Contest in the air

By Saracensfan62
October 14 2024

A tough day at the office unfortunately. The concerned faces of Mark McCall and Joe Shaw throughout epitomised what was an underwhelming performance.

Today was simply not the day for us at the Stoop. Us travelling fans arrived in Twickenham in good spirits and ready to cheer Saracens come rain or shine however some days, the win is just not meant to be and that unfortunately seemed to be the case at the weekend.

Harlequins were bolstered by the return of the high-flyer winger Cadan Murley and his influence around the backfield I feel was only really matched by his fellow teammate Leigh Halfpenny. Quins have made this shrewd signing over the summer but I genuinely think Halfpenny is playing some of the best club rugby of his life right now. Quins certainly seemed up for it as the players came running out to flames, flares and fireworks to lots of cheering and noise from their raucous fans.

The match kicked off at 3pm and we were underway. Initially the game was very tennis like with a bit of box kicking here and there until around the 7 minute mark where Saracens won a penalty and went to the corner. From the resultant catch and drive (a very useful weapon for us normally however it seemed very blunt vs the superb Quins defence) Andy Christie carried and suffered what appeared to be a very nasty ankle injury, having to be stretchered off the field. We wish him a speedy recovery and best wishes to his family and close friends. It was gutting to watch him leave the field as he has played some phenomenal games for us recently and was in the form of his life. I do hope we will see Andy back on the field in the not-so-distant future. Simultaneously it seemed Jack Walker had to leave the field as well due to an HIA. Luckily he hadn’t sustained a concussion and was allowed back on the field. After that period of carries with little game line success, Sarries made a break down the wing and a lovely kick back inside caused all sorts of problems for the  Quins backfield and due to hands in the ruck (I think), James Chisholm was yellow carded for Quins allowing us the chance to kick to the corner and attack the line from a 5M line out. Unfortunately due to some heroic Quins maul defence, sarries were forced out into touch and Harlequins could clear their lines. We failed to score any points during the 10 minute sin bin, which really epitomised the theme of the afternoon – lots of opportunities that were not taken and missed.
That seemed to be the way of much of the first half, 0-0 until around the 26 minute mark when Harlequins muscled their way over the line thanks to Fin Baxter after numerous strong carries that Saracens could not repel. Marcus Smith added the extras and it was 7-0. Both teams had opportunities (notably more for Saracens, who dominated the possession and territory) but the score stayed at 7-0 until the half time mark. Saracens had failed to make their territory count unfortunately. Another huge loss was Juan Martin-Gonzalez to injury who has been playing out of his skin both for Saracens and Los Pumas. I did not see what injury he suffered however we all wish him a speedy recovery and I hope to see him shining again on the rugby field soon. Let's hope its a minor injury.  However at the beginning of the 2nd half, Sarries seemed more themselves and then scored. Surprise surprise, it was ex-Quin Hugh Tizard with the 5 pointer (much to the Harlequins fans disgust) forced his way over to draw level. The Quins fans were, on the whole, classy and respectful (in block AB DHL stand at least) all afternoon however the booing of Hugh Tizard as he came onto the field as a substitute and when he scored I felt was disrespectful and no way to treat an ex-player. More exciting play followed with Tobias Elliott and Elliot Daly proving to be the only real bright sparks in the backline and Earl, Willis and Itoje were all trying their hardest to break the seemingly impenetrable Quins defence however it was to be harlequins to have the next say on proceedings in the 51st minute. From a sloppy kick chase Saracens defence on the halfway line was disorganised and Marcus Smith was able to break a tackle and scuttled into the Saracens half and offloaded to Will Porter, who also had a great game,  who then spun the ball wide to Lennox Anyanwu who hurtled towards the corner being chased by a frantic Fergus Burke. Despite the best efforts of Burke, Anyanwu made it and this, with the conversion, made the score 14-7 to Harlequins. Lozowski missed a kick able 3 point attempt from the 10M line when Joe Launchbury was penalised at the breakdown and this seemed to sum up the day – little went according to plan. A 70th minute Smith penalty for Quins really  put the nail in the coffin however Alex Lozowski was able to recover his kicking form after missing a penalty before and slotted a relatively routine 35ish meter penalty to make the score 17-10 to Quins. Saracens won a penalty on the 77th minute thanks to some terrific breakdown work and from the resulting kick to the corner, it  seemed that sarries were forming a decent attack however we got turned over and the ball was bundled into touch. From there, Harlequins won the resulting line out and kept hold of the ball until the 80 minute mark when Marcus Smith could boot the ball out of play sending the Quins fans and team alike into jubilation.

Overall, this was an extremely frustrating game both for the players, coaches and spectators. There seemed to be a level of naivety at times on display and I would go as far to say by the end of the game, a lack of faith in our ability to score tries (summed up when Lozowski decided to take the 3 points to get within 7 points to get a LBP). We could’ve conceded many more tries and I feel the score definitely flattens Saracens. This game was rather a wake-up call and a harsh one at that. Harlequins were outstanding in both attack, where they took the chances well and had a high red-zone efficiency and also in defence, where they protected their line as if their lives depended on it and all credit to them for that but our lack of any real momentum going forward was concerning. Notable impressive performances from us were Elliot Daly, who tried his hardest to give the backline a boost from the wing, Ben Earl and Tom Willis who seemed to be the soul of the pack and carried relentlessly throughout the match and Tobias Elliott, who did cause Harlequins problems down the wing with his searing pace and footwork.

I have every faith that the team will regroup and prepare well ready for the double-header against Bristol Bears next weekend. It seems we have and will go to numerous noisy and quite hostile stadiums thus far in the season – Kingsholm, the Stoop and now Ashton Gate. The performance from Sir was generally ok, a few questionable calls here and there but otherwise Ridley got the majority of the decisions correct and handled the numerous stoppages in play due to injuries well.

We cant be too down about the result, at least a LBP was taken from the Stoop. Onto Bristol next weekend.

Harlequins Point Scorers:

Tries – F Baxter, L Anyanwu

Conversions – M Smith 2

Penalties – M Smith

Saracens Point Scorers

Tries – H Tizard

Conversions – A Lozowski

Penalties – A Lozowski

Harlequins: Halfpenny; David, Murley, Anyanwu, Beard; M Smith, Porter; Baxter, Walker, Lamositele; Herbst, Lewies (capt); Lamb, Kenningham, Chisholm.

Replacements: Jibulu, Marler, Lewis, Launchbury, Cunningham-South, W Evans, Care, J Evans.

Sin-bin: Chisholm (11 mins)

Saracens: Goode; Elliott, Lozowski, Tompkins, Daly; Burke, van Zyl; Carre, George, Riccioni, Itoje (capt), Isiekwe, Gonzalez, Onyeama-Christie, Earl.

Replacements: Dan, Mawi, Clarey, Tizard, Willis, Knight, Simpson, Cinti.

Referee: Christophe Ridley