Saracens Look to Continue Good Start to Pool 4

By Rupert Thacker
October 28 2005

This Saturday sees Saracens visit Treviso for their second game in Pool 4 of the Heineken Cup. Fresh from demolishing Biarritz last week, the Men in Black travel to Italy with high hopes of another win to continue their good start to the pool.

All are agreed that the victory over the French Champions was the best performance from Saracens for many a year, combining power and precision to produce a match-winning display. But in the other game in the pool, this weekend’s opponents were “nilled” at Ravenhill.

Apart from that blip, Treviso have been the most successful Italian side in the Heineken Cup; winning 3 out of their 6 pool matches last season. The double over Bourgoin and a home victory over Bath were not the first time they had won 3 of 6 games though; search back through the history books and the Italians repeated this feat in the 1998/99 competition as well. Although they have never got out of the pool stages, they are more than capable of beating the best sides on their day.

Player-wise, the two Benetton players who stand out are the scrum-half Alessandro Troncon and the wing Denis Dallan. Both are vastly experienced internationals who know the way to and over the try line – both will also have the added responsibility of using their experience to guide Treviso through this weekend’s game. It is a slight surprise to see Dallan line-up on the bench for this game. Talking of their bench, they only have 1 prop and 1 hooker on there - uncontested scrums anybody at some point? They also have number 8 Dion Kingi, who is not only rated highly by their coach Craig Green but is also only 2 I’s away from being a boxing promoter.

This season, they are at the top of the Italian Super 10 competition with 32 points, having won 7 of their 8 games to date. Their only loss came against GRAN Parma. What is interesting though is that they seem to ship points on a regular basis – their “points conceded” tally seems to match that of Sarries earlier in the season. Sure, they have scored 50 points on at least 2 occasions, but that was against “lower” sides in the Super 10 competition. You’d hope that Sarries’ fabled defence will test them harder than some of those teams.

Saracens’ team shows 4 changes from the Biarritz game – in come Lloyd and Byrne in the front row (Yates and Cairns moving to the bench), Dickens and Scarborough in the backs (Kyran rested, Del injured). Interesting to note that we still only have 2 backs on the bench, with 1 of those being a specialist scrum half – wing cover to be provided by Seymour or Ches no doubt.

The game this weekend is vital for Treviso to win if they are to maintain an interest in this season’s competition; if Sarries win, that’s a minimum of 8 points and, depending on the other result in the pool, it puts them into a strong position to qualify for the next stage. Dimes has been quoted as saying that this away game at Treviso is likely to be Saracens’ stiffest and most physical test in the pool games – no-one at the club will be underestimating the challenge which Treviso will present.

It is not the most outlandish prediction to say that the Saracens’ game plan will follow that of last week – keep it tight, use the forwards to their maximum effect and let Glen Jackson turn the opposition into their own corners. Unless the Italians are more proficient than Biarritz in the pack, then it is likely to be another game which finds Saracens on the front foot. If that’s the case, then I take Sarries to win by 10.

Treviso: 15 Brendan Williams, 14 Massimiliano Perziano, 13 Stuart Legg, 12 Matteo Barbini, 11 Pablo Calanchini, 10 Martinus Smith, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 8 Dion Kingi, 7 Silvio Orlando, 6 Salvatore Garozzo, 5 Marco Wentzel, 4 Enrico Pavanello, 3 Salvatore Costanzo, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Gianluca Faliva.

Saracens: 15 Thomas Castaignede, 14 Dan Scarborough, 13 Kevin Sorrel, 12 Ben Johnston, 11 Paul Bailey, 10 Glen Jackson, 9 Alan Dickens, 8 Ben Skirving, 7 Taine Randell, 6 Hugh Vyvyan, 5 Iain Fullarton, 4 Simon Raiwalui, 3 Cobus Visagie, 2 Shane Byrne, 1 Nick Lloyd.

Referee : David Changleng (Sco)