Saracens Fed by Sharks?

By Jonjo
September 23 2005

Jonjo previews this Sunday's critical game between Saracens and Sale Sharks, our feeder club (allegedly), picking out some of the more intriguing match-ups we can expect to witness.

I don’t watch Saracens with a cool, analytical eye: I love the drama and the passion, the power and the pace, and I like to feel that by roaring my support I am playing a part in the contest. Sunday’s visit by Sale will undoubtedly be one I shall richly enjoy. Sale will be looking to cement their place near the top of the table and deny Saracens access to the top half, while for Saracens one win out of the first four would not be an acceptable start to the season, even allowing for the improved quality of rugby on display.

There will be some key battles fought out on the pitch, and I have no doubt that Dimes and Fordy have been working very hard on the strategy and tactics to beat our feeder club, but the first and perhaps most significant will have been fought all week on the physio’s bench. Sale have a reputation for very aggressive scrummaging, with the massive and powerful Andrew Sheridan at prop and Andy Titterell sharing the hooking duties with M’sieur Bruno. We will need a fully fit Cobus, Yatesey and Lloydy to be able to compete for the full 80 minutes. I mean no disrespect to the excellent Ben Broster, who holds his own very creditably and brings a lot extra in the loose with his fine ball carrying and tackling, but this is a game when I think we need the experience of Cobus and Co to deal with the upward-driving tactics they will surely meet. As it is, it appears that injury deprives us of our favourite South African prop.

Another major contest will be between the back rows, with the likes of Sebastien Chabal against Ben Skirving, and the Axe against Jason White, one of those hard, fast flankers that the Scots seem to breed, and Taine Randell against Magnus Lund. This is mouth-watering stuff and should be worth the ticket price alone.

Behind the scrum we find the excellent Charlie Hodgson – and I have little doubt that Randell will find him too. Fine ball distribution skills are perhaps not equally matched by his strength in defence. Wouldn’t this be a good match to see Andy Farrell carrying the ball at pace? But, with ailing Faz’s unavailability, perhaps we will see Dan Harris lined up against him to put his tackling to the test.

Finally to the back three: Mark Cueto has scored a try in each of his last 7 Premiership matches; a year ago I would have marked Jason Robinson down as the biggest threat, but he has seen little of the try line for a long time, then there’s Daniel Larrechea, the new full back. There are some signs that Robinson is coming back into form (especially with his try vs Irish last week) and he is an incredibly dangerous runner in broken play. On our side, Del Haughton is maturing into a very fine strike runner, adding elusiveness to his speed, and his tackling is of a very high order, and Scabs is starting to show excellent form at full back, where his speed in counter-attacking has brought a flurry of tries already this season. Chief is not fit, his power, and his ability to stand up and offload in the tackle which tests any opposition will be missed.

Rugby has a lot in common with the game “Stone, Paper, Scissors” in that a set of tactics designed to deal with one set of circumstances may be useless against a different game plan. For example, the rush defence may be vulnerable to a chip over the top. What will we see on Sunday? Kicking for touch, kicking deep or keeping the ball in hand? Sale are potent counter-attackers so whatever the tactics, I hope we are on form, otherwise it will be a long hard afternoon. My prediction is Sarries by 2 points – but I am 25th in the Prediction League at the moment, so what do I know?

Saracens : 15 Dan Scarbrough, 14 Richard Haughton, 13 Thomas Castaignede, 12 Kevin Sorrell, 11 Paul Bailey, 10 Glen Jackson, 9 Alan Dickens, 1 Nick Lloyd, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Ben Broster, 4 Iain Fullarton, 5 Hugh Vyvyan, 6 Taine Randell, 7 Alex Sanderson, 8 Ben Skirving.
Replacements: 16 Matt Cairns, 17 Kevin Yates, 18 Kris Chesney, 19 David Seymour, 20 Simon Raiwalui, 21 Mosese Rauluni, 22 Adam Powell.

Sale Sharks : 15 Daniel Larrechea, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mark Taylor, 12 Elvis Seveali’i, 11 Jason Robinson, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Valentin Courrent, 1 Andrew Sheridan, 2 Andy Titterell, 3 Stuart Turner, 4 Chris Jones, 5 Dean Schofield, 6 Jason White, 7 Magnus Lund, 8 Sebastian Chabal.
Replacements: tbc

Referee : Chris White