Saracens v London Welsh Preview
By Mark W-J
February 28 2013
A month ago any meeting of London Welsh and Saracens would be expected to a fairly boring kick-fest, with the two clubs barely averaging one try each per game. But in the last fortnight Saracens have thrown off the shackles, collecting back-to-back bonus point wins for the first time since March 2007, including four tries against Exeter in the first Premiership match at their new home in Barnet.
So a trip to play free-running Saracens on the new artificial surface at Allianz Park doesn’t sound like a particularly enticing prospect for London Welsh. Our winless streak in the Premiership now stretches to six games, during which time we have conceded nineteen tries and 183 points, while scoring just four tries and 100 points of our own, and we have now scored the fewest tries (18) and conceded the most (44) after sixteen rounds of fixtures. On top of their newly found scoring ability, Saracens boat the best defensive record in the league, having conceded just sixteen tries to-date; they are on course to comfortably beat the 30 tries they conceded during the regular season last year, which was one more than Bath. But our two clubs have still scored the fewest proportion of points from tries, with Welsh’s 31.7% (90 of 284 scored) being marginally better than Sarries’ 30.9% (110 of 356 scored). For the benefit of those anoraks who like these stats as much as I do, the last time Saracens collected ten points from two games they beat Bristol 36-5 at Vicarage Road with tries from Kameli Ratuvou (two), Thomas Castaignede and Kevin Yates, plus four penalties and two conversions from Glen Jackson, and won 22-7 at the Madejski the following weekend, the tries coming courtesy of Ratovou, Castaignede, Tomas de Vedia and Jackson, who added a solitary conversion.
The events of this week have cast a cloud over London Welsh’s preparations for Sunday’s game. As the club have said, it would be wrong to discuss the events surrounding the RFU charge until after next week’s hearing, but after all of the excitement of our debut season in the Premiership and the very sudden turnaround in the fortunes of both London Irish and, in particular, Sale, it would be a great shame if the basement battle were decided by off-field events. Our first meeting with Saracens nearly produced the highlight of our season, when referee Luke Pearce blew for full-time after a collapsed scrum on Saracens’ line. The visiting supporters were incensed when Mr Pearce publicly apologised to the Exiles for ending the game while the scrum was still ‘live’: on ESPN - who are also televising the return fixture - Ben Kay was adamant that replacement tighthead Petrus du Plessis was at fault for the collapse as his pack were shoved back towards their own line, and a penalty try would have given Welsh the most unexpected victory. On the flipside, you have to suspect that a win over one of the Premiership’s big guns would have meant that the likes of Bath, in particular, wouldn’t have underestimated us in future weeks, so the win:loss ratio would quite probably have remained unchanged over the season as a whole. What particularly irked the visiting fans that afternoon was that their team had dominated territory and possession, but had been - in their eyes - treated unduly harshly by Mr Pearce’s interpretation of events at the breakdown. One revealing stat suggested that we’d visited the Saracens’ ’22’ on only four occasions, yet we managed to score two tries to their one: the first an interception kick and chase from Phil Mackenzie, his first Premiership try, and the second by Tom Arscott instigated by a beautifully weighted pass from Gavin Henson on his London Welsh debut.
Strettle runs in a try against Sale
in the final Premiership game at Vicarage Road
Having reached consecutive Premiership Grand Finals against Leicester in 2010 and 2011, winning the title at the second attempt, a third-place finish and semi-final elimination at the hands of the Tigers constituted a disappointing season for Saracens. This year they’re out to make amends, and their four tries at Welford Road last weekend have certainly made their closest rivals sit up and take note. England have released David Strettle back to Barnet this week, despite his two tries last Saturday night; there are many people who believe that he deserves a chance in Stuart Lancaster’s squad, and even more who feel that his fellow winger, Chris Ashton, is incredibly lucky to have retained his place. Strettle’s brace at Leicester takes his Premiership total to four tries for the season, although they’ve all been scored in 2013, and all in the second half; as a result he is, alongside Phil Mackenzie and eight others, the joint-sixth highest try-scorer in the Premiership this season. Ashton has scored three tries for his new club, but none since the second weekend of the season; of the top five scorers in the league, four are English, but only one - Danny Care - is currently in the England squad.
