TGIR (THANK GOD ITS RUGBY!)

 At last we have some rugby to write about! Sarries’ traditional preseason trip to Bedford has always been a favourite of ours. Unfortunately little DG decided to decamp to the Cape Verde with her boyfriend so it was down to Mr DG, my long suffering husband, to accompany me this time. A rather soggy day gave way to blue skies and a sunlit evening as we made our way to Goldington Road (bit of a culture shock for Mr DG whose previous experience of away games is limited to overseas trips to Lyon, Toulouse, Paris etc).

Several new faces were on view today as Schalla (Brits variety) led the team out in the new red away strip (definitely better than the blue of last year). I don’t remember Brits captaining the side before but if this performance was anything to go by, he should do it again! A late change saw Samu Vunisa replace Michael Rhodes as the reassuring figure of Luke Pearce blew the whistle (sometimes the officiating at these games can be a bit dodgy to say the least but I guess even referees need to warm up for the season). Bedford fielded a couple of familiar names including Jake Sharp & Jack Culverhouse both of whom had something to prove, as indeed did the whole Bedford Blues team – when you are European and Premiership Champions, and you bring the silverware with you, you are there to be shot at!

Sarries started the game as if they had never played together before (which was probably true!) and it was Blues who scored first when Jake Sharp intercepted a pass from Alex Lozowski and allowed Tapley to score. Sharp converted and Blues were delighted. Sarries won a penalty in front of the posts but this being a friendly, went for the scrum. Maitland carried well but was held up and eventually Bosch found Ellery on the left wing (with Ash just inside him sniffing for the ball!!) but Ellery wasn’t passing this one up and scored in the corner. Spencer just missed a tricky conversion.

The “getting to know you” continued with passes going into touch and kicks over hit. Conlon pinched an overthrown lineout and forced Sharp to kill the ball. Friendly or not, Mr Pearce pulled out his yellow card. Sarries again went for a scrum and Spencer found Maitland who kicked ahead for a super charged Ashton to run on to but Burns, who was a real terrier of a scrum half, took the ball into touch.

From a scrum on the left Spencer found Ellery who threw a lobbed pass for Ashton on the other wing but just into touch. Poor Ashy – it seemed to be a case of how many different ways can we not get the ball to Ashton? After a prolonged period when Blues were pinned in their own 22, Ashton took matters into his own hands. He’s clearly been talking to Charlie over the summer because not only was he mentoring Lozowski, he kicked a pinpoint cross field ball to the advancing Ellery who only had to catch the ball and score. (It was almost as if he was saying “this is how you do it guys!” Maybe he fancies a new career at standoff?)

Spencer converted from the touchline. Sarries won a penalty from the restart and Lozowski found a lovely touch. Flanagan secured the ball from the lineout and the pack drove the ball over with Brits touching down. Another nice touchline conversion from Spencer and Sarries were now leading 19-7.

Maitland put a lovely kick from his own 22 into the Blues 22. Ashy was screaming up the left wing but Burns again saved the day, running the ball into touch. However it was only a temporary reprieve because the pack repeated their antics and again drove the ball over with Brits again claiming the honours. Spencer couldn’t quite land another tricky conversion but at half time Sarries led 24-7.

The second half saw Petrus replace Figallo and Henry Taylor came on for Spencer. He immediately made his presence felt with a couple of huge tackles before Conlon offloaded to Lozowski who found Taylor and his little legs carried him under the post for a 7 pointer. (A nice easy first kick for Lozowski). At this point there were mass Bedford substitutions (sorry the PA wasn’t good enough to know who they were). Bedford did their best to attack but Sarries defended well. Scott Spurling replaced Brits and almost immediately made a lovely break a la Jamie George. Maitland set up another attack and found Ellery who wriggled through 2 despairing tackles before finding Tompkins who scored in the corner. Lozowski hit the post with a tricky conversion attempt but Sarries now led 36-7.

Isiekwe replaced Flanagan, Griffiths replaced Tompkins and Earl replaced Vunisa. A numberless lad replaced Ellery. Maitland made another break which he kicked ahead for Ashton but again the kick was just too long. Ashy then performed some amazing acrobatics, racing up the touchline then doing a triple salchow in the air to keep a Bedford touch-kick in play. Perkins replaced Maitland, Adams Hale replaced Barrington and someone else replaced Flanagan. Lozowski did his best to emulate Ashy with an acrobatic tip across to Perkins. We then got into rolling subs and I lost the plot. Bosch changed over with Tompkins again and Nay (I think) replaced Conlon and almost immediately stole a lineout.

As we entered the last few minutes, Max Malins replaced Lozowski only for the substitution to be reversed when he hurt his shoulder. Sarries seemed a bit distracted by all the changes (and by now it was effectively a 3^rd/4^th string team) and allowed Bedford to catch and drive a try through James. Ellery returned for Ashton. Bedford took advantage of the last few minutes to repeat the catch and drive and score a second try, both of which were converted leaving the final score 21-36, a tad flattering to Bedford but an enjoyable game.

So what did we learn? Well firstly the new boys. Conlon looked very promising, his ginger head prominent at almost every lineout and Flanagan also put in a good shift. Maitland is a different player to Alex Goode but looked solid although he wasn’t really troubled by any high balls. He made some encouraging runs and looked good on the ball. He needs to tune into Ashy but given time he will.  Lozowski started off a bit nervously and his intercepted pass led to the opening try but he improved as the game went on and for a slim guy he tackles well. He too will improve once he gets on the same wavelength as Ashy & co.

Next the old guys. Brits was his usual exuberant self, putting himself about a lot and thriving on the captaincy. Ellery looked fresh and took his tries well. Any worries that Ashton might have fallen out of love with rugby were soon dispelled. He seemed to have put on another yard of pace and his effort to keep a ball in play (in a friendly game when it really didn’t matter a jot) just showed his fire still burns. Added to that his crosskick for Ellery’s try was sublime. How Eddie Jones can ignore this guy is beyond me. Wray was his usual solid self and played the whole 80 minutes, captaining the side for the second half. Vunisa looked good and made some nice breaks off the back of the scrum.

Finally of the young guys I was very impressed with Henry Taylor. He played the entire second half and looked sharp and quick. He tackled well and his box-kicks had snow on them. I think we’ll be seeing more of him. Scott Spurling also looked promising when he replaced Brits and certainly has some pace about him.

So all in all a decent work out and a very pleasant evening in the sunshine.

BEDFORD

Clement-Hill, Tapley, Farrell, Le Bourgeois, Adamson, Sharp, Burns; Culverhouse, Fields, Judge, Taylor, Carrick-Smith, Hill, Buggea, Adams.  Subs: Parilli-Ocampo, Edgson, James, Spelman, Howard, Blanchet, Whitely, Dorrian, Dodge, James

SARACENS

Maitland, Ashton, Bosch, Tompkins, Ellery, Lozowski, Spencer, Barrington; Brits, Figallo, Hamilton, Flanagan, Vunisa, Conlon, Wray. Subs: Spurling, Adams-Hale, Du Plessis, Isiekwe, Earl, Taylor, Perkins, Griffiths, Malins, Gallagher, Nay, Walker

SCORERS:

Bedford (21):  Tries: Tapley, James, Parilli-Ocampo;  Conv: Sharp, Dorrian (2)

Saracens (36): Tries: Ellery (2), Brits (2) Taylor, Tompkins;  Conv: Spencer (2), Lozowski

Referee:  Luke Pearce

Attendance 3,050