Saracens
Sarries vs. Tigers Preview
By saracens4life
February 21 2013
I read an interview yesterday (http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/jack-buckby-is-proud-to-be-britains-next-nick-griffin?utm_source=vicefb) with a young man called Jack Buckby. He's the new golden boy of British far-right nationalism, and creator of the "culturism" movement. This group bases itself on the turn-of-the-19th-century idea of national homogeneity - that each nation must strive, fight even, to protect its unique cultural values.
For all sorts of reasons, this philosophy has become horribly outdated in western society. It has been rendered impossible by modernization, and obsolete by multiculturalism.
The analogy here is very loose, to be clear - but I think it's an interesting one.
Saracens and Leicester, within the one 'nation' of English club rugby, seem to have sharply opposed cultural values and strategies. The Tigers, perhaps at one end of the tradition-newness spectrum; the Men in Black, perhaps at the other - no value judgement intended.
One with a long-standing city-centre stadium; the other needing to build one. One striving to maintain its great fan base; the other needing to create one. One brand big enough to attract major sponsorship deals; the other looking to high-profile, worldwide events to attract commercial interest.
As for cultural values? Leicester: hard-nosed, efficient, ruthless; plenty to shout about on the history & heritage front. Sarries: as per the thread below, it's still quite hard to tell; but an element of breaking new ground and setting new trends, be they universally approved or not.
In the 21st century, it seems inevitable that there is this clash between perceived conservatism and perceived anti-conservatism - or whatever analogy you want to use.
The other consequence of being in the 21st century (warning: rugby ahead) is that kick-off times are at the mercy of television companies. In other words, companies whose customer base is not the fans who want to watch the game live. As such, we end up with a ludicrous Saturday night fixture, starting at 8pm in a city not well served by late-night trains. Kudos to any Sarries fan who's making the trip.
The reason for the late kick-off is, of course, the England game at Twickenham. Back in the Martin Johnson days, this would have created a big disparity (I believe we once scored 50 points at Welford Road :)). But with the lies, defamation and incompetence of Stuart Lancaster's regime (see Wils' infamous "The Weekly Lancaster" for clarification), the disadvantage is felt much more evenly.
The absence of the England contingents will not dampen the competitive edge, though. On one side of the scrum, we have an intriguing battle between Ayerza and Stevens; neither is the most powerful scrummager around, but both use the sort of dexterity and trickery that purists find inexorably attractive. Both also have much to offer around the field.
On the other side, Tigers are shorn of both Castrogiovanni and Cole, but they can still call on the sizeable figure of Logovi’i Mulipola (what salary cap??). The Samoan will prove a handful for either Gill or Auterac, depending on the fitness of the Welshman. We’ll have to hope that the oft-noted Leicester front row shenanigans are policed firmly by JP Doyle – whom I quite like as a ref, but I understand that his popularity decreases further up the M1.
At hooker, the return of dynamo Schalk Brits would be very welcome – or else we will look to Jamie George, who has started to blossom of late, and the ball-carrier-but-not-much-else option of John Smit. In opposition will likely be Rob Hawkins, of broken arm fame, and ex-Sarrie George Chuter; it’s a match-up which I think is in our favour.
In the second row, we have a full hand available – Botha released by England, Kruis rested last week, Hargreaves looking lively off the bench, and the still-underrated, Captain Fantastic Steve Borthwick. The breakdown and lineout should be as strong as ever, then. Tigers will feel the loss of Geoff Parling, especially with stalwart Louis Deacon coming off early last week and looking increasingly like he’s on his last legs. In Slater and Kitchener, they have two mobile, physical options – but perhaps not as much control in the tight.
Jackson Wray made a fine return to first-team action against Exeter, carrying powerfully, and with Kelly Brown captaining Scotland I’d expect the youngster to stay at #6, with the ever-impressive Fraser and Joubert alongside. Again, the breakdown is an area we will look to attack. Leicester’s main counter-weapon will be Aussie openside Julian Salvi – wily, tenacious, with outrageous stamina and durability. They can feel aggrieved to lose the not-international-class Waldrom to international duty, and in his absence the elder statesmen Crane and Deacon, or an under-cooked Croft, will have their work cut out to ensure parity.
And that platform will be crucial (as always). Both scrum halves (Wigglesworth & Harrison) should offer clean service if the men in front do their jobs properly; and both fly halves (Hodgson & Ford) are reliant on front-foot ball for their distribution and kicking games – and, psychologically, for their goal kicking.
The centre pairing of Powell & Tomkins for us is an exciting one, and last week their ambition in attack was thwarted only by unfamiliarity. Hopefully that particular issue will have been dealt with in time for Saturday, as Allen and Smith are two very underrated players. The ex-Gloucester man reminds me a lot of Brad Barritt (big compliment!), and his only obstacle to being an international contender is, I would say, about half a stone. Smith has pace and power, plays consistently and works selflessly – not quite the threat of Manu, but that’s hardly a fair comparison – he’d walk into most Premiership XVs.
I can’t see this being an ideal game for back-three players, with their most important duty likely to be receiving and chasing kicks. With that in mind, I’d expect Ransom to drop to the bench with Wyles returning to the starting line-up; and hopefully Leicester will persist with the Tait-at-full-back experiment with their own favourite Geordan Murphy missing out. The wings will be much of a muchness I reckon – with Strettle and Short the bigger names, but Morris and Thompstone becoming engrained with the Tigers ethos.
So not much to choose between the sides…much will depend on the breakdown, and on which side can lay the platform for their respective fly-half to control the game. On paper I’d make us slight favourites in that regard – but so much depends on unpredictable factors, such as the referee, the conditions, and each side’s mindset.
And even if there is little to separate the teams on the pitch, we remain two very different clubs off it – and perhaps it would be possible to embrace that difference, and make it fruitful rather than self-defeating… One can hope.
Enjoy the game!!
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Thanks saracens4life for the Tigers preview. I have somehow managed to get a corporate ticket for HQ on Saturday so will have to record the game.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013:03:07:12:03:03 by TonyTaff.
Not having that, I believe this will be an extremely close game,
19-13 to Sarries is my guess
And " Sarries fall victim to Nationalism" if we lose.
Excellent preview, thanks
We shouldn't need any motivating after seeing what happened at Irish when we failed to 'turn up'.
The Tigs preview of us - very grumpy and quite ranty first two-thirds, but after that settles down in quite a good analysis going through player by player competitions
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