By Jason Harris
September 15 2002

London Irish continued their domination over Saracens at the Madeijski Stadium with an impressive 32-10 victory over a very out-of-sorts and much-changed Sarries outfit. Saracens were completely outplayed by their hosts who deservedly took the maximum five points to kick-start their league campaign after two dismal defeats in their opening two games.

Four tries to one sums up the afternoon’s proceedings pretty well and it could have been much worse had Irish not spurned several first half chances that could have put them out of sight by the break.

It was Sarries that opened the scoring on 11 minutes when Niki Little kicked a sublime penalty 48m out just in from the right hand touch line. Thereafter, it was all Irish as they took the game to the visitors. Resolute and often desperate defence from Saracens kept the home side at bay and on more than one occasion Irish were guilty of squandering golden chances to put more points on the board.

Yet Irish’s two first half tries came from Saracens mistakes. Barry Everitt’s effort on the quarter hour was the result of a fluent move along the back line, but the initial possession came form an unforced Sarries error; Matt Cairns missing Ben Russell at the back of the line on the 22 and the ball being snapped up by a grateful Irish back row.

Paul Sackey, so often the nemesis of the Men in Black in the past, scored the try of the afternoon after Sarries coughed up possession on a very rare foray into the opposition quarter. A couple of metres from the Irish line, the ball was turned over and rather than kick for touch, their threequarters ran the ball out and got it wide to Sackey who took off at great speed up the right touchline. A kick and chase followed and the ball sat up nicely for the Irish wing about 10 metres out and he was over untouched.

It was what the home side deserved after laying siege to the Sarries line for the best part of 25 minutes, but it could have been level at the break had the ball not been lost moments earlier. Everitt’s conversion hit the woodwork and a potential 10-all score line turned into 15-3 which was a fair reflection on the first half’s run of play.

The second half started badly for the visitors. Richard Hill fielded the opening kick-off in this own 22 and ran forward strongly, only to fire a 15 metre pass to Kevin Sorrell who was standing about five metres away. The ball bounced off the Sarries centre and it gifted Irish a scrum in an attacking position.

More Irish pressure followed and it paid off when skipper Ryan Strudwick rumbled over from close range after a series of energy-sapping rucks which left Sarries exhausted and – with the conversion added and the score now 25-3 (Everitt had kicked a penalty just after the break) – beaten.

Coach Shelford replaced Sarries second row pairing Roche and Benazzi with Yandell and Hooper and changed the back division around by introducing Goode and Castaignede in place of the ineffective pairing of Haughton and Winnan. But it was to have no bearing on the result.

Kieron Dawson wrapped up the match in style for the home side with a 40m surge which left Hill and several other defenders in his wake to touch down with Everitt slotting home an easy conversion from in front of the posts.

Saracens, though well beaten, didn’t give up and from the last penalty of the game, won a lineout just inside the Irish 22.From the resulting drive forward, Kevin Sorrell went over for a consolation score. The final act of the game – the two points from Andy Goode – had an element of farce to it. Three times the over-eager Irish players tried to charge down the kick as the Sarries replacement prepared to put boot to ball and finally, the former Leicester man put the ball over the bar as his tormentors retreated to the try line. Referee Chris White – excellent throughout the game - blew for time and put a sizeable Sarries travelling contingent out of its misery.

Saracens were, frankly, poor. The last-minute withdrawal of David Flatman didn’t help matters in the front row and the scrums were the mess they were last year when the previous props crisis was at its worst. Joe Ross had to switch from hooker to loose head and didn’t fare very well against his two (for Irish always replace their entire front row during games) opponents, unfortunately. There are no excuses to be made for not winning your own lineout ball and to lose at least half a dozen – one for a try, remember – is not acceptable. Sarries will know that.

Let’s take nothing away from Irish. Their support play was excellent, their positional play superb, their kicking from hand top-drawer. Unlike Sarries who seemed to run into blind alleys and each other more often than not. But the main thing that stood out was their play in the loose. Irish retained the ball with fewer players than Sarries. The result was that they nearly always had overlaps in attack; sometimes two, three or four extra men. It was the same in defence, where as Sarries were sucked into the rucks and mauls, Irish committed few and had men to spare in defence, making it impossible for their opponents to make any significant headway.

A lot of question will be asked of head coach Wayne Shelford about his wholesale changes to the side that beat Bath and Bristol so convincingly. The former All-Black defended his decision and believed that the team that took the field was capable of winning the game. However, he did admit that they were outplayed by the opposition on this occasion.

Shelford also put the loss down to Sarries’ inability to capitalise on three second half scoring chances which could have clawed them back into contention, but he remains calm and said “It's now a case of talking not shouting which will probably take place over a few beers tonight as we evaluate the game before taking to the training field tomorrow”.

Sarries now have a week to regroup and iron out the problems before they hit the road again and head for a clash with London Wasps at Adams Park next Sunday looking for their first win over the old enemy in three years.