Sarries aim for safety

By Jason Harris
April 26 2002

Saracens travel to Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday to take on Northampton Saints in the Zurich Premiership knowing that a win could guarantee their top-flight status and a defeat will mean at least one more anxious week in the relegation dogfight.

Saints, dispatched with consummate ease by London Irish in last Saturday’s Powergen Cup Final have dropped internationals Matt Dawson, Mattie Stewart, Craig Moir and Steve Thompson to the bench for the visit of the Men in Black. Also missing from the Saints line-up due to injury are lock Johan Ackermann and Andrew Blowers, so the Saints starting fifteen will have a ring of unfamiliarity about it.

Coach Wayne Smith has not made it clear whether his normal rotation of his playing staff is the reason he has decided that the underperforming quartet are to be bringing on the water, or whether they are being punished for the poor display that saw Irish out of sight by half time. Either way, Saints still have plenty of danger men (including eight internationals in the starting 15) to watch and Sarries will be unwise to take them lightly.

The big news for Sarries is, of course, the return to the 22-man squad of Thomas Castaignede. On the announcement of the squad on Thursday the flamboyant Frenchman said “After what I had to do to get back on the pitch, it’s maybe like paradise for me right now, like a dream”. Missing from the Sarries squad will be two key players. Tim Horan has a broken wrist and Kyran Bracken is sitting out the second of three games he must miss due to the concussion he received against Wasps.

Returning to the squad after a short injury absence is Luke Harbut at prop. Harbut was carried from the field in during the Wasps game and the injury has thankfully not been as bad as it looked at first. His inclusion is a boost for a scrimmage that was forced to play hooker Robbie Russell at loose head last week up at Sale. Russell should take either his more familiar no2 shirt or a spot on the bench if Matt Cairns starts in the middle of the front row. The front row picture is completed by David Flatman and Pierre Durant.

Abdel Benazzi and Scott Murray should once again be the starting lock partnership and they will be supported by Kieran Roche. Despite being led from the field injured last week, England and Lions stalwart Richard Hill returns along with his back row colleagues Kris Chesney, Tony Roques and the impressive Ben Russell.

Nick Walshe will hope that he will not be pressed into service at stand-off this week after the loss of Horan and Luke Smith at Sale. Smith is in the squad and is likely to start at no10 so Walshe is expected to don the no9 shirt. Ben Hampson is back-up for Walshe and Castaignede could well feature if Smith has to leave the field.

The threequarters almost select themselves these days with the same familiar names in the 22. Darragh O’Mahony, Kevin Sorrell, Thom Shanklin and Ben Johnston look like they’ll be the starting quartet in midfield with the versatile Brett Sparg waiting in the wings, perhaps, to fill in if required.

Final word on the squad’s composition is reserved for Adey Winnan who was head-and-shoulders above the rest of his (older) team-mates last week at Heywood Road. Still showing no fear and a maturity way beyond his 19 years (only last month, mind you!) the Cornishman should once again start at fullback. It was suggested by some fans at Sale last week that he grows his hair long and sports some sideburns to look a bit more like JPR Williams, because he plays just like the 1970s legend from Bridgend. Yes, we think he’s THAT good. A repeat performance will be needed to keep out a Saints side hell-bent on redeeming themselves after their Twickenham travails.

It’s a hazardous business, making predictions for Saints v Sarries games. Few would have predicted the 45 point hammering they received in the first round of last year’s Zurich Championship and fewer still the Sarries short-handed 32-8 demolition of their hosts three years ago. Saints, however, have had the better of the most recent exchanges, winning four out of the last five meetings in all competitions. Northampton Director of rugby John Steele said this week “Saturday’s match against Saracens will be the latest in a series of fascinating encounters. Over the last few years, we have met them in cup games, league matches and play-offs, and it has always proved nigh on impossible to predict an outcome”.

Tim Horan, meanwhile, seems to be giving all that Northampton v Sarries history the Henry Ford treatment and is focusing solely upon how Sarries are going to get a result: “No doubt they will be keen to avenge their defeat on Saturday in front of their home crowd but we are not going to worry about what they are going to do, we know how good they are. We have to concentrate on our own game and make sure we get it right before we start worrying about them.” Indeed. It will not have escaped the great Australian, the rest of the “big five” and the players that tries are very scarce commodities nowadays and in order to get those oh-so-vital league points, quite a few will have to be scored in this game and the other two between now and 5pm on 12 May.

The key to this game, as in the previous encounters this season and those of last, is whether Sarries can stop the Saints forwards making inroads. They did in the reverse league fixture at Vicarage Road and didn’t in the cup game. They certainly didn’t last season when the men from up the M1 whitewashed the sorry Sarries in three displays where the Saints pack took us to the cleaners. In the last two games against the two most dangerous back three combinations in the league, the backs in Black have shown that they can keep the quick boys out (let’s not count that Cueto interception, shall we?) and even with the likes of Ben Cohen out there, it will be tough for Saints to score out wide if they perform the same heroics again.

There is the backlash scenario to contend with too. Saints, down and out after that Twickenham tuning, could well come out like a cornered rat and fight or they could do the same as Sarries did against Pontypridd (following that Saints cup defeat, incidentally) and play just as badly. I’ll discount that particular theory and go on the old formula of big pack + home advantage + Sarries struggling = home win. 240 minutes and counting……


And Finally: “‘Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed’ was the ninth beatitude” – Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

Saracens:

Backs: Winnan, Castaignede, Sparg. Johnson, Shanklin, Sorrell, O’Mahony, Smith, Hampson, Walshe

Forwards: Flatman, Harbut, Durant, Cairns, Robbie Russell, Abdel Benazzi, Murray, Roche, Roques, Hill, Chesney, Ben Russell.


Northampton Saints:

Beal; Brooks, Jorgensen, Leslie, Cohen; Grayson, Malone; Smith, Richmond, Morris; Phillips, Brouzet; Soden, Poutney, Seely.

Replacements: Thompson, Stewart, Brenton, Hunter, Dason, Tucker, Moir.