Saracens v London Scottish POST MATCH-RELATED CONTENT HERE
Sarries flag flying
By saracensfan62
November 7 2024
I’m going to keep this pre-match relatively short and sweet. Hopefully that's the way you all enjoy a preview!
After an intriguing weekend where both our mens and ladies teams lost their matches vs Ealing Trailfinders away and Exeter Chiefs away quite heavily, the men are in need of bouncing back this weekend vs London Scottish. Seemingly a team that have been very quiet in recent years in the Championship where they have finished in 11th position for 3 consecutive seasons. The most notable names from Scottish are Will Talbot-Davies, an ex-Wales international and former Dragons player. A strong utility back, playing either wing, centre or full back, he will be one player to watch. Another name some may recognise is ex-saracen Brian Tuilagi (yes, another Tuilagi!), son of Fereti Tuilagi (Freddie Tuilagi). Brian spent 2 years at Allianz Park (as it was then known) before moving onto Dax in the D2 in France. After some time there, he made the short journey across the water to Scottish Another super player who will be one to watch, if he’s starting of course.
As for us, there are numerous problems to be resolved. We were the most penalised team at the scrum last season and that problem resurfaced vs Ealing last weekend. Without the usual guns in the front row, Saracens looked extremely weak in the scrum and I struggled to count the number of penalties that we conceded at the set piece last week against Ealing, including the two yellows for Knight and newbie Phil Brantingham after both collapsing driving mauls, Knight’s one resulting in a penalty try. No doubt that Mark McCall and Co. have been racking their brains in order to come up with a solution to that seemingly underlying problem of a lack of ‘oomph’ in the set piece. Ealing are a strong team however and we must give them credit for that. They'd give numerous teams in the Premiership a good run for their money!
There’s no doubt young Olamide Sodeke, Max Eke and Angus Hall (to name just a few!) are all super prospects for the future however all players need time and we cannot allow these young players to be thrown in the deep end too quickly so to speak, as I feel they were last weekend. It’s good to see the squad depth we still have and the exciting youth coming forward and challenging the senior lads to their spots in the 23. At the start of the season, I heard a lot of rumours and news concerning new options at 9 for Sarries when Aled Davies returned to Wales but I, along with many others, am constantly impressed by the performances of young Charlie Bracken, son of Kyran (I still do a double-take when I see Bracken at 9!) and I do hope he decides to continue his career with us. He has already proved himself on the international stage with England U20s.
This weekend again could be a banana skin for us. There’s absolutely no room for complacency and it would be a disservice to London Scottish and the young Saracens team we are likely to field to say that this is a ‘dead rubber’ with the two teams in 3rd and 4th and on 1 and 0 points respectively – we still have Harlequins in 2 weekends time and if Harlequins can beat Ealing this weekend, we still stand a chance (however slim it may be) of qualifying. I personally only remember the last time we really made strides in the PRC or indeed the Anglo-Welsh cup was when we beat Exeter in 2015 in the cup. Since then, it seems we’ve been quiet for a long time. Let’s hope that that sarries will take this year more seriously and we will see them progress further in the competition.
This weekend’s match should be an entertaining one with lots of tries (hopefully many of them ours!) and flowing, attacking rugby. We certainly possess the talent in the backline to cause some serious damage to some teams defence. As always, come on sarries!
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:11:26:21:04:16 by Darraghgirl.
It was the day after Boxing Day and an early score for us suggested an easy win.
We then produced one of the worst performances in our history to go do 7-24…
1 Sam Crean
2 James Hadfield
3 Fraser Balmain
4 Harry Wilson
5 Kennedy Sylvester
6 Max Eke
7 Izaiha Moore-Aiono
8 Nathan Michelow (c)
9 Callum Braley
10 Tim Swiel
11 Brandon Jackson
12 Olly Hartley
13 Sam Spink
14 Angus Hall
15 Tom Parton
Replacements:
16 James Isaacs
17 Phil Brantingham
18 Alec Clarey
19 Charlie West
20 Reggie Hammick
21 Gareth Simpson
22 Tiff Eden
23 Jack Bracken
Our team below:
London Scottish Team
1 George Cave
2 Jack Musk
3 Ashley Challenger
4 Alex Wardell
5 Bailey Ransom (cc)
6 Ioan Rhys Davies
7 Lewis Barrett
8 Tom Marshall
9 Dan Nutton (cc)
10 Tom Wilstead
11 Noah Ferdinand
12 Robbie McCallum
13 Will Talbot-Davies
14 Will Brown
15 Josh Bellamy
Replacements
Austin Wallis
Ethan Clarke
Ntinga Mpiko
Matt Wilkinson
Jack Ingall
Stephen Kerins
Alec Lloyd-Seed
Will Simonds
Couple of notes on the opening post - talbot-davies isn't a full international but has played for Wales u20/7s. Originally signed from Coventry as a 15 he's made the outside centre shirt his own. Sadly brian tuilagi retired last year - numerous injury problems last season meant he barely played.
Players to watch from our side are will brown at 14 (champ top try scorer 2 season ago with jersey), dan button at 9 who is a bit of a livewire, and alex wardall at 4 - once of your parish! While announced as a backrow when he joined he's played at lock all season and nailed down a starting spot.
Here's to a good game!
Referee: Richard Gordon
ARs: Craig Maxwell-Keys & Gareth Holsgrove
As a 30 year old ex Zebre and Bristol he wouldn’t be considered one for the future.
Think Brandon Jackson only touched the ball 3 times. Only one scrum in the second half and that was in the last minute.
Hard to judge how effective Balmain was against that level of opponent. Swiel kicked superbly from hand and tee, and Eden looked pretty decent too.
Hartley stood out and will surely be challenging for a first team slot.
You might think I'm being over picky given the scoreline, but Hartley & Spink are realistically our future choice of centres & I didn't see as much as I was hoping to.
Quote:darktagnan
in case anyone was wondering what our all time top score is - Saracens 151 Dinamo Bucarest 0 [www.theguardian.com]
Oh yes -was that the one where their coach was the spitting image of Super Mario?
Quote:Rolls
Might be wrong but I think it was the Bologna physio who was Super Mario, I’ve cross checked with my mates who all attended the away game and we all agree. The European away games were great, does anyone remember the Spartacus calls at Rome? Wonderful!
Thanks, Rolls. You could well be right; that was a high-scoring match as well iirc. In any event - a happy memory, for me and it would seem for others as well.