By Jason Harris (filed 8/2/03)
February 8 2004

In spite of making most of the running and playing most of the rugby and scoring the game's only try, Saracens failed to deliver the knock-out punch and went down 12-10 to NEC Harlequins at the Stoop. Tight head prop Ben Broster's short-range effort on 11 minutes was proved to be the only touchdown of the game as Paul Burke's four penalties sealed the points for the home side.

Burke opened the scoring with a goal on two minutes after Saracens were penalised by referee Roy Maybank in front of the posts 39 metres out.

The next few minutes were pretty ordinary as both sides tried to play some football, only to be sucppered by good defence and a dearth of attacking ideas. But in a rare moment of promise, Sarries got their reward.

A lineout that came about after a Sarries penalty was kicked to touch moved the ball into midfield. Centre Kevin Sorrell took a scissors pass and broke through the Quins defence, only to be hauled down a metre short. The Men in Black were there in numbers and Broster had the weight of his entire pack behind him as he crashed over for the five pointer.

There was an element of controversy to the conversion, however. It appeared that Robbie Kydd's kick missed its target but both touch judges raised their flags to signal a good kick. The note was made by Maybank and the points stood, much to the chagrin of the Quins management watching from the back of the West stand.

Burke narrowed the gap to 6-7 just four minutes later just before Sarries tried to repeat their ploy which brought them the try. But on this occasion depsite winning the lineout ball deep inside the Quins 22, Sarries lost control and were penalised.

Kydd missed a 23rd minute opportunity to push the Men in Black further ahead as his 40 metre effort went well wide.

The rest of the first half was a disjointed affair, not helped by a flurry of Quins subsitutions due to several blood bins and the replacement of Jim Evans by Roy Winters, as both sides tried and failed to make headway.

Burke scored two further penalties before the break. The first on 33 minutes from two metres inside his own half and the second, coming in injury time, a chip shot from just outside the Sarries 22.

Things were pretty even when the sides changed ends and Sarries would have been relieved to be within a try as Quins used the strong wind and low sun at their backs very well during the opening forty.

Saracens withdrew Ben Johnston at half time after an ineffective performance; Paul Bailey being the man to slot into the outside centre berth.

The opening ten minutes were unremarkable apart from the replacement of Broster by Johnny Marsters as the young prop sustained what looked like a shoulder injury.

The unlucky Burke also had to leave the field early in the second period with a neck injury to be replaced by Andy Dunne.

Dunne's introduction seemed to give the home side a few more attacking options and only four minutes into his tenure at outside half, Quins came close to getting a try of their own.

Will Greenwood put through a neat grubber kick towards the right corner which sat up perfectly for the chasing fullback Gavin Duffy. But the Irishman was denied right on the line by compatrior Darragh O'Mahnoy who was corner flagging from his position on the opposite wing.

The officiating was questionable once more after Quins made a double front row substituion just as they had cleared their lines following a Sarries punt downfield. On came Mike Worsley and Jon Dawson for Ceri Jones and Jason Leonard respectively but the throw in on the Quins 10 metre line was not taken by the outstanding Sarries hooker Robbie Russell, but by a quick-thinking Tani Fuga who fired a short, underarm throw to the front. Quins won the line and attacked but there was to be no injustice as they failed to capitalise on their good fortune.

In the final quarter it was all Sarries as they tried to convert their possession, field position and pressure into point. With Taine Randell, Richard Hill and Robbie Russell all making significan gains up the middle and Bailey and Sorrell causing problems out wide, it seemed as if it would be only a matter of time before Sarries doubled their try tally.

But two golden chances to win the game went begging. Paul Bailey had a three-on-one situation after he had made a magnificent 40 metre burst up the middle of the field. With just Duffy to beat and a player on either shoulder, he froze like a rabbit in a car's headlights and failed to deliver what surely would have been the scoring pass.

And it was, of all people, Hill who put the ball down in injury time as Sarries shaped up for a four-on-one overlap on the right hand side. The England and Lions man just failing to take a tricky pass which ended up over his head in Sarries' haste to get the ball out to the wing before the Quins cover arrived.

Quins did come close right at the end of regulation time, but Geroge Harder was stopped half a metre short and subsequently penalised for not releasing the ball.

There was one final throw of the dice for Sarries as Thomas Castaignede, who was carried by his team mates for most of the game after an early knock, attempted a long-range drop goal in the 11th minute of injury time, only for it and Sarries to fall short of the target.

For all their efforts, Sarries' only points in the second half came from a Robbie Kydd penalty eight minutes from time and they went back around the M25 a very disappointed squad because alhough the positives far outweighed the negatives and Quins didn't cross the Sarries line, the game really should have been won.