James Short - the Saracens wing scored one
of their four tries in the victory over Tigers last Saturday
While many rival fans criticise the Saracens backs, in particular, for their lack of tries, the Vicarage Road/ Stadium:MK/ Wembley/ Brussels/ Barnet (delete as applicable) faithful are more than happy to point out that their players scored 27 of England’s 38 points in their historic victory over the All Blacks in December. Six of their players are in the current England Elite Squad, with Alex Goode, Brad Barritt, Ashton, Owen Farrell and Mako Vunipola each appearing in all three of their Six Nations victories in the last month. Goode also made three appearances on-loan to London Welsh towards the tail-end of the 2007-08 season, scoring a try in a 29-3 win over Doncaster at ODP. It has already been announced that Vunipola’s brother, Billy, will be joining from Wasps in the summer. Again, Sarries seem to attract a lot of criticism from rival supporters for their recruitment techniques: Dai Young insisted that Wasps were in contract negotiations with Vunipola and were unaware of any interest from Saracens until they announced the deal as a fait accompli, and he’s not the first DoR to speak out after losing players to North London. For whatever reason, Saracens are not the most popular bunch, whether it’s because of the perception that they are a South African club operating in the UK (which can be rejected, at least in part, on the strength of their England contingent); the massive losses that they have incurred in recent year (often put down to their alleged abuse of the salary cap, but in reality not helped by having one of the least welcoming stadia in the Premiership) or their insistence on playing games in far-flung outposts from Brussels to Cape Town, showing contempt for the small but loyal band of season ticket holders. But results have been consistently strong since the appointment of Brendan Venter as Head Coach in 2009; they entertain Ulster in the Heineken Cup semi-finals in early April; and Allianz Park is a sell-out again on Sunday as it was for the opening game with the Chiefs, whereas crowds at Vicarage Road have only broken the 10,000 barrier three times in the last three seasons. Back at the dawn of professional they were derided for the remote-controlled delivery of kicking tees and carefully (but tactlessly) selected music blaring out in response to every blast of the referee’s whistle, but with the innovation of the new all-weather playing surface and a 100 metre long bar under the main stand, you can’t deny the fact that no matter what the masses may think, Saracens are a club on the up and with one eye on the future.
Allianz Park - a new home for Sarries and
a very clear sign that they are on the up
After Sunday we take another fortnight’s break for the knockout stages of the LV Cup, and Saracens play away to Sale in the semi-finals on Sunday week, with Harlequins or Bath awaiting the winners in the final at Sixways seven days later. When the Premiership reconvenes, they entertain the league leaders and reigning champions in a pivotal match at the top of the table. Sarries won 18-16 at the Stoop in September, and on the final weekend of March they visit another one of the Premiership’s form sides, Wasps. If they can get through this month unbeaten then you fancy that a home semi-final in the Premiership play-offs awaits; we can only hope that with bigger challenges ahead they take their eye off the ball this weekend.
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Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Kevin Stewart & Andrew Watson
4th Official : John Burtenshaw
TMO: David Grashoff
Assessor: Tony Spreadbury
ESPN is available via Cricfree. Friday's West Country clash at the Rec (again on ESPN) will give a chance to see the possible line-ups when we go there on consecutive Saturdays (23rd & 30th March)
he skinned Topsy Ojo on the outside - raw pace, then did the same again to Delon Armitage at full back
PADDYTAF.
"GIVE THEM NO BALL OR BAD BALL WELSH"
Regardez mon visage. Suis-je bovvered?
15 Chris Wyles
14 James Short
13 Joel Tomkins
12 Duncan Taylor
11 David Strettle
10 Charlie Hodgson
9 Richard Wigglesworth
1 Rhys Gill
2 Schalk Brits
3 Matt Stevens
4 Steve Borthwick ©
5 George Kruis
6 Jackson Wray
7 Will Fraser
8 Ernst Joubert
16 Jamie George
17 Nick Auterac
18 Petrus du Plessis
19 Mouritz Botha
20 Andy Saull
21 Neil de Kock
22 Nils Mordt
23 Ben Ransom
Replacements: 16. Dan George, 17. Tom Bristow, 18. Paulica Ion*, 19. Matt Corker, 20. Daniel Browne, 21. Alex Davies, 22. Gordon Ross*, 23. Tom Voyce*.
Odd that Tiesi didn't even make the bench. Is he injured?
