Gloucester Advance on Vicarage Road

It's a Shed, natch
By Lewis Godfrey
January 5 2006

Saracens go into this match on the back of a disappointing run. A tragic loss to Irish was followed by an encouraging defeat to Leicester; however, both times we have had opportunities to collect the 4 points. As it is, just a losing bonus point has been garnered from each game.

There have been few plusses in that run, but new signing Hamish Mitchell has looked impressive in two 20-minute cameos. He’ll be needed a hell of a lot, since he’ll be up against a scary Gloucester pack. Messrs Yates, Cairns and Mitchell look like they’ll be up against an experienced trio of Wood, Davies and captain Phil Vickery MBE. Depending on Tony Spreadbury’s interpretation of the game, this could be a crucial area, and Yates has been pushed backwards in the last two games against props that haven’t won the world cup. However, I’ve always thought Vickery’s main strength was his ball carrying, not his scrummaging, so maybe there’s a chance we could get parity.

Another massive ball carrier for the cherry and whites is vice captain Adam Balding, who has recently re-signed till 2008. Young prodigy James Forrester is injured, so we won’t be able to see him up against Hugh Vyvyan, but Balding adds a bit more bludgeon to the back row. Don’t expect him to make any 50-yard breaks, but he’ll win a lot of ball, and he’ll bruise the likes of Chesney and Russell.

It’s an interesting decision by Steve Diamond not to play in form number 8 Ben Skirving, and go with Vyvs instead. Hugh seems to think that 8 is his best position and maybe is a bit disgruntled about playing out of position. When Dimes played him at lock, he definitely lost a bit of form, but I thought he was looking ok at 6. It could just be that Skirvs is knackered, either way, it gives us a chance to see Taine come in as a back row, even though really he’s a prop now, so he can help stop the Gloucester maul.

In the backs, it looks like Mike Tindall will pass a fitness test to take his place in a dangerous centre partnership with James Simpson-Daniel. On paper, the pair looks like the best double act since Laurel and Hardy, with Tindall drawing defenders in or bosching them out the way and Simpson-Daniel using his natural sleight of hand and vision to release Mark Foster or James Bailey. However, on grass, Tindall has failed to find his feet at the new club, and hasn’t really regained his form since the world cup. Simpson-Daniel, on the other hand, has scored 4 tries in his last 3 games.

Many Fez Boys would like to have their own Simpson-Daniel, and fortunately he returns for this match. Mercurial Thomas Castaignede might not play the full 80 after coming back from injury, but he’ll add some flair and spark to a sometimes stagnant backline. Dictating play from 10 will be for the visitors will be Ludovic Mercier, kind of a French Glen Jackson, but one whose kicking stats really are something like an 80% success rate. Sarries cannot afford to give away many penalties, as Ludo will put them over from up to 50ish metres.

Gloucester have scored 41.6 tries in their last 5 games (admittedly to of these were against a weak Toulon side, but still…) and in their last match hammered Leeds 31-7. Sarries, on the other hand, have conceded 72 tries in their last 3, about 24 per game. The match against London Irish was really disappointing, because it was a game we could, and maybe should, have won, but the players seemed like they were hung over from Christmas. By all accounts, Leicester was a more encouraging game, but we still didn’t win. If we have aspirations of a top four finish we have to keep our concentration, especially when we’re at home.

And Gloucster is a game a top four team will win at home. No doubt Dimes has been ranting and raving at the players, and they’ll want to win back the cheers of the home fans after Irishgate, so they’ve got motivation. However, without Cobus, we lose our dominance in the scrum and maul, which happen to be traditional favourites of our visitors.

The last time we played them, they beat us 19-8, with tries from Mark Foster and James Bailey. However, they had the famously partisan and loud crowd at Kingsholm that day, and they’ll find life tougher at Vicarage Road. It’ll be tough on Sunday, but I’m going to go for an optimistic win to Saracens. We’ll probably concede at least one bonus point, but don’t expect any 20-try thrillers.