Roma Report

By Henry Harman
December 15 2003

80 minutes of ruthless Rugby is what Head Coach Rod Kafer asked for from his Saracens side on Sunday. He didn’t quite get what he wanted but the Men in Black weren’t too far off the mark.

Despite falling away for 15 minutes after half-time, Sarries produced something approaching a good performance marshalled by the pure class of Thomas Castaignede whose kicking from the floor (11 from 12) left many asking; Andy who?

Despite an incredible number of substitutions that would have disrupted any team against any opposition including what seemed like the inclusion of every prop forward on the books, Sarries still managed to run in 12 tries in a predictably one-sided affair.

Scores from O’Mahoney (2), Johnston, Cech (2), Winnan (2), Sparks, Castaignede (2), Robbie Russell and Ibanez sealed the win but Kafer will be unhappy with the way his team allowed Roma to spoil around the base of the ruck and through Marius Goosen, score their only try of the game just after half-time.

Sarries may well have found the answer to their forward woes, with Sparks, Ibanez, Broster, Philpott, Russell and Marsters in their scrum, the visitors were almost cringing with the prospect of another scrum! But seriously, the Sarries pack has an enormous amount of potential if they can stay together and not get torn apart as they have so far by injury and international call-ups. Talking of which, it was a little worrying seeing Alex Codling limping off again without completing the 80 minutes, lets hope it was just a precautionary measure. The other main injury scare going into next week’s acid test against local rivals London Wasps is over Ben Johnston who seemed to pull his hamstring whilst scoring his try early in the game.

82-5 is a decent result for Saracens, let’s see how they get on without Hill, Randell and Co against the reigning Zurich Premiership Champions next week at the Causeway Stadium. It’s a world away from Roma.