Saracens v Northampton - Zurich Report

By Stockers
February 18 2004

At an earlier than normal lunch party on Sunday at The Vicarage, some notable guests turned up late. The visitors from Northampton.

In a game that turned out to be a real nail biter but was ultimately disappointing in terms of skill, Northampton Saints did their usual trick of not turning up until the first 20 minutes of the game had been played.

Maybe the 1.00 pm kick off was just too early or they thought they were still warming up.

Saints started the game with a tight head super impact sub prop at loose head and Tongan Tevita Taumopeau on the tightside of the front row.

A light shower immediately before kick off made the already heavy Vicarage Road pitch even more treacherous. The Saints entered the arena to the strains of "Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide" and this proved to be rather prophetic as the team struggled to find each other, their game plan, the ball and the way forward for a good many minutes.

Whatever, Saracens belied their lowly league position and started the game in determined fashion, leading to a try by Nikki Little after 8 minutes. Little converted although his inaccuracy with the boot later in the game would actually cost Sarries the match.

7 - 0 to the home side.

From the restart Saints applied some pressure at last and from a scrum, Robinson, though under pressure, got the ball away to Ripol. who sadly knocked on in the tackle 2 metres short with 7 points beckoning. Sarries were starting to win valuable turn over ball from Saints possession and from one such steal launched an attack up field which looked like a certain try, only for a pass to have been judged forward. Back down field for the scrum, from which Reihana was launched on an attacking run which was stopped by a huge tackle from Thomas Castaignede. He was busy congratulating himself on the hit and forgot to do the next bit, rolling away. Penalty to Saints and 3 points from Shane Drahm's boot.

7 - 3 after 17 minutes.

One big worry for Saints were the Sarries centres and Kevin Sorrell was carving some very large holes in our midfield defence.

Little, having earlier missed one of the easiest penalty kicks at goal took 3 points from a much more difficult position after Darren Fox had been pinged for playing the ball on the ground and given a strong lecture by Mr Leyshon after Saints had lost another turn over ball.

10 - 3 after 22 minutes.

Now the Saints team woke up at last. (Is it always 10 points to the opposition before we start playing?) Sharky chipped the ball through the Sarries line, possession was recovered and after the ball went through several pairs of hands the last pass was sweetly delivered by Chris Budgen to Hyndman who made no mistake in taking the try from 15 metres out. Drahm missed the conversion after some idiot with a klaxon put him off, leading to an appeal from the PA announcer for the traditions of the game to be respected.

10 - 8 after 25 minutes.

Now the officials started lowering the performance levels and from incidents which reflected badly on Saints. Robinson, anticipating that Bracken would get the ball from the ruck in front of him, set off to tackle his opposite number and made the hit. Unfortunately the ball and Bracken never met as his forwards were busy with a pick and drive. Lucky not to be penalised Saints and in fact the ref gave a penalty to the visitors shortly afterwards. Shortly after, Craig Yandell was pulled down at a line out, right in front of Mr Leyshon and his touch judge. Again nothing happened. Yandell left the pitch for treatment but returned later.

Now Saints attacked well up their right flank and the ball was passed infield from quickly recycled ball to John Leslie with the line only a metre away. He dropped it, another 7 points went astray.

Just after the half hour Sarries attacked up the right wing but good Northampton defence and turn over ball stopped the attack, only for a moment of Castaignede magic to threaten the Saints defence again. At the breakdown, the ball failed to come out but the yellow card did. French hooker Ibanez had decided that someone was killing the ball and frustration led to Mark Connors and Darren Fox being stamped upon. The Ozzy lock received lengthy treatment whilst Monsieur Ibanez had a 10 minute break as the clock showed 35 minutes gone.

At this point Robbie Morris replaced TT, obviously following the example set by Wales the day before in subbing props BEFORE half time.

Into injury time at the end of the first half another Saints attack from a tap penalty should have been 7 points again but Hyndman was penalised for not releasing in the tackle after his support was slow to arrive. A half of rugby where Sarries looked by far the more committed side and were quicker in most aspects of the game. Still, at least the sun had come out!

The second half started at 2.00 pm on a Sunday. All very odd. Nick Beal replaced John Leslie who had taken a knock towards the end of the first half and so Bruce Reihana moved forward.

Saints attacked form the kick off...but dropped the ball. They regained possession............but then knocked on. Despite Shane Drahm being pole axed off the ball, the Saints kept going and attacked. Ibanez was still in the bin and Saints superiority in numbers was decisive as Connors took the ball on in the midfield Saints recycled quickly and worked the ball left where a huge overlap allowed Drahm to stroll in for Saints second try, the try scorer adding the conversion.

10 - 15 after 5 minutes of the second half.

And then.............and then...........a try to savour for the fans in Gold Black & Green. A try made by two props, a rare and exquisite thing to savour for many years.

From the Saints 22 metre line Chris Budgen showed great strength in crashing through tackles and maintaining the go-forward. He recycled well and the ball was worked to the Saints right wing where there was some space along the touch line. Who was waiting for the pass? Only the other prop, young Robbie Morris! Groans at the thought of a prop with the ball still in his own half were soon replaced with roars from the GB&G fans as Robbie lit the afterburners, charged at an amazing turn of speed up the right wing, fending off tacklers and after a run of 40 metres, delivered a sublime pass out of the tackle to Reihana who scored the try almost un-noticed as the rest of the team rushed to congratulate the Big Man. Drahm converted.

10 - 22 after 8 minutes! Phew!

Maybe Saints relaxed too much here because line outs were now being lost whereas earlier they had been secure and Sarries upped their game. Sorrell was bursting through thre midfield again and as a result of one fine Sarries attack, full back Robbie Kyd took the ball down the right wing, laid down the gauntlet for Nick Beal and just evaded the despairing tackle to touch down in the corner. However, Little missed the conversion.

15 - 22 after 16 minutes.

Sarries had certainly woken up and Taine Randell and Castaignede were living up to their reputations. There was a period of quite exciting rugby where no points were scored but there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and a fair few mistakes as well. Saints were losing attacking line outs with a regularity which points to Item 1 on the team meeting agenda this coming week. The one good thing Saints were doing was making Sarries play the rugby in their own half and the Northampton offensive defence was pinning the home side down on the right side of the gain line.

Sarries pressure was becoming intense now as they tried to regain the initiative and Robinson was penalised for not rolling away at the tackle and Mr Leyshon lost patience, giving Sharky a 10 minute breather. The kick was straightforward and Little took the 3 points.

18 - 22 after 29 minutes.

Sarries pressure was still being met with heroic Saints defence, even with 14 men but it became more than just a bit nail biting when Saints conceded a penalty on 80 minutes and Sarries kicked to touch on our 22 metre line. Sarries kept their attack going and looked to have set Paul Bailey free for a certain try under the posts. Oriel Ripol saved the game for his club with a fantastic cover tackle from the left wing to stop Bailey just short of the line. As Sarries tried to recycle the ball Mr Leyshon signalled a scrum, the players all stopped and he then blew for the end of the game. Saints had won the home players looked at first bewildered and then gutted and the Sarries crowd booed the officials from the pitch.

So Saints had won away at Vicarage Road for the first time in the ZP despite playing well below par and against a Saracens side who looked much better than their position in the league suggests.

The final score was 18 - 22, giving Saints 4 league points, Sarries a losing bonus point and Northampton Saints maintaining 3rd in the Premiership. A game high in excitement ultimately but low in skills levels.



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