Strettle scoring

By Darraghgirl
September 16 2013

 We were warned that the first of the autumn storms was coming. We were warned it would be wet and windy. We knew it would not be pleasant. We knew it was Gloucester. 

This was the last match of a topsy turvey weekend. Gloucester’s conquerors of last week, Sale, had lost at home to new boys Newcastle. Bath had overcome Leicester and Quins had succumbed to Saints in appalling conditions. Gloucester were going to be up for this no doubt at all.

The dark clouds were looming round a rather empty-looking Allianz Park as “That Song” echoed round the terraces. This time an alto had joined the tenor but very few of the supporters joined in (in contrast “stand up” and “Saracens the Champions” were both sung quite lustily a bit later). Obviously it hasn’t died a death over the summer!

Both teams took the field alongside the relatively reassuring presence of Wayne Barnes. Sarries had made just one change from last week (Brad Barritt now out until Christmas was replaced by Duncan Taylor) but the bench was formidable with Brits, Mako and debutant James Johnston waiting to take the field.

Gloucester started with the gusty wing (mostly) behind them. An early Gloucester penalty was reversed after Round one of the fisticuffs then after less than 2 minutes Mr Barnes was waving a red card. Nick Wood had been careless with his boot on Burger’s pretty head in a ruck then appeared to glance down and do it again. So Gloucester were faced with the prospect of 78 minutes with 14 men. Undaunted they won a penalty but Burns misjudged the wind and the ball went wide. When a scrum soon followed Gloucester sacrificed Qera for Murphy.

Gloucester took the lead after 12 minutes with an excellent Burns penalty and a wobbly looking Gill went to the concussion bin for Mako. Not surprisingly Sarries won a scrum penalty and from the 10m line, Farrell went for the corner but Sarries couldn’t make it count with a careless knock on. Sarries struggled to assert any dominance with a succession of handling errors, poor kicks and intercepted passes which was compounded when Farrell missed touch with a penalty. The Sarries pack gained 30m with a super maul from a lineout but it came to nothing when Twelvetrees intercepted Taylor’s loose pass. There was a super run from Ashy, a poor clearance from Farrell, a saving touch from Wiggy, an awful screw kick from Farrell. It was all a bit of a curate’s egg.

Finally Sarries got some useful possession in the Gloucester 22. A lovely run and offload from Taylor to Strettle, Stevens securing the ball from the ensuing ruck, and Wiggy finding Tomkins who ran straight through the middle and scored giving Farrell a relatively easy conversion into the wind and finally Sarries were ahead 7-3.

The try didn’t really settle Sarries though. They won a penalty at the scrum but Farrell missed a tricky kick into the wind only for Burns to land an even harder one to narrow the gap to 7-6. Ashy was popping up everywhere and Wyles and Strettle looked very solid under the swirling high balls. Hargreaves made a good run and eventually Sarries won a penalty which Farrell kicked for 10-6.

Another dangerous maul for Sarries gained territory but no points and Gloucester turned the ball over and somehow won themselves a penalty which yet again Burns knocked over from wide out near the half way line to narrow it down to 10-9. And worse followed when Burns put yet another monster kick over and Gloucester went into half time ahead.

So at half time it was Sarries 10, Freddie Burns 12. The rain was falling, the wind was strengthening and the only consolation was that Sarries would have the wind behind them in the 2^nd half.

Quite what an advantage having the breeze at their backs was soon became apparent. A good run from Billy and Sarries had a penalty which Farrell kicked looking far more comfortable now that the wind was in his favour. Mako replaced Gill. Tomkins broke from his own half and set up a Sarries attack. The ball came out to the wing….and found Jamie George who to be fair forced a Sarries penalty. It was tricky but kickable but Farrell went for the corner. A short throw made its way along the back line and a lovely ball from Wyles set Strettle free down the left wing and over in the corner. Farrell secured a superb conversion and suddenly there was breathing space and a 20-12 lead. Sarries won another penalty from the restart in front of the posts. No problem for Farrell and Sarries had scored 13 points in as many minutes.

The substitutions began, Gloucester brought on Thomas & Stooke for Harden and Lokotui but their tiring pack can’t have exactly rejoiced to see Brits and James Johnston replace George and Stevens (who had a much better game than last week) and Botha replace Hargreaves. The lineout generated yet another unstoppable maul –well legally unstoppable, Kalamafoni went to the bin for pulling it down. (Did Barnes consider the penalty try because it looked to me that there was no other legal outcome). The penalty went in the corner and the line out generated yet another unstoppable maul, this time with only a few metres to go and Brits protected the ball at the back and placed it over the line for a 3^rd try. Farrell too was on a roll and slotted another difficult conversion from wide on the right to make it 30-12.

