By Darraghgirl
November 16 2014

This may have been armchair rugby for me but it was far from it for those on the pitch! The weather at Welford Road was awful and the ground underfoot not much better. With Tim Wigglesworth refereeing, penalties were always going to play a big part (apparently on average he gives 2 more than any other referee) and Mr Wigglesworth’s interpretation of the scrum in the end proved decisive.

After a fairly gentle start to their Premiership campaign, Sarries have now hit a run of big games: Bath, Leicester and Tigers away and Saints at home, 3 of these during the international window. Probably only Saints will be as disadvantaged by international call-ups as Sarries although Tigers have been hit hard by injury all season (not that Sarries aren’t without the first choice front row!)

Dan Cole was making his first start for Leicester for almost 10 months and they had also chosen to start Owen Williams ahead of Freddie Burns. 39 year old veteran Brad Thorn was captaining Leicester. Sarries welcomed back Alex Goode for his first game in some weeks along with Burger and Bosch in the starting 15 and a first Premiership start for Juan Figallo. The Premiership’s top try-scoring wingers Ashton & Strettle were also hoping to display their wares live on BT TV but to be honest this was never going to be a day for running backs.

The game started as it meant to go on, kicks, chases, scrums, penalties and most of the action between the 2 twenty twos. Burger took an early knock to his lovely head and went off for a concussion assessment leading to an early introduction for the splendidly moustachioed Will Fraser.

Sarries won the first kickable penalty at the scrum which Hodgson duly converted. Bosch and Strettle then bundled Scully into touch. A TMO referral (“wavy” Davey) decided the tackle was dangerous with Scully landing on his back and Bosch was yellow carded. Unfortunately what both Wigglesworth & Davey missed was that the culprit was Strettle and even an attempt by Strettle to come clean was ignored by the officials!

Williams and Hodgson both missed penalty chances but Alex Goode gave a real master-class in dealing with the high ball in particular and in full-back play in general, kicking long and with precision, off-loading, running on the treacherous ground. So, guaranteed then he’ll be playing for us next week!

Charlie slotted a second penalty, this time at the maul, for a 6 point lead. Mele made a hash of the restart leading to a Sarries’ scrum and a Leicester penalty (yes it was one of those days – Mr Wigglesworth was his usual pedantic self). Williams slotted the kick from half way as both Bosch and the rain returned.

If Tim Wigglesworth wasn’t having the greatest game, neither was his name sake Richard. A couple of kicks went out on the full and there were a lot of handling errors (although to be fair I suspect the ball was like a bar of soap). He allowed Mele to steal the ball from the back of the Sarries’ scrum then scragged him round the neck to allow Tigers to level from the inevitable penalty. So he’ll definitely be playing for England next week then!

Another penalty from a line out drive restored Sarries’ lead before possibly the move of the match. Goode kicked a high ball from his own 22, chased it and caught it clean nearer to the Tigers 22. Hargreaves managed to pass the ball through his own legs and won a penalty which Hodgson again kicked to restore the 6 point gap.

As half time approached, Tigers made their first venture into the Sarries’ 22, following a beautiful Williams restart. Tigers won a penalty in front of the posts and after a failed Mele drop-goal, Williams also inexplicably kicked the ball wide. Half time arrived with Bosch looking dazed on the floor.

(Why do BT have to keep showing that advert for the Premiership final? It doesn’t get better seeing the “try” again and again).

Tigers brought on Tommy Bell for Scully at half time and it was a relief to see Bosch retake the field. Goode continued his excellent form but Sarries yet again seemed to go off the boil after the half-time break (not sure what they do in the dressing room during the change of ends but it doesn’t seem to be working!) Williams made up for his miss with a nice kick from out wide and a helping hand from the posts.

