SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

“I dreamed a dream in days gone by……..” Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to invoke the dreadful “do you hear the people sing” but our dream lives on to the last day of the season. Despite the topsy turvey results at Bristol and Leicester, that dream is still in our own hands. As I understand it we need to beat Exeter by at least 3 match points (ie 4-1, 5-2) to qualify for 4th place ahead of the Chiefs. No mean feat and it will require a considerable step up in performance from yesterday to beat an Exeter team on something of a roll but it’s not impossible. (“to dream the impossible dream….”)

Back in April, when this remarkable run-in began with a demolition of Sale Sharks, the there was no pressure on the team. No one expected this incredible run of 5/5 wins and 24/25 points which has put us where we are today, least of all the players. They played without a care in the world and it all came off, everything. Now that dream is a reality the burden is a heavy one and with that the pressure on everyone is increasing. Yes, the team are still trying to play that delightful free-flowing rugby but something has been lost because now it matters and that possibility (probability?) of pulling off something incredible is checking them, just a tiny bit but enough to bring those dreams crashing down to earth as so nearly happened yesterday.

StoneX was hot. The early kick-off meant the burning sun was bearing down on players and supporters alike. Temperatures reached 30C in the sunshine and the occasional gust of wind was a welcome respite. After some early exchanges, Sarries took the lead on 6 minutes. They launched their first real attack. A kick ahead from Tobias Elliott was carried over by Benson under pressure from Elliot leading to a 5m scrum. Sarries pushed forward with a penalty advantage  and it looked like the ball was grounded by Willis. Mr Pearce didn’t seem inclined to award the penalty but the TMO highlighted some dodgy dealing by Chandler Cunningham-Smith and Mr Pearce went under the posts with CCS heading for 10 minutes in the shade. Sarries largely failed to take advantage of the extra man apart from a butchered effort when Fergus Burke made a break and tried to find to Max Malins but Cadan Murley had somehow got in between them and his fingers forced Max to knock on in the process of scoring and a kick ahead from Burke triggered a nice break from Tobias Elliott which was held up over the line by Kerr. (14 points squandered which one felt in more carefree days would have been taken).

Sarries had set-piece dominance but seemed unable to press the advantage home. Always a pass went astray at the vital moment or a ball was knocked on. One particularly poor effort saw Quins almost equalise with only a herculean effort by Elliot forcing a turnover. Bracken and Caluori combined unhelpfully when Burke was screaming for it the other side. Finally after 24 minutes a huge carry by Willis allowed Earl to break and find Max on the right wing and he scored the 2^nd although Burke missed out on the extras. 12-0. We breathed a bit more easily. Surely now Sarries would push on. But it was not to be. For the rest of the half Quins were the better team and were it not for their penchant to kick the ball dead, and a superhero called Eroni Mawi who stopped Marcus Smith in full flight, they surely would have scored. They almost did through Dombrandt but Mr Pearce saw some obstruction and the try was disallowed. Both teams and the officials seemed glad of the half-time whistle (we probably played about 2 minutes short of the actual time given everyone forgot to stop the clock during yet another lengthy time out).

More strange zorbing behaviour at half time. Its probably me but I don’t get it! Time to refill the water bottle – it wasn’t getting any cooler.

We restarted, this time Sarries had the sun behind them which was hopefully the advantage they needed. Not so. It was all Quins from the restart. Quins lost Kerr to injury, and Mawi produced another try-saving tackle.  Around the hour mark both sides made a lot of changes. Sarries’ bench had looked much stronger that Quins’ so we crossed our fingers with the arrival of a new front row and new dad Faz replacing Burke but the play remained scrappy and it was Quins who scored when Evans and Bradley ran the length of the pitch, virtually unchallenged, to score. Marcus Smith added the extras and it was 12-7. Sarries replaced Tom Willis (on his last home appearance) with Nathan Michelow and a rather innocuous Noah Caluori with Jack Bracken. Immediately there seemed to be a bit more urgency leading to a penalty in front of goal which Faz uncharacteristically missed. Fax put the next one in the corner but Dan was back on line-out yips and overthrew.

This game turned on the last 5 minutes. Just as it felt like Quins would once again grind out a wind, Sarries set up a maul from a line-out. Hartley broke and found Tompkins who scored what looked like the winning try. Faz added the extras. 19-7 with 2 ½ minutes left. Surely enough now. Somehow Theo McFarland managed to drop the restart, Quins pounced and  scored in the corner through Anderson. Marcus missed the kick – 19-12, less than a minute left. Sarries seemed to have settled for the win. All that was required was to secure the kick off and kick the ball out. Faz had other ideas. His restart was inspired – deep into Quins left-hand corner. It was fumbled into touch. The clock was almost dead but Sarries had the lineout. Dan delivered, the forwards set up the maul, the backs piled in and it was unstoppable. Dan was over, Faz landed the extras, Mr Pearce blew his whistle and from nowhere, Sarries had managed to pull 5 points out of the fire.

Tobias Elliot deservedly won Man of the Match although honourable mention to Tom Willis on his last home appearance and Ben Earl plus a lovely cameo from Nathan Michelow. We sure are going to miss Tom Willis next season.

So it will all come down to the final game of the regular season, away to Exeter Chiefs next Saturday. Exeter’s rather surprising win over Leicester has ended Bristol’s play-off hopes but  doesn’t change the calculations regarding Sarries that much but that vital try bonus point might just do. Sarries have to win by 3 match points (ie 4-1 or 5-2). (The teams would be level on points but Sarries would have more wins). Squeaky bum time and a huge increase in performance required but both sides will be nervous. Yet another Cup Final awaits.

SARACENS: Malins, Caluori (J Bracken), Tompkins, Hartley, Elliott, Burke (Farrell), C Bracken (Van Zyl). Mawi (Carre), George (Dan), Street (Cleary), Itoje, Tizard, Isiekwe (McFarland), Earl, Willis (Michelow)

HARLEQUINS: Benson, Anderson, Kerr (Cleaves), Bradley, Murley, Smith, Porter (Townsend); Hobson (Wenger), Riley (Musk), Delgado (Streeter), Carr (Driscoll), Williams (Green), Cunningham-South, Kenningham (Evans), Dombrandt

SCORERS:

Saracens: Tries: Pen, Malins, Tompkins, Dan; Conv: Farrell (2)

Harlequins: Tries: Bradley, Anderson; Conv: Smith

Referee: Luke Pearce