With 20 minutes left the win was all but secured and playing against 13 men with the wind behind them surely the 4^th try was imminent. Gloucester seemed stunned into life. A dangerous break from Trinder was defended and Trinder picked up an injury which he struggled on with for a while before leaving the field. Gloucester brought on some fresh legs when Thomas, Cowan and Britton replaced Cook, Knoyle and Dawidiuk but Sarries were pressurising the Gloucester try line. Gloucester had a defensive scrum on their own 5m line. The ball squirmed out and they were forced to carry it over. Now an attacking scrum for Sarries. This had to be a try surely. This time a penalty. And another scrum of course. Penalty try coming up? Well on came HRH Michael Tindall for the ailing Trinder. Another scrum another penalty. Surely next time? Another scrum but the Gloucester pack held firm and refused to take a backward step so instead the ball came out and somehow Farrell threw Tomkins a forward pass when the tryline was begging. Kalamafoni rejoined the fray before the resulting Gloucester scrum and in all the mess and muddle Mr Barnes saw a Saracens knock on, Gloucester claimed the ball and cleared it up field. One had to think that a huge opportunity to secure the bonus point had been lost.

Whether it was the presence of royalty or what, all the 50:50 decisions seemed to go Gloucester’s way. 2 successive penalties, the second marched forward after injudicious comments and which looked to have gone inside the corner flag and over the dead ball line but the touch judge saw differently and gave a 5m lineout (helpfully no replay on big screen). But Sarries defended the line-out well and even though they turned the ball over a couple of times the danger was averted. Freddie Burns head collided with Jacques Burger’s knee and he limped off. Taylor and Wiggy gave way to Ransom and Spencer and Gloucester replaced Kalamafoni with Ben Morgan.

A Gloucester lineout was intercepted by Spencer who set off for the tryline only to be called back by Mr Barnes who was still in a generous mood to the Westcountry men. Then a colossal kick from Ashton in his own half caught the wind and rolled over the Gloucester dead ball line. But fair play to Mr Barnes, it had caught a Gloucester arm on the way and therefore the 5m scrum went to Sarries. The tired Gloucester pack could no longer stem the wind and the tide and the ball was driven over with Billy Vunipola picking it up from the back and touching down. Farrell managed another impressive conversion and finally the bonus point was secured, this time with a comfortable 2 minutes left on the clock!

But all was not over. A dangerous run by James Simpson Daniel was foiled and the ball turned over. Strettle hacked the ball down the wing and managed to beat Sharples to ground the ball for his second try of the match. As Farrell had departed, Spencer took the conversion from wide on the left and again nailed it to leave Sarries 44-12 winners.

Burger was awarded man of the match and you couldn’t disagree with that but I though Strettle had a superb game, 2 tries, rock solid all afternoon under a high swirling ball and several useful tackles. The sort of mature, all round performance that the more flamboyant Yarde and Wade can only dream about and although he didn’t score, Ashton also was impressive, popping up everywhere and proving he can tackle. Hopefully Stuart Lancaster has taken note!

So two 5 point victories, 9 tries and top of the league. Not a bad start to the season, we just need to keep it up!

Saracens:

Wyles, Ashton, Tomkins, Taylor (Ransom), Strettle, Farrell (Mordt), Wigglesworth (Spencer), Gill (M Vunipola), George (Brits), Stevens (Johnston), Borthwick, Hargreaves (Botha), B Vunipola, Burger, Joubert (Wray)

Gloucester:

Cook (M Thomas), Sharples, Trinder (Tindall), Twelvetrees, Simpson-Daniel, Burns, Knoyle (Cowan), Wood (Murphy), Dawidiuk (Britton), Harden (Y Thomas), Savage, Lokotui, Kvesic, Qera, Kalamafoni (Morgan)

Scorers:

Saracens: Tries: Tomkins, Strettle (2), Brits, B Vunipola;  Convs: Farrell (4) Spencer; Pens Farrell: (3)

Gloucester: Pens Burns (4)

Scores: (Sarcens first) 0-3 7-3 7-6 10-6 10-9 10-12 13-12 20-12 23-12 30-12 37-12 44-12

Referee: Wayne Barnes

Attendance 7,462

Gloucester blown away Sun 15th Sept 2013

Discussion started by TheSaracens.com , 16/09/2013 20:45

TheSaracens.com
16/09/2013 20:45

We should all feel in debt to DG, not only for the excellent article, but also for doing the publishing.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013:09:25:17:00:30 by TonyTaff.

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Innings
17/09/2013 08:20

A better feel for the game than most of the journo reports. Nice one. Is it easier to write a story with a pantomime villain to hiss at the beginning and a fairy-tale ending?

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derbyshire fan
17/09/2013 10:55

well done DG - great report, which really captured the game. Thank you.

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davidthesarrie
17/09/2013 12:02

Superb report. Really enjoyable and well constructed. Thank you for your time and effort.

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Waldo
17/09/2013 12:04

Quote:

Innings
Is it easier to write a story with a pantomime villain to hiss at the beginning and a fairy-tale ending?

Only if he's behind you !

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Gryff
17/09/2013 12:17

nice one !

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