Courageous Sarries Left Pointless

By Kooga
April 5 2004

Saracens left the pitch at Vicarage Road on Saturday afternoon without a point to show for their effort and determination in a game that could have easily been a victory.

The Men in Black had several players, including Ibanez, Castaignede, Randell and Codling, missing through injury and Haughton still on 7s duty, those remaining pushed Gloucester to the final whistle having had the majority of the possession and territory in the second half.

From nearly snatching a well deserved try close to the end of the match giving Saracens possible victory, Gloucester cleared their lines through a penalty to gain field position to deny the Men in Black a bonus point with a Henry Paul penalty with the final kick of the game.

Both teams started the game eager to establish themselves, which had Garvey in a foot race with Chesney chasing a kick through. Garvey ended up sprawled on the Vicarage Road turf which was adjudged by referee Dave Pearson as a professional foul by Chesney awarding a penalty 5 metres out and depositing Chesney in the bin for the next 10 minutes.

Gloucester opted to kick to touch rather than take the 3 points on offer but Saracens defence held strong with Gloucester leaving this phase of the game pointless. Gloucester finally took the lead in the 11th minute from a penalty by Paul.

As Chesney returned from the bin Saracens had an immediate chance to hit back with a fairly simple penalty chance 22 metres out in front of the posts but Little’s kick was adjudge to have been pushed wide by the touch judges. Shortly after Sarries lost Richard Hill to the blood bin, during his absence Gloucester scored their only try of the match through Garvey after a well worked overlap, which was duly converted by Paul.

Richard Hill returned from the blood bin with Gloucester extending their lead to 0-13 through a further penalty by Paul. Saracens hit back shortly afterwards with a try of their own from Williams after a great break by ‘man of the match’ Kevin Sorrell beating three defenders before being brought down just short of the line by James ‘Sinbad’ Simpson-Daniel. The resulting ruck led to Morgan Williams being able to dive over from the base for a try. Nicki Little missed a straightforward conversion just to the left of the posts.

Half time was blown 5 minutes later with the score 5-13 to Gloucester. Paul started the second half with no changes to either team at half time.

Robbie Russell replaced James Parkes in the 50th minute, Raiwalui left the field injured being replaced by Skirving and 5 minutes later Little had a long range penalty attempt fall short. Saracens started to take the game by the scruff of the neck keeping Gloucester confined to the own half and defending for all they were worth.

Bergamaschi replaced Sparks and Peacey came on for the injured Chesney in the 65th and 68th minute respectively. Saracens continued to pressure Gloucester looking for the try their efforts undoubtedly deserved.

As time was running down Junior Paramore was sent to the bin for a punch on Morgan Williams. The injured Visagie was replaced by Ben Broster in the front row and Saracens continued to press. Little put Sarries in with a shout of a lose bonus point with a penalty taking the score to 8-13. This spurred the Men in Black on further with them pressurising the Gloucester line with a number of scrums pushing the 7 man Gloucester scrum backwards which collapsed twice close to the line with the faithful Sarries supporters baying for a penalty try.

Gloucester finally cleared their line through a penalty for holding on. Gloucester went for field position and finally pressurised Sarries into giving away another kickable penalty, once again award for what must have been Pearson favourite offence on the day, holding on! Paul duly kicked the penalty with Reason signalling ‘no time’ immediately afterwards, score 8-16, and no reward for Saracens.