By Jason Harris
September 6 2002

Saracens welcome Bath to Vicarage Road on Sunday for the first home game of the season. The Men in Black will be out to recapture the form that demolished Bristol in their opening game last weekend. Who would have thought that after Tim Horan’s 60-metre effort deep into injury time at the Rec last September that the 8,000 sun-drenched souls packed in that day were watching two sides that, six months later, would be facing one another at Vicarage Road as relegation candidates? Very few, one imagines.

I recall writing the preview for the return fixture last March and there were so many comparisons to be drawn between the sides at that time, it was frightening. It was just too close to call. Both sides were lousy in the league, had been unbeaten in their respective European pools and both had lost in miserable conditions to Welsh opposition in their quarter final ties. Luckily for Saracens, they decided to play somewhere near their potential; a final quarter three-try blitz saw off the visitors 33-11 and gave Sarries their only double of the Zurich Premiership season.

After away wins last weekend the memories of last season are more distant and there is a fresh optimism in the two camps. Bath kicked their way to victory at London Irish after a controversial amount of second-half injury time and Sarries turned on the style to brush aside a disappointing Bristol outfit, netting a try-scoring bonus point and in the process topping the table after the first round of matches.

And so we turn to this weekend’s game. Bath have Mike Catt back in the team after a miserable time since his early exit from the 2001 Lions tour and when he plays, his side seems to operate much better as a unit. Missing, however, will be internationals Matt Perry and Iain Balshaw – both injured – and Kevin Maggs who’ll be on duty with Ireland. Joining Catt in midfield could be England centre Mike Tindall who has been out of action since sustaining a pre-season ankle injury. Tindall was one of few players on either side to impress at Vicarage Road last time out and his partnership with Catt will be key to the visitors’ ambitions.

New Bath captain Danny Grewcock leads a pack that must perform if their newly-returned centre pairing are to do any damage in midfield. Grewcock was given a very hostile welcome by his former team-mates when he returned to Vicarage Road for the first time since his move down the M4 last year. Several dust-ups with the normally angelic Richard Hill and endless niggle from Kris Chesney – both playing on Sunday – put the England man off his game and Sarries capitalised. I fully expect the same treatment again on Sunday from Sarries. If the opposition’s skipper can be put off his game, it will be easier for the home side to win the forward battle.

Saracens’ Head Coach Wayne Shelford says he’s concentrating more upon the game of his own side than that of the opposition. Speaking on the official Saracens web site on Friday, he said that the team selected is capable of improving 15% on the five try performance at Bristol last weekend and the New Zealander has kept faith in that side with the only change coming about due to the injury to flanker Tony Roques. Ben Russell comes in at no8 and Chesney moves to blind side to cover for the England 7s man.

There are three further changes on the replacements bench. Tim Horan is not fit this week and Fijian outside half Niki Little will make his Sarries debut if called into action. Abel Benazzi is back and replaces Craig Quinnell, who came in at the last minute for the Frenchman last week. Finally, Kieran Roche takes his place after Russell’s promotion to the starting line-up.

Saracens were the only team to score bonus point for four or more tries last weekend and Bath are hoping that they will be able to put up more resistance than their neighbours. The Brakcen/Goode partnership looks settled already and the former Tigers stand-off will be anxious to perform as well as he did at the Memorial Stadium in front of his own fans after scoring 20 points and a full house (try, conversion, drop goal, penalty). So too will Thomas Castaignède, now getting back to his very best. The Fez will hope to see the grin (about the size of Australia it seemed) return to the little Frenchman’s face as it did when he scored Sarries’ opener at Bristol.

The forwards will be looking to pressurise the opposition outside half. Whether it will be Catt or former Exeter man Chris Malone remains to be seen, but if Richard Hill plays anywhere near the way he did last week the Bath no10 will have a black shirt in his face for the duration of the game. If Hill and his back row colleagues can worry the Bath midfield into errors, the Sarries backs will take advantage as they did against the Shoguns.

Bath seem to be relieved that they got out of jail at London Irish and I think they travel more in hope than expectation, despite the return of some of their big stars. Saracens, on the other hand, whilst not dismissing the opposition, are going to concentrate upon winning and winning well. Something I believe they will do.

Saracens squad:

15. Thomas Castaignède
14. Ben Johnston
13. Tom Shanklin
12. Kevin Sorrell
11. Darragh O’Mahony
10. Andy Goode
9. Kyran Bracken (captain)

1. David Flatman
2. Matt Cairns
3. Johnny Marsters
4. Craig Yandell
5. Stuart Hooper
6. Kris Chesney
7. Richard Hill
8. Ben Russell

Replacements:

16. Joe Ross
17. James Parkes
18. Abdel Benazzi
19. Kieran Roche
20. Morgan Williams
21. Niki Little
22. Adryan Winnan