41 Point Thrashing at the Gardens for Sarries

New Mode of Travel
By Rupes
February 19 2006

This week’s report is again brought to you in association with dictionary.com, whose word of the week is : MUDDLE - to mismanage or bungle; to mix confusedly and jumble; to make muddy.

For the second time in as many weeks, Saracens’ supporters were treated to game of free-flowing rugby, full of tricks, fast breaks, wonderful running lines and tries a-plenty. How lucky we FezBoys are, to be regularly exposed to watching rugby of that nature.

Being honest, Saracens (both the team and fans together, as we should be) had a great day's rugby watching at Northampton – straight from the kick-off, there was an intention to move the ball wide, to make breaks wherever possible and a 10-0 lead was established. A penalty from Glenda was soon followed by a try in the far corner from Scabs; a couple of phases, quick ball to Glenda who gave a fantastic miss-pass for Scabs to run it in. Great rugby and we had started well. The character shown by the players was good, the execution spot on and the problems of the past few weeks forgotten. The only downside at this point was that the Tetley’s was no better than average, but you can’t have everything from a day out.

Now, most teams travel to games in a “Team Coach”; a substantial structure, which safely transports people from A to B with no technical problems or breakdowns. The performance of the team reflects the performance of this “Team Coach”. All I can assume is that M1 was treated to the sight of Saracens travelling to the Gardens in a convoy of circus clowns’ cars - you know the type, the ones that enter the arena, run perfectly for a while then the windows blow out, the doors disappear, the roof goes upwards, the bonnet is blown into the first row of the audience and finally the wheels fall off.

And the clown’s car is the most apt analogy because, following those opening 10 minutes, the FezBoys watched a scintillating display of rugby put on by King Carlos and his mates. And sadly for Sarries, their car disintegrated. Spencer, supported ably by Cohen, Lamont and Reihana in particular, gave a masterclass in how to utilise time and space. And, from the Northampton forwards, a lesson in how to hassle and hound the opposition into mistakes. Tupai scored (chargedown), Harding scored (KB mistake from ruck), Cohen scored (class touch from Reihana) and that was the end of the first half.

Second half – surely the FezBoys wouldn’t see another try-fest? Oh yes they would! Sean Lamont scored 4 tries, two from kicks straight to him (one from Glenda, one from Carlos), 2 interceptions. John Rudd scored another, right in front of the Travelling Fez. Which is where the support lost the plot – I have never heard so much disgusting abuse to a referee; I know it’s not the done thing to criticise your own but it was like standing on a football terrace. Surely not the way we want to carry on, even in dire times like these. But back to the scintillating rugby. Spencer’s over-the-head-chip-and-chase was worth the admission money on its own, as was the dummy pass to himself later in the half; one could almost describe them as mercurial touches.

From the Saracens’ perspective, the rugby played by Saints is no more than you’d expect from an upwardly mobile side in the GP. And we didn’t appear to have any answer to it. None whatsoever. Sure, there was a level of commitment (rewarded by the Armitage try) but in terms of creativity and forward progress, there was none (TC trying his heart out when he came on notwithstanding). That was the most disappointing aspect of it all.

And so to Bristol next Sunday – a “must-win” game anyone? There will hopefully have been a great deal of soul searching at the club by the time next Sunday comes around, the product of which has to be a 5 point win. Nothing less will suffice. Let’s hope the clown’s car has been put back together by then.