Saracens
End of Season Poll Pt 2
Chiefs, Chiefs, Chiefs
By Japie
July 29 2011
It's time for pt 2 od the EOS awards, the much coverted club trophies.
1. BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SARACENS TEAM:
In a Championship winning year it must be no surprise that the season was packed with best performances. Beating Leicester Tigers away, again, was sweet even if the victory in the end came down to Billy Twelvetrees’ missed final kick of the game. Winning away at Northampton, again, was another fabulous day, not least as some commented, having at one point gone down to thirteen men but still in the end winning easily. Winning away (there’s a theme here to which wins we see as most impressive) in a snowy Paris against a star-studded Racing Metro also gripped some to vote. Away at Exeter was another favourite. But surely no surprise, the runaway winner of this category, was the final at Twickenham. Many of the many who voted for it mentioned 9 minutes, 9 seconds. That heroic defensive performance will forever live on.
Winner: The Final against Leicester
2. WORST PERFORMANCE BY A SARACENS TEAM:
With our amazing season there weren’t too many games to choose from. What a pleasure it is to write that! But to paraphrase the great Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “When they were good, They were very, very good, And when they were bad they were horrid.” And when we played badly, we really sunk into a deep pool of doo-doo. One voter went for, “the second-half capitulation at Castle Grim. A venue that we still haven’t cracked.” Winning away at Kingsholm must be on the ‘things to do’ list for 2011-12. Some voted for Sale away (mainly it seems for Gavin Henson’s “non-performance”). Others voted in numbers for season opener at Twickenham when we meekly succumbed to the Oirish. But just out in front, chief amongst our few defeats, was the home defeat to Exeter. Perhaps it was that it was unexpected against the Premiership new boys or may be caught cold against a determined opposition performance, but the Chiefs showed time and again last season that no one won easily against them. So although the Exeter home defeat wins the ‘worst performance’ award, perhaps we shouldn’t condemn it quite so much…
Winner: v Exeter at home
3. FAVOURITE CLUB TO VISIT FOR AN AWAY GAME:
Away games courtesy of the SSA’s coaches are a source of pleasure to many. The anticipation of the build-up as the journey progresses, the odd cheeky sharpener drink, the motorway service station stop and the chance to visit some stadiums that manage to be nicer to was rugby in than Vicarage Road. Votes in this category were scattered across our Premiership opponents like Harlequins, Leeds, Saints (something about their generosity…) as well as others like Leinster and Bedford Blues (preseason friendly and many of our players’ second club). Out in front though were the delights of Devon. May be it was the novelty factor or just down to the friendly Devonian welcome, but way out in front in this category was Exeter Chiefs.
Winner: Exeter Chiefs
4. LEAST FAVOURITE CLUB TO VISIT FOR AN AWAY GAME:
Conversely there are places we really don’t like visiting. The votes made for interesting and in many ways unsurprising reading. Wycombe Wasps come in for heavy criticism such as “toilet at the end of an industrial estate”. Similarly Bath cops some heated opposition: “Wreck remains unfit for purpose, and I am baffled as to why PRL haven’t voted to bring in minimum criteria for the accommodation of away fans.” Northampton is popular with many but for some it’s the pits, “that damn carpark, those stewards and the albeit minority of idiot fans. Plus they ruin your view when the leave early!” Top of the voting pile as the bottom end of humanity to visit was the place where we can’t buy a win it seems, where their fans are passionate, knowledgeable and numerous though clearly many of you think that should read, ‘obnoxious, ignorant and tiresome’. Anyway, least favourite? Kingsholm in Gloucester.
Winner: Gloucester
5. BEST OPPOSITION FANS:
Favourite club to visit and best opposition fans appears to be closely related. The social side of rugby lives on. We like the fans we trek up to Newcastle to see. We like Gloucester fans when they come to Wembley or Vicarage Road. Saints fans aren’t all bad according to some of you. But way out in front, our most favourite oppo fans are Exeter Chiefs (‘breath of long-overdue fresh air in the stuffy old Premiership’). Best place to visit. Best fans to meet. So the date for everyone to note is 1 October 2011 when we visit Devon again to play the second seasoners.
Winner: Exeter Chiefs.
6. WORST OPPOSITION FANS:
Love to hate (or just dislike more than anyone else) fans include such perennial disliked sets of fans such as Wycombe Wandering Wasps, the Midlands Misery Twins Leicester and Northampton as well as delightful Barf, clearly enough to make some want to hurl. It seems quite irrational for many voting, not least as we know that this is rugby and really, we all get on don’t we? But out in front, was the main clientele of our ‘worse place to visit’. The Shed residents are actually very kind to animals and children, lovely to their Mums and not bad people, really.
