Saracens Kicked Out of Powergen Cup!

By Rupert Thacker
January 23 2005

Saracens departed the Powergen Cup on Sunday, losing 21-15 to London Irish in a game punctuated by handling errors, kicking woes and penalties galore. Heineken Cup qualification now looks even further away than ever for the Men in Black.

In what was an open game throughout, the opening 20 minutes were a perfect summary of what was to be served over the course of the afternoon. To explain; Glen Jackson missed a highly kickable penalty, Mark Mapletoft bashed over three penalties of his own. London Irish had a 9-0 lead, a lead which they were never to relinquish.

Up to that point, there had been knock-ons everywhere, by forwards and backs alike, with little cohesion going forward. Lots of huff and puff, virtually no executional skills on offer though. A sublime kick from the returning Castaignede changed that, Vaikona just being hauled down short of the line. Just a couple of minutes later, Jackson finally kicked his first goal to bring the score back to 3-9. Mapletoft replied – 3-12 and the crowd treated to the sight of Sarries having stacks of possession, but turning it over to the Irish with monotonous regularity. With this turnover ball, the Irish did little, however, bar set up kickable penalties. A little unadventurous perhaps, but very, very effective. In particular, their 8-9-10 axis of Murphy, Edwards and Mapletoft were making it hard work for Sarries.

The first try came towards the end of the first half and it came from Sarries, Matt Cairns careering over from 20 yards. And in that try was today’s lesson for the team – quick ball makes it much easier to open up defences. Somehow, that seemed not to be part of today’s gameplan. Just before the home try, Delon Armitage was hauled down just short of the line for the Irish having cut a swathe through the defence; if Irish had scored at that point then the game may have been over. As it turned out, Cairns’ try made it 10-12 to Irish at the break and gave Sarries hope.

The opening 20 minutes of the second half were the domain of Mark Mapletoft, his sublime kicking display (with 7 out of 8 at this point) pushing the Irish lead out to 10-21. Desperation time for Sarries and, with Glen Jackson still missing very kickable penalties, tries had to be scored. On 70 minutes, Sarries had a series of 5 scrums about 8 metres out from the Irish line, all of which ended in penalties. Whilst the Fez hollered for a penalty try, Mr Davey (rightly) didn’t award one – there was no way he could have been sure a try would have been scored from that far out. On the 6th scrum, the ball went through a couple of phases and Kris Chesney popped up on the wing to score in the corner – conversion missed and 15-21 with 8 minutes to go.

Mr Davey then gave Sarries every chance to score the winning try by playing the best part of 10 minutes injury time. But Sarries couldn’t score. Admittedly, the attacking ideas were very limited, but credit to the Irish – they defended doggedly, gave no real sight of the line and ensured that Sarries went out of their second cup competition inside 7 days.

Ultimately, the difference between the two sides came down to the goalkickers; Mapletoft 7 out of 9 (21 points), Glen Jackson 2 from 7 (5 points). Coach Diamond will have to think long and hard regarding selection for Friday’s game, not least as to whether or not Nicky Little gets the start at 10. It’s a tough call, but there is no doubt that Jackson had a shocking day at the office today. Honourable mentions for the two Bens, Skirving and Johnston, who both had decent games, mentions in dispatches too for Castaignede and Bartholomeusz, both of whom at least tried to give us some forward direction.

And so another year of the Powergen Cup is consigned to history – if the game on Friday night against Newcastle wasn’t big before, it is absolutely massive now. Congratulations to London Irish, good luck in the rest of the competition; for us, today’s result confirmed that season 2004/05 will be another without silverware.