"GIVE THEM NO BALLL OR BAD BALL WELSH"
Quote:jeremy ogaribaldi
Thanks for the memory of that Ratovou try at the MadStad
he skinned Topsy Ojo on the outside - raw pace, then did the same again to Delon Armitage at full back
Remember it well. It was in the opening couple of minutes. Irish didn't know what hit them.
Great preview, by the way. Well done.
Who removed my H.R. Giger picture?
There'll also be some links at [www.wiziwig.tv]
"Tom Bristow comes in at loosehead for Franck Montanella, who has failed a fitness test.
Billy Moss is named on the bench."
I also bring an apology from our board - we're slowly shifting our management from the old lady (at least this time it was shorter, and not actually while you were playing) - hopefully they'll actually shift it outside the game by next time
London Welsh had Phil MacKenzie and Tom Bristow sin binned late in the first half with head coach Lyn Jones frustrated at the outcome of the match.
"Coaches, players or anybody involved in rugby aren't perfect; we all mistakes but all we ask for is consistency and that was missed," said Jones.
"You just want to go from week to week with a basic understanding of what is a competitive ruck.
"I felt the first two rucks were clear wins for us but they were penalties against us and if that's what the rules are that's fine.
"But then in the second half it wasn't like that - are you allowed to compete for the ball or not? I'm just confused about it and I'm just a coach.
"I don't know what it's like for players because one week it's all one thing then the following week it's completely different and I'm struggling with the consistency."
I think Gav made a bit of a meal about being taken out but you are right about the obstruction, it was even closer to the action than Arscotts "offence".
After the first game against Sarries their coach quite publicly complained about the ref missing our guys going off their feet and spoiling the ball, and today the same ref(unbelieveable that they allowed that)was obviously looking for it, watching our boys and paying no attention to them coming in from the side and when they weren't rolling away. Even more unbelieveable at one point the touch judge at a scrum said black 1 not binding and all Pearce said was "thanks for that and gave nothing", but then proceded to give them a penalty at the next ruck.
Lyn was right we weren't allowed to compete at the ruck , we were pinged at least 3 times for being off our feet when ok the player may not have quite been supporting his own weight but was quite clearly balanced, to the point he could easily of stood up, was competing for the ball and not laying over the ruck, nothing that they weren't doing at times and that you see in many rucks each game.
WE did compete for just over half the game and there were less handling mistakes and the boys played some good stuff at times, people who say Gav is afraid of contact nowadays should watch that game , personally I think he is getting back close to his best and at least deserves a place on the plane to Japan.
Stegman I think could be good for us he was running some good lines and clearly has an eye as to who to run at.
The defence was good today and there looked like some bruised guys coming off the pitch , but to be fair they did outplay us and have really hit the ground running at Allianz Park, they can't be accused of playing boring rugby based on their last few performances.
Gav's try was disallowed for crossing.
Good performance all round, except line out a bit shakey. Front row fine .Daniel Browne looked good back on the field, made a real impact when he came on .
Tomkins should have had 2 yellow, one for an elbow in the first half and the second near the end when he caught Gavin in the face off the ball.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:03:04:11:43:19 by X~Pat.
I'm not a big fan of the TMO in the league - it's only available at televised games, so decisions that have a major bearing on events at both ends of the table are subject to the presence of the cameras. You could argue that we would have scored a second try yesterday if it weren't for the TMO, and Exeter would have won at Sale if they hadn't had two scores disallowed - one for a fairly blatant forward pass, but the second in the 80th minute for such a marginal call that the TMO must have used a protractor, and it would have been awarded by 99.99% of officials without the benefit of HD replays.
On the other hand - would Chris H have been sent off if the TMO had reviewed his tackle on Seb, so maybe - as the old adage goes - these things even themselves out over time.
I don't like TMOs. Took many refs and touch judges use it too wimp out of a decision and there's not enough consistency in its use.
But I suppose what with the modern trend towards Pom Pom girls , blaring PA music during the game etc etc we could always hope for a revealing 78th minute exposure from the Fat Lady next time, a la Janet Jacksons faux pas at the Superbowl !
Sarries complained that the refereeing was on sided last time , well I think we ahad afair shout to complain the same this time.
I think Luke Pearce felt the pressure of those complaints last time, and to be honest I can't believe that they allowed him to referee both ties between the same teams , especially with all the controversy surrounding the first fixture.