Winner: Gloucester
7. FAVOURITE OTHER GP TEAM (NON-SARACENS):
What a very odd category to include, as many pointed out. But way out there, clearing up its third award of the night, is Exeter Chiefs.
Winner: Exeter Chiefs.
8. LEAST FAVOURITE TEAM:
So it’s a clean sweep by Exeter of our favourite fans and place to visit. However though Gloucester features in votes for least favourite, it’s not the winner. Way out there are the team whose record we aspire to being like. They have a record of winning across decades while we struggled around the bottom and they have a ground that we would quiver with excitement to have as our own. Called the ‘Cheetahs’ by some, the worst of the worst goes to Leicester Tigers. But remember what our CEO said about them, "By the 2013/14 season, we'll have more than 15 players in the club who've played 100 games or more for Saracens and that's when you start to develop the kind of culture that a club like Leicester has achieved over many, many years. I looked at Leicester in the final, the way they fought and refused to give up in that last nine minutes, and I saw an awful lot of what we're trying to aspire to. But we know that there's a lot of work to do to get to where Leicester are.” So are the many voting for ‘least favourite’ in fact, at least some of you, more than a little envious of their long record of success? Our time is coming…
Winner: Leicester Tigers
9. BEST BAR:
Never mind Saffercens or SAracens, given this much love for Sandy Park’s resident rugby club, perhaps we’ll start to be called Sarater or Exetcens. This year’s vote is a huge love-in for the Devonians. The votes in this category were mainly splattered around many locations but out in front were, again, the Premiership newboys.
Winner yet again: Exeter Chiefs
10. WORST BAR:
Another category with votes for many and little sign of you coalescing around any particular choice. Saints, Sale, bath, Wasps and others get mentions. But our ‘home venues’ are particularly good at winding you up about their pints of ale, measures and suchlike. Wembley gets a mention. So does Vicarage Road (though one person voting for it noted it had been ‘trying hard to improve’). But the winner is Twickenham. We don’t like paying ridiculous charges for our beer. We like it in glasses not plastic skiffs. We like the lids to bottles. We don’t like the q-u-e-u-e-s. We just don’t like HQ (as a venue – we LOVE it when we WIN!!).
Winner: Twickenham
11. BEST 'SOLIDS':
Some voted for Exeter (of course, clearly had fabulous weekends down there!) but out in front was ‘home’ at Vicarage Road. I did a double-take. I recounted. I put my laptop down, went to work, logged back on and STILL it was the winner. You lot clearly eat in a parallel universe to when I do there. “Remarkably, Vicarage Road jumbo sausage hot dog – in fact any post match members bar freebie nibbles” and “The free pies at VR – much appreciated” were singled out by voters. Stand up Vicarage Road catering, this one’s for you.
Winner (really): Vicarage Road
12. WORST 'SOLIDS':
Urgh. As if dodgy beer wasn’t bad enough. Then they go and absolutely sting us for eye-wateringly high charges for some more dodgy ‘bab van-replicating fare. Wembley got some votes (quite rightly in my view, you need a mortgage or a stomach pump). Quins got some support (or hostility) in this category, as did Saints (but the pork roll with apple sauce is delicious!). Eve an unnamed M1 service station (goes without saying I guess). But out in front, making it a double of dubious honour, goes the HQ of overpriced mush, it’s ‘Twickers’ (Twiglets would be better).
Winner: Twickenham
COMING SOON – the ‘Miscellaneous’ part three results…
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon29/07/2011 20:54
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:08:09:13:40:05 by TonyTaff.
On the VR catering, it is fantastic in the Upper Rous and fully deserving of the award IMO...
...to see the new chef.
Already have our train and accommodation sorted for the Exeter trip. Really looking forward to it!
Will still go to Gloucester, this time we WILL get the win we deserve for putting up with their fans and stewards, both in the ground and in the pub afterwards.
I just will not eat at any venue, but maybe have a Guinness or two to make up for it!!
Well done again!!
More Saracens headlines
- END OF SEASON POLL AT LAST
- PWR Semi Final and Final 2025-26 Report
- Saracens Women v Ealing Trailfinders PWR Final Report
- Saracens Women v Ealing Trailfinders PWR Final Preview
- MARK McCALL, AN APPRECIATION
- Saracens Women v Exeter Chiefs Women PWR Semi-Final Report
- Exeter Chiefs v Saracens Premiership Report
- EXETER v SARACENS: please post match related content here
- SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST