Sarries give Bedford the Blues

  Little DG and I have always enjoyed the pre-season trip to Bedford. It’s an aperitif to the season, a bit like a decent sherry (or in little DG’s case a vodka and lemonade) before a gourmet dinner. Usually the game is earlier in the season and we get to watch a mainly academy side but this year Saracens meant business and put out a virtually full strength team (which was much appreciated by Bedford and their supporters). As the announcer stated (before he was cut off in his prime) “there are 26 internationals on view today!” We were cheered by the sight of Kevin Sorrell crossing the park with a large bag of ice. Maybe we were in for the ALS ice bucket challenge at half time?  

The Bedford team included a number of familiar names including Nick Fenton Wells, Jake Sharp, Jared Saunders and Nathan Earle who has clearly already become a firm favourite at Goldington Road. I can’t comment on the new home strip really as it doesn’t look at its best in XXXL on a couple of supporters but the away strip is a definite improvement on the nasty grey and blue number: predominantly white with a couple of subtle grey/black stripes and a very definite red stripe across the middle. I can live with that!

Bedford were definitely up for this game and started on the front foot. Within the first minute they won a scrum penalty on the Sarries’ 10 metre line which Sharp failed to convert and it was almost 5 minutes before Sarries made meaningful progress into the Bedford half. David Strettle made a break down the left wing only to be tackled by Nathan Earle and forced into a knock-on. Sarries subsequently won a very kickable penalty of the Bedford 22 but Hodgson showed attacking intent by putting the ball in the corner and this was rewarded with a catch and drive which was pulled down illegally and Sarries were awarded a penalty try by referee Dean Richards.

Sarries won possession from the restart and a lovely pass out to Ashton by Duncan Taylor should have resulted in a second try. However maybe his mind was on his recent nuptials or exactly what type of Splash dive he was planning to do, whatever, his eye wasn’t on the ball and he spilled the pass. From the line out Bedford went on to win a penalty and this time Pritchard made no mistake to open the scoring for the home team. Barritt departed for some blood repairs and was replaced by Streather who looked very sharp and has to be in contention along with Taylor and Boom Boom for the outside centre birth.

Both Ashton and Strettle made excellent breaks through the Bedford defence but in each case the final pass went astray – something which was going to become a bit of a theme for the evening. Spencer’s cross field kick didn’t quite find Fraser on the wing (where was Stretts?) but Sarries’ pressure was telling. Another scrum penalty (both Barrington and Longbottom were looking good), another punt into the corner, another catch and drive but this time Fraser peeled off the back to collect a nice inside ball from Spencer and scored. Charlie converted for a 14-3 lead.

As half time approached, Bedford won couple of penalties, principally because Charlie was playing so flat and Mr Richards didn’t seem to realise Bedford had to be offside if they were to challenge for the ball. This created a tricky last 5 minutes for Sarries with play in their 22. Goode juggled with a high ball and batted it, volleyball-style to Strettle. Mr Richards saw an offence, possibly a pull back off the ball by Strettle and sent him to the bin. Bedford won 2 more penalties, each put in the corner and each time the line-out was successfully defended. Finally Taylor manage to break out and seeing Ashton alone out on the wing he kicked the ball across field. Sadly the bounce was very unkind and the ball evaded Ashy and went into touch. The half ended with Sarries attacking the Bedford try line with yet another penalty put in the corner. Fenton Wells joined Strettle in the bin as Bedford tried to clear but the tap penalty out to Taylor was well defended by Earle and that was half time.

We expected some second half changes but perhaps not an entire replacement pack together with Mordt for Charlie and Streather for Taylor. Goode made a nice break which again floundered with the final off-load (bit of a story that). Strettle returned and Hankin pounced on a lineout ball to go over in the corner. Spencer missed a tricky conversion but Sarries now had a useful lead at 19-3. Almost immediately Streather ran on to a lovely inside pass and backed himself against the Bedford defence to score under the posts. Even Mordt couldn’t miss this one for 26-3. Strettle tried to be too clever when he appeared to be through the Bedford defence. Instead of going for the line he attempted to chip the ball inside to Streather and it all went horribly wrong.

Strettle was replaced by Wilson and off the back of a scrum, Spencer made a lovely break and passed to Ashton. He did all the hard work and got almost to the line before passing to Hankin but again the final pass went astray and Bedford survived. Sarries won a scrum on the Bedford 5m line. After a decisive drive, Spencer worked the ball out the back for Ashton who thought he’d scored in the corner only to find Mr Richards had already blown for the second penalty try of the match. Spencer converted and Ashy along with Goode and Spencer departed. Spencer was replaced by Tom Whiteley and his first touch was to receive a lovely inside flick from Mordt and score in the corner. Mordt added the extras with a tricky conversion for a 40-3 lead. Ashy’s replacement was England sevens star Mike Ellery who looks uncannily like Burger’s better-looking younger brother!

A deliberate knock on from Bedford’s Steve Ellis sent him to the sin bin but Saracens were profligate with the tap penalty which again ended in a knock-on. Sarries thought they had scored from the subsequent scrum but although there were about 7 white shirts to 1 blue one, Mr Richards decreed the ball wasn’t grounded. Sarries couldn’t capitalise from the resulting 5m scrum despite several attempts and the Bedford defence held commendably firm.

With just a few minutes to go, Sarries made their final replacements with Hayden Smith, Biyalo and Stringer coming on. Tim Streather scored his second try of the match collecting a lovely off-load from Mordt, again backing himself and showing a clean pair of heels to the Bedford defence before giving Mordt a simple conversion . The game ended with a superb try-scoring tackle by Hayden Smith on Adamson and a burst for the line by Spurling which ended when he lost his footing. By this time Mr Richards had had enough and blew his whistle. The final score was Bedford 3 Saracens 47.

Both sides seemed happy enough with the result and the 3,000 odd supporters who turned up applauded both sides off the pitch.

So the prologue is now over and Act One opens at Twickenham on Saturday. I for one can’t wait!

Saracens:-

Goode (Ransome) Ashton (Ellery) Taylor (Streather) Barritt (Tompkins) Strettle (Wilson) Hodgson (Mordt) Spencer (Whiteley) Barrington (Gill) George (Spurling) Longbottom (Du Plessis) (Biyialo) Hargreaves (Kruis) (Smith) Hamilton (Botha) Brown (Hankin) (Stringer) Fraser (Burger) Wray (Joubert)

Bedford Blues:-

Pritchard, Earle (Tapley), Staff, Dodge (Ellis), Wigglesworth (Adamson), Sharp (Jones), Vennendaal (White), Williams (Parilli-O’Campo), Clare (Saunders), Currie (Boulter), Tupai, Howard (Toops), Blanchet (Buggea), Vandermolen , Fenton-Wells

Scorers:-

Saracens: Tries- Penalty Try (2) Fraser, Streather (2), Hankin, Whiteley Conv: Hodgson (2) Spencer Mordt (3)

Bedford:- Penalty: Pritchard

Attendance: 3,126

Referee Dean Richards