Sarries seemed to have the upper hand in the scrum (although the penalty count didn’t reflect this) but they did win a penalty just into the Tigers half (on the really muddy bit which was apparently damaged by a concert stage in the summer). Hodgson decided to go for the corner and from the lineout kicked cross-field for Ashton but there was just too much weight on the kick and it beat him into touch. (And that was just about the only scoring opportunity either winger had all day). Fortunately Wiggy-the-ref was playing advantage and Hodgson kicked the penalty to restore the 6 point lead 15-9.

Williams again kicked a beautiful restart – he had a real curate’s egg game, some lovely kicks and some awful ones! This time it forced Strettle to put a foot in touch just after taking the ball. Tigers were awarded a penalty at the lineout and Williams this time kicked the goal.

Finally Sarries put together a few passes and won a scrum and then a scrum penalty on the Leicester 5m line. Maybe they should have gone for another scrum and tried to get the penalty try but Hargreaves opted for the kick (probably wise as Wiggy-the-ref would as likely have given the call to Tigers) which Hodgson again converted for 12-18. Bosch and Botha gave way to Taylor & Hamilton. Immediately Tigers won another penalty which Williams again kicked to narrow the gap to 3.

So we entered the last 20 minutes with the narrowest of leads. Hodgson kept targeting Miles Benjamin with high balls and each time he obliged by dropping it but Sarries failed to take advantage and in the end Tigers won a penalty and cleared their lines leading to a rare sully into the Sarries’ 22 and only a superb tackle from Jackson Wray kept the line intact.

Dan Cole departed after 65 minutes to be replaced by Balmain who prompted persuaded Wiggy-the-ref to award a scrum penalty. From the resulting lineout, Hargreaves appeared harshly treated by Wiggy-the-ref when he did everything he could in the air not to touch his opponent but the whistle went and the penalty was kicked.

So into the final 10 minutes all square. Another beautiful clearance from Goode took play deep into the Tigers’ half and eventually another penalty, this time against Kitchener, for Hodgson to put Sarries back in the lead. 5 minutes left, could they hang on? They probably should have done but things in the end conspired against Sarries. Strettle over-kicked a ball from just outside his own 22 over the dead ball line. A scrum back ensued. The scrum collapsed a couple of times. Finally Sarries seemed to be in the ascendency. The front rows came up but Sarries were going forward. Wiggy-the-ref, on the advice of his touch-judge, penalised Rhys Gill and gave Tigers the penalty. Replays suggested that if anything it was Balmain who was at fault but by such narrow margins are games won and lost. Williams, to his credit, held his nerve and put the ball over and the final whistle blew with both teams on 21 points.

The penalty count was 13 against Sarries to 11 against Tigers – too many but some of those pretty marginal. Still Mr Wigglesworth is well-known for the way he referees and Sarries in the end had only themselves to blame.

This was a game for the purists. A kicking/up-your-jumper sort of game that takes place in the rain on muddy pitches in November. Thank goodness for the surface at Allianz Park- at least we might get something a bit more entertaining next weekend.

Hodgson got man of the match but I though Alex Goode was absolutely superb – didn’t put a foot or hand wrong all game in very difficult conditions. He deserves to be in a white shirt again next weekend – this time with a red rose on it – but knowing the way these things go he’ll be back in black at Allianz. And we’ll be delighted to have him!

Leicester Tigers;

Tait, Scully, Smith, Allen, Benjamin, Williams Mele; Rizzo, Thacker, Cole, Thorn, Kitchener, Gibson, Salvi, Crane

Subs: Farnworth, Bristow, Balmain, De Chaves, Grant, Harrison, Burns, Bell

Saracens:

Goode, Ashton, Bosch (Taylor), Wyles, Strettle, Hodgson, Wigglesworth, Barrington (Gill), George, Figallo, Botha (Hamilton), Hargreaves, Brown, Burger (Fraser) Wray

Subs (not used) Sharman, Du Plessis, Spencer, Ransom.

Scorers:-

Leicester – Williams pens (7)

Saracens – Hodgson pens (7)

Referee Tim Wigglesworth RFU