Saracens 27 Leeds Tykes 3

By Henry Harman
January 3 2004

Sarries head into 2004 with a certain degree of confidence on the back of a good performance against Leeds Tykes in front of 9,350 at Vicarage Road on New Year’s Day.

The first half was littered with errors as both sides tried desperately to find their feet. Referee Ashley Rowden reaching into his pocket four times in the first period. Cobus Visagie was the first to see yellow after 8 minutes for failing to retreat after a penalty. The Sarries prop won’t have too much to complain about there. Leeds’ No 8 Matt Salter was next into the bin, this time for persistent offside, shortly followed by Tykes’ Gary Powell and Steven Sparks of Saracens for fighting on 38 minutes.

In-between the manic flashing of yellow cards there were a couple of scoring opportunities. Richard Haughton showed his pace and skill through an almost perfect chip and chase, only to put a foot in touch a couple of meters out.

Poor passing saw Leeds blow a chance of going into half-time with the lead, Matt Cardey could have put Phil Christophers in at the corner if he had managed to draw Paul Bailey. He didn’t and Bailey bundled the unhappy looking Christophers into touch. Cardey stood there scratching his head!

Halftime – Saracens 6 – 3 Leeds. Penalties from Thomas Castaignede and Gordon Ross respectively, the only points of the game thus far.

Sarries, pushed on by a vocal home crowd, started to turn the screw. Visagie, Ibanez and Sparks gave their opposite numbers a torrid time, Randell and Castaignede running things for the MiB.

After a decent period of pressure, Sarries were awarded a penalty close to Leeds’ line. Bracken tapped and went over, only for the video referee to give Bracken the thumbs down. Bracken stomped off down the tunnel to have his lacerated mouth looked at an unhappy man.

The resulting scrum saw Sarries bully Tykes backwards and were going to score but for an illegal bit of work from Leeds scrum-half Ryan Walker. Rowden had little option but to award a penalty try. Castaignede converted, 13-3.

Continued pressure from the imposing Sarries pack, darting runs from Castaignede and his back line shortly became too much for Leeds. The Impish Frenchman showed his upper body strength to burst over to score from 10 out. Robbie Kydd converted while T.C. received treatment, 20-3.

Raphael Ibanez was next to cross, put in by the impressive Randell. Castaignede converted 27-3. Sarries were in sight of a bonus point. They didn’t get it and after 10 minutes of added time the referee blew his whistle for the end of the game.

There are a lot of positives for Rod Kafer and his team to take out of that game. The front-five were huge in every way. Randell was a towering presence. Ben Russell looks to be growing in to the number 7 shirt very nicely. Castaignede defended well, attacked at every opportunity and was an over-all pain in the rear for Leeds all afternoon. Ben Johnston was back on form and Robbie Kydd looks to be a shrewd signing and could prove very useful if Richard Haughton’s migraine problem persists.

4 points in the bank. There are more where that came from, it’s just a shame that with the break for the European games, momentum could be lost.