Saracens Far From Play-Off Exet Despite Defeat


By Behind the Bench
May 10 2015

With a trip looming to London Welsh on the final day of the season, Saracens should get enough points on the board to qualify for a play-off trip to Northampton or Bath, despite this disspiriting defeat. In truth, Sarries should have collected the win at the end after sustained pressure, but, untypically, couldn't cap some promising moves, whilst an effective Exeter side made their most of their chances.

Saracens made some five changes to the opening XV which lost at Milton Keynes, with some positional changes too. In came Chris Ashton, Jamie George, Petrus du Plessis, Jacques Burger and Jackson Wray. That meant Alex Goode continued at full back, with Ashton and David Strettle on the wings, and Chris Wyles switching to centre alongside Marcelo Bosch, with Charlie Hodgson and captain Richard Wigglesworth forming an unchanged half back combination. In the forwards, Mako Vunipola, George and Du Plessis formed the front row, with George Kruis and Maro Itoje continuing at lock. An adjusted back row featured Kelly Brown, Burger and Wray at number 8. Exeter made three alterations from the starting line up which claimed a losing bonus point at Wasps, as Henry Slade moved from 10 to 13 in place of Jack Nowell, with Gareth Steenson entering the starting line up at 10. Luke Cowan-Dickie came in at hooker, whilst Ben White was introduced into the back row. So, Byron McGuigan was at full back, with Ian Whitten and Matt Jess on the wings, and Sam Hill accompanying Slade in the centre. Steenson was alongside scrum half Will Chudley at half backs, whilst in the forwards, Ben Moon, Cowan-Dickie and Tomas Francis formed the front row, captain Dean Mumm and Mitch Lees were in the second row, whilst the back row was made up of Dave Ewers, White and Thomas Waldrom.
 
A scintillating first half saw the sides share 34 points between them. After the early kicking duel, Exeter had the first pressure of the match when they forced a penalty to give them a five metre lineout, but after the rolling maul lost momentum, play switched back to Steenson, but his quickfire drop goal drifted wide. Five minutes into the game, a flowing move by the Chiefs saw them go through the phases, and after a half break by Chudley, Burger was penalised for laying down in the tackle, and Steenson collected the first three points of the match. The visitors were enjoying a clear early advantage in possession and territory as Saracens took time to settle, but were working hard in defence to blunt Exeter's attacking threat and seemed to have advantage in the scrum. On 14 minutes, the hosts took the lead, despite initially failing to find touch with a penalty. The Chiefs cleared, but failed to gain any real distance, and Vunipola broke forward, finding George for a superb break and an even better offload for Ashton to advance forward and score right under the posts, and Hodgson duly added the extras for a 7-3 advantage.
 
It didn't take long for Exeter to respond, as progressing to the edge of the Saracens 22, and with scrum half Chudley orchestrating their play well, they continued to press the home line, and though the hosts appeared to have repelled the threat, Cowan-Dickie circled around the back of the maul to finish in the right hand corner, and Steenson added an excellent touchline conversion to put his side three points ahead. However, Sarries restored their lead with a superb piece of counter attacking play. After Hodgson's kick was collected by Chudley to send Waldrom ramaging forward, a vital turnover by Itoje saw the ball go through the hands on the left, as Wyles and Strettle combined to good effect on the left wing, and the USA international collected the return pass to score, again Hodgson adding the extra two, and Saracens were 14-10 in front. The game saw a mixture of ball in hand and kicking, with the wind not especially strong but enough to have an effect and make kicks worthwhile, in particular when an Ashton kick created havoc in the 28th minute but the Chiefs managed to scramble clear.
 
Eight minutes before the interval, after a multi-phase move had broken down for the hosts, Exeter made the most of a stray lineout, and they switched play gradually from right to left, culminating in Waldrom charging over on the left, and again Steenson claimed the conversion as the Devon side led by three again. Saracens had the last word of the half, though, as a series of powerful drives and neat interplay between Ashton and Hodgson saw some late pressure. Eventually, they won a scrum penalty and Hodgson made it all square at the break from 30 metres.
 
