jackal as we saw earlier this season. They feel a great 1, 2 punch combination in either order.
Same looks true on the Loosehead where Mawi had a solid 100 cap. I think he weathered the stronger scrummaging with only minimal concessions and his carrying in the first half was vital in the absence of Dan.
It'll be a massive test of the coaching staff how they select for next week.
The players did their part and turned up and the coaches gave them a plan that gave them a great chance.
Now we need to see if the coaches will back those performances or revert to the tried and tested.
If the words mean anything then you back that 23 again in the same order with the exception of dropping Daly, at best to the bench.
Best moment for me was Tom W laughing with his arm around Jack’s neck after a T handling error in the first half.
Supporting Saracens for over 55 years.
Did I really see Tom steal a small child from his brother after the game?!
Great game from Bracken. Ruck speed dropped considerably overall with him on but it was because of the different ways he managed the game and the couple of burst of super-high tempo ruck ball when he came on and about 10 minutes before the end where a joy to watch. His pass really is a thing of beauty shame we couldn't make something of it.
Interesting seeing him spend 10 minutes slowing things right down to set up static carries and box-kicks exactly as Van-Zyl does when instructed.
First class game-management in the last 5 minutes or so slowing things right down to eat the clock.
Quote:TommyKentish
Olly Hartley vs Stafford McDowall will be a massive battle next week. The latter is further along and will be a big test for Hartley but hope he rises to it!
Probably up against Tuipulotu!!
Quote:nicsue
Did I really see Tom steal a small child from his brother after the game?!
Did the ref give the penalty?
![[:wor kid:]](/phorum-5.1.15/mods/smileys/images/13.gif "[:wor kid:]")
Quote:Supporting Saracens for over 55 years.
Best moment for me was Tom W laughing with his arm around Jack’s neck after a T handling error in the first half.
That was a really lovely moment. A "friendly" head-lock familiar to many of us with brothers!