Two Points Earned at Kingston Park

Early points for TC
By Rupert Thacker
October 18 2004

Saracens returned from Kingston Park on Sunday with 2 points, a 20-20 draw being the final outcome of a game which should have been sewn up by Saracens before half time.

Playing for the chance to go 5th in the Premiership, Sarries started brightly and crossed the Newcastle line after only 5 minutes, Thomas Castaignede touching down under the posts. A 7-0 lead was accompanied by the arrival of the Supporters’ Club Coach – our intrepid band of explorers arriving afer a gruelling eight-hour journey from London - just in time to watch Matthew Tait touchdown to make it 7-7 .

During the build-up to the levelling try, Castaignede took a heavy knock, being replaced by Robbie Kydd. His running lines and handling were sorely missed for the rest of the half as Sarries proceeded to batter the Newcastle defence but just could not score. At least three overlaps (4 on 1, 5 on 2, twice) were spurned and no-one could quite work out how Sarries didn’t lead by at least 20 points at the break. As it was, a penalty gave us a 10-7 lead. Credit to the Falcons defence (obviously tightened up from previous outings) but we still created opportunities, we just couldn’t convert any of them.

Another switch at half time saw Sorrell replace Haughton, for reasons unexplained. The Falcons came out firing and a penalty made it 10-10. However, the trend of Sarries being in the ascendancy continued and yet another chance went begging when Moses Rauluni (starting in place of the surgery-bound Bracken) dropped the ball over the line. From yet another five metre scrum for Sarries, the Falcons turned the ball and, 2 kicks plus 4 phases later, Michael Stephenson touched down to give the scoreline a slightly unreal look at 17-10 to the home team. So, up the other end we went – Matt Cairns, that well-known winger, scooted over; conversion, 17-17 and 22 minutes still to play.

The closest we came to another try was for the Falcons, Tait being denied his second score by Mr Spreadbury – who appeared to overrule his touch judge. As it was, we had to wait until the 80th minute for more points, Mark Bartholomeusz hitting a drop goal to make it 20-17. And then, with the last play of the game, the traditional "Jonny Wilkinson Drop Goal" gave the Falcons a 20-20 draw.

The view of the coaching team is likely to be that we dropped 3 points and, being ruthless, we should have had the 5 safely in the bag by half time. But we didn’t and although "what might have been" s an overused cliché in sport, you can guarantee that this will have been the primary thought as the team coach headed back down the M1.