The second half marked something of an anti-climax compared with what had gone before. From the restart, Exeter fumbled the ball, giving Saracens immediate possession in a promising area, but in a taste of things to come, stern Exeter defence and poor handling saw the ball work loose and the chance was gone. In what was a fragmented part of the game, punctuated by incessant kicking and changes to both front rows, there was a moment of possible controversy when Ashton's chip forward was knocked on, but referee Doyle adjudged it as accidental rather than deliberate. From the ensuing scrum, Goode made one of several promising runs, and found Brits, who linked up with Wyles, but Strettle was hauled into touch. At this point, all that was lacking from Sarries' attacking play was a bit more accuracy. 
 
They did ease ahead in the 54th minute, as more pressure instigated by Ashton's fine diagonal run saw them force a penalty and Owen Farrell, on for Hodgson, duly collected the three points to make it 20-17. However, Exeter, now with a refreshed front row, were awarded another penalty which took them to the edge of the home 22, but Saracens successfully defended the rolling maul, and got a penalty on the halfway line themselves moments later as the visitors offended at the lineout. Farrell's ambitious kick at goal trickled just wide, and the stop-start nature of the contest continued as the Chiefs won yet another penalty from the restart but their rolling maul was blunted again by some effective Sarries' defence.
 
Exeter did make it through, though, with twelve minutes remaining. After winning a scrum penalty in a similar position, they put together a series of powerful drives until they were in the shadows of the posts, and for all the strong defence which had gone before, they couldn't be kept out for a third time, as Waldrom was put over for yet another try in a prolific season. Given the late drama Saracens have provided in many matches, not least against the Chiefs in the LV Cup final, a five point gap was far from insurmountable, and, indeed, the home side put together five minutes of relentless pressure, and it seemed only a matter of time before they broke through. Even when the initial spell had been broken by a pass into touch which eluded Strettle, Saracens forced a penalty from the resulting Exeter scrum to continue their onslaught. However, the home side failed to collect the five metre lineout, as Exeter completed a crucial steal. There was still a chance for a last-gasp win as Strettle burst through and found Ashton, but a subsequent knock-on ended the game.
 
So, a disappointing result against the most resilient side in the Premiership, and resilience is what Saracens will need after unusually suffering a third straight defeat. The Twickenham dream still remains, as, after all, it isn't over until......
 

Teams:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch (Nick Tompkins 53), 12 Chris Wyles, 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson (Owen Farrell 50), 9 Richard Wigglesworth (capt) (Neil de Kock 72); 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George (Schalk Brits 48), 3 Petrus Du Plessis (James Johnston 48), 4 George Kruis, 5 Maro Itoje (Ernst Joubert 75), 6 Kelly Brown (Alistair Hargreaves 54), 7 Jacques Burger, 8 Jackson Wray.
 
Replacement Not Used: Rhys Gill.
 
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Byron McGuigan, 14 Ian Whitten, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Will Chudley; 1 Ben Moon (Carl Rimmer 54), 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Jack Yeandle 54), 3 Tomas Francis (Alex Brown 54), 4 Dean Mumm (capt), 5 Mitch Lees (Damien Welch 57), 6 Dave Ewers, 7 Ben White (Kai Horstmann 57), 8 Thomas Waldrom.

Replacements Not Used: Dave Lewis, Fetu'u Vainikolo, Max Bodilly.
 
Referee: JP Doyle

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Saracens Far From Play-Off Exet Despite Defeat
Discussion started by TheSaracens.com , 10/05/2015 21:36
TheSaracens.com
10/05/2015 21:36
Thanks Gerard, very frustrating afternoon. Thought we left at least 3 tries out there. Not sure what Ashy has done to upset everyone and get such dreadful service! Passing practice this week methinks.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:18:08:20:42 by TonyTaff.

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TonyTaff
11/05/2015 14:57
Thanks BTB.

Can't have been fun cataloguing the second half.

It's a long time since Sports network paid anything!

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