By Ninjafez
August 17 2014

  (Disclaimer: some or any of the events below may or may not have happened due to my mind being distracted by BBQ food and my Mother-in-law who was being treated to her first rugby match!)  

Friday saw the first action of the coming Season to Allianz Park. After a rather disappointing 2nd half in Montpelier most fans were expected of a win over London Scottish on cool summer’s evening with a gentle breeze rather than the hurricane we sometimes get in stadia.

The smell of the BBQ on the go and the relaxed atmosphere, greeted many a fan but as we gathered in the east stand to patiently start the new season some were still rumbling on about last season’s disappointment.

So lets begin anew… 

London Scottish (LS) kicked off to some good continuity by Saracens, phase after phase although there was good initial tackling by Scottish and they made themselves a nuisance in the breakdown. However after a bit of patience and only 5 minutes in, some slick hands by Duncan Taylor made the first try of the night and allowed Jack Wilson to dive over at speed near the corner

Charlie landed a cracker of a conversion from the near touchline.

LS finally got their first taste of the ball and started the first maul that travelled well, it was a sign of things to come of the strong forward effort that Scottish would put in throughout the match, but after a few penalties and phases they were pinged for holding on.

We were then able to use our pace again after a line break by Duncan by a pass that was a bit short but led him through a gap towards the Scottish tryline, however this would happen a number of times when we would break but Scottish were able to assert their up front dominance against our mauls, rucks and scrums. Not what we were expecting, but to be honest if we have some areas to improve - tonight is the best way to find out, not during the season 

After spending a good 10 minutes in their 22, finally 3rd time lucky we got a driving maul going. With some purchase, we did manage to break off a blind side move up against numbers but this was disallowed.

But when LS finally got to clear their lines, they kicked long for territory rather than touch - this was a mistake by Scottish as Ben Ransom was there to run it back and almost broke the staggered defensive line, then after a few first receiver truck ups - Chris Wyles ran a diagonal line and was able to confuse the Scottish defence enough to make a half break. Chris managed to get his hands through and flip the ball to the supporting Ben Ransom to finish off what he started for the stand out team try of the night.

Finally to round off the half which had lost shape and became sloppy, the ball managed to past a couple of hands to land in the palms of Jackson Wray, one of the best players tonight. He stormed down the touchline taking a number of LS player by surprise. After getting to within 7 meters of the line rather than look for set up a ruck, Jackson cut inside and bulldozed his way over three players before touching down behind the line.

21 - 0 was the half time score.

It tends to be the case that the the 2nd half of pre-season games that can go in one of two directions, mostly because of all the substitutions. One path is to take advantage and pushing the tempo higher to score more tries, the other is disorganisation that leads into a slumber of gary owen’s and knock on’s. The 2nd half didn't go well, starting with a try against Saracens with a similar rampage down the touchline that finished the 1st half, this time by London Scottish but with an overhead throw to their winger Mantella, to touch down near the posts, well deserved for fighting back after half time. The try was not converted so only 5 back in reply.

After this, the game did indeed drift for the next 10-15 minutes as the subs rolled off and on. this was only broken by yet another try that was ran down the touchline but this time by Jack Wilson who broke free and then dummied inside in order to skin the last two defenders to the corner flag.

After this Saracens started putting phases together again which resulted in two more tries. First of these came from at last seeing a dominant scrum for Saracens to put some impetus into the next series of plays. When the Scottish line had been stretched enough, Saracens new Academy scrum half Henry Taylor threw a juicy hand off on an arc to run past the try line. The last fell to Maro Itoje to power past a few defenders to dot down the ball at the base of the post to finish the match.

Musings

1) looks like since my last visit the PA Announcer may have may have just found the volume knob and turned it down a bit.. much better hope it stays that way.

2) Ben Spencer and Charlie Hodgson struggled in their first game for a while, whether it was Charlie's depth or Ben’s passing it means we couldn’t get the fluidity we normally have in the backs.. sure it will improve as HQ draws near.

3) Man of the match for me must go to Jackson Wray, not just for his try but every time he got paws on the ball he went for the line 110%. Also he has continued to run at gaps now rather than just bulldozing his way through great to see him become a pillar of the team.

4) Good to see Will Fraser back almost just to see him leave without an injury will please most fans tonight.

5) God damn, those Laverstoke Farm Sausages rocked!

6) He has been such a servant for the club and steps in whenever Charlie & Owen cannot be in team colours, but why does Nils always manage to produce a telegraph and looped miss pass that almost or normally ends up in a interception - I feel that I see one almost each game…

7) Nice to see Stand Up used a bit more tonight, to me Stand up to get the fans going and then playing the montage is the best way for the team to enter.. I think “Here we go” has run its course..

8) Really want to see us scalp Northampton when they visit in November, cannot wait!!

Final Score:- Saracens 40 London Scottish 5

Saracens:-

15. Ransom, 14. Wilson, 13. Taylor, 12. Wyles, 11. Strettle, 10. Hodgson, 9. Spencer, 1. Gill, 2. Spurling, 3. Du Plessis, 4. Hamilton, 5. Kruis, 6. Itoje, 7. Fraser, 8. Wray.

Subs:- Saunders, Barrington, Alo, Smith, Botha, Hankin, Thompson-Stringer, Taylor, Mordt, Wilkins, Tompkins, Perkins, Earle

London Scottish:-

15. Claassens, 14. Williams, 13. Grove, 12. Gidlow, 11. Mantella, 10, Lydon, 9. Stevenson, 1. Lilley, 2. Kwasnicki, 3. Macguire, 4. Phillips, 5. Preocanin, 6. Clarke, 7. Best. 8. Bright

Subs:- Hallam, Gleave, Prescott, Calder, Miller, M Doneghan, R Doneghan, Coombes, Newton, Maidment, Chawatama, Cherry

Saracens:-

Tries: Wilson (2) Ransom, Wray, Taylor, Itoje   Conv: Hodgson (3) Mordt (2)

London Scottish:-

Try: Mantella

Referee: J P Doyle