Second half Sarries give Bedford the blues

20 points for TC
By Jason Harris
August 29 2004

Saracens put an ordinary first half behind them as they ran in six second half tries to seal a comfortable 57-31 win over Bedford Blues at Goldington Road.

Centre Thomas Castaignede contributed 20 points with two tries and five conversions as Sarries outscored their hosts by nine tries to three after a closely fought first period where Bedford led for a short while, only to go in 19-17 behind at the break.

Tries from lock Arthur Brenton after an Ali Hepher break and prop Matt Volland who surged in under the posts gave Sarries a fright. Hepher converted both and added a penalty to make up the Blues' first half total.

Sarries looked ponderous and lacking in cohesion throuhout the first forty but there were three tries scored. The first came from Castaignede after a speculative kick ahead sat up nicely for him and he ran in unopposed.

Matt Cairns was the benificiary of a Sarries catch and drive from a lineout as the Men in Black showed good patience and control to roll a maul to the Blues line and the hooker touched down for the five points.

Mark Bartholomeusz, whose first half was a nervous one, gave himself and his team a boost when he latched onto a Taine Randell pass after the former All Blacks captain made a break up the left hand touchline for try number three. Castaignede added two conversions from his three attempts.

Bedford were feisty and gave as good as they got in a lively, often niggly opening period which saw three players taking ten minutes in the sin bin. Saracens' Cobus Visagie was yellow carded by referee Roy Maybank for use of the knee at a ruck in a promising attacking position and fellow props Kevin Yates for Sarries and Mattie Stewart for Bedford were also requested to sit out ten after an off-the-ball set-to.

Things settled down in the second half for Sarries as they progressively got better and better and opened the second half points spree with a try from Paul Bailey. Cobus Visagie sent out a great pass from the base of a ruck when it looked as if the South African would pick up and drive, Robbie Kydd took the ball forward and used his two-on-one overlap perfectly to send Bailey over in the left corner. Castaignede missed the difficult touchline conversion. 24-17 Sarries.

Ali Hepher reduced the arrears shortly afterwards with a 40-metre penalty goal but had to retire hurt almost immediately. Bedford closed the gap to a single point just three minutes later as reserve fly-half Eamon Maolloy kicked penalty number three for the Blues.

But that was as close as they came in the second period as Saracens finally woke up from their slumber and put together some outstanding threequarter line moves to win the match.

Castaignede went over from an arcing 35-metre run in the outside centre channel and converted to take the score to 23-31, only for Maolloy to hit back with another penalty at the end of the third quarter.

Robbie Kydd got the first of his two tries, roudning off a flowing threequarter line move with Castaignede adding the extras. Almost immediately, the Blues coughed up possession just inside the Sarries 10 metre line and the ball was picked up by a grateful Dan Scarbrough who raced 65 metres for the touchdown under the sticks. The Castaignede conversion was a formality and pushed Sarries further ahead 26-38.

Scarbrough and Kydd were at it again in the 73rd minute. Kydd made the extra man in midfield from and moved the ball left to his wing. Scarbrough returned the favour to the fullback, sending him in to complete a 60 metre first phase move which was converted by Castaignede to bring up the half century for the Men in Black.

Though Sarries tried desperately to keep their hosts tryless in the second half, Bedford managed to cross four minutes from time courtesy of their man-of-the-match, flanker Nic Strauss, though Maolloy missed the conversion from wide on the left, leaving it 31-52.

Mosese Rauluni, on for Kyran Bracken who had a relatively quiet game, instigated the final Sarries score just before full time. A quick tap by the Fijian half back deep in the Bedford 22 was moved right and up popped Cobus Visagie on the right wing to crash over in the corner and round off the afternoon's scoring as Castaignede missed his final shot at the posts.

Sarries will know that their second half display will be the one to emulate if they are to compete with Zurich and Heineken Champions London Wasps at Twickenham next weekend. The insects were less-than-convincing winners over Llanelli Scarlets in the Anglo-Celtic challenge at Stradey Park after they blitzed the Welsh side with 12 points in as many minutes.

However, Wasps struggled to maintain their dominance and as their side tired or were replaced, the Scarlets came back into it and led going into the final 10 minutes, only for their scrum half Mike Phillips to lose the plot and get sin-binned for a silly offside at a ruck. The extra man made all the difference as Wasps wing Tom Voyce crossed for the match winner just before the final whistle.

Sarries should take a lot of positives from the Bedford result and their next opponents' failure to capitalise on a blistering start, but it will be a brave man indeed who would bet against the Champions making it 10 straight league wins over their neighbours.