Saracens
Basquing in Biarritz – Shame about the Result!
Goode Score
By Darraghgirl
November 21 2011
As soon as the draw for the 2012 Heineken Cup was made last summer, Mr DG (the non-rugby kind) decided we were going to Biarritz so who was I to argue (well if it’s a choice between Biarritz or Swansea which would you choose?) So with 3 friends we set off on Sleazyjet to Bilbao and after a jolly evening wandering round the pintxos bars and dining al fresco (not bad for November) we set off next morning for Biarritz.
Despite the sat nav throwing a wobbly and the lack of signage we found it, checked in at The Radisson Blu and on a balmy November day set off for the ground. A bit like the pied piper we seemed to gather other Sarries fans on route and there were close to 500 of us who made it to the Parc des Sports Aguilera.
The prematch “entertainment” consisted of a red Indian chief (wasn’t he at Exeter?) and the Biarritz players saying goodbye to Eduard Coetzee their former player (which was a bit spoiled as although they came out with letters on their T shirts they didn’t line up in the right order so I’ve no idea what it spelt out!) Nigel Owens the referee was fetchingly and appropriately turned out in pink!
The first half was a brutal stalemate with both sides sizing the other up but neither managing to score any points. Bosch missed 2 kicks at goal for Biarritz (one straightforward, one harder) and Farrell missed a tricky one for Sarries. However several plot lines were starting to develop for the second half.
Firstly the Saracens set piece, the foundation of much of our success over the past couple of years wasn’t going well. The first 2 scrums ended in Biarritz penalties, the 3rd was lost and only the 4th was secured (although right at the end they did take a Biarritz scrum against the head.) Neither Gill nor Stevens looked comfortable – perhaps the new front row partnership with Smit just hasn’t yet gelled. Similarly the lineout wasn’t going to plan with Smit tending to aim for the long throw which resulted in 3 lost and only 2 won.
Secondly Charlie Hodgson clashed heads with Brad Barritt and fell awkwardly onto his right knee and although he remained on the pitch he was targeted by Biarritz and didn’t reappear for the second half.
Thirdly the baddies were beginning to be revealed. The first was Mr Owens himself who did nothing to ingratiate himself with les francais when he deemed a tackle by Barritt & Farrell on Traille to be legal and a challenge by Charlie Hodgson on Balshaw to be OK when Balshaw made the most of it! Then he missed an obvious knock on by one James Short and correctly called Roussarie in touch when Ngyenya was away.
The same Mr Short who appeared for once in long socks (perhaps after his dalliance with cramp last week that left us with 14 men at the end of the Treviso game) seemed to be well up for it. Within 15 minutes he got involved in some fisticuffs with the bald and heavily bearded Erik Lund and from then on seemed to be on very short fuse. Then his knock on went unpunished and he decided to take on Guyon in the boxing stakes. It was hard to know whether he or Mr Owens was the real pantomime villain.
Sarries missed a golden opportunity to score when Kelly Brown hung on to the ball rather than slipping it out to Joubert who would surely have gone over.
Finally Sarries defended heroically for the last 10 minutes of the half and were probably relieved to go in level. Just on half time they superbly won a Biarritz 5m scrum against the head
Alex Goode replaced Hodgson for the 2nd half with Farrell moving to 10 and Wyles to outside centre. Another chance went begging when Strettle missed Goode and Short outside him. The front row were finally getting to know each other and the scrum wasn’t going all Biarritz’ way. It was Sarries who finally broke the deadlock when Biarritz illegally pulled down a maul and Farrell converted a much more straightforward kick for the opening score.
But instead of kick starting the Saracens revival it proved the catalyst for 10 minutes of madness. A good phase of attack from Sarries ended when a careless Wyles pass was intercepted by Haylett-Petty. Eventually the ball finally went free and could have gone anywhere. Biarritz reacted quickest. Peyrelongue set off down the wing, the ball was recycled and eventually Haylett-Petty saw Harinordoquy unmarked on the wing and an inch perfect kick saw the great French warrior go over in the corner. Peyrelongue missed the conversion but Biarritz, having changed their halfbacks, now had the upper hand.
Nieto & George replaced Stevens & Smit. Sarries won a penalty which would have put them back in the lead but a tricky kick from Farrell hit the post. How important that was. Haylett-Petty tripped over his own feet and there was a suggestion of a deliberate knock on by Spencer. Once again the crowd weren’t happy with Mr Owen.
Saracens passes were going loose and Biarritz started winning turnovers. Short just hauled Ngyenya into touch as he sprinted for the line. Biarritz won a simple penalty when Saracens didn’t release the ball and Peyrelongue made it 8-3. Worse was to come. Ngyenya picked up the ball just outside his own 22, ran past Joubert and through the whole Saracens front row and no one was going to catch him then. The try under the post was converted and from being 3-0 ahead Sarries now trailed 15-3.
To be honest it looked like the wheels were coming off. The introduction of Peyrelongue had given Biarritz wings while Sarries looked sloppy and almost clueless. With 15 minutes left though, there was still time. Farrell and Joubert put Brown through and Goode passed the ball out to Short who seemed to go over in the corner but couldn’t ground the ball. Short and August got involved in a French farce when Short pushed August across the throat and August went down as if he’d been felled by the great Muhammed Ali. Sadly the end result of Short’s petulance was that a Saracens’ penalty which would have given an attacking lineout on the 5m line became a Biarritz kick which relieved the pressure. Needless to say although the Biarritz faithful agreed with the no-try decision, they felt Short had got off too lightly.
For the last 10 minutes Saracens attacked but without the clinical authority they needed. Biarritz made a host of substitutions which may have unsettled the French a little. Carelessly Powell was just offside from a little chip kick ahead from Farrell when he seemed to get his fingers on the ball over the tryline. Sarries were looking rattled. Uncharacteristically Farrell missed touch with a penalty and as the clock wound down it looked like the Premiership Champions would leave empty handed.
To be fair, they didn’t give up. At last Alex Goode took matters into his own hands. A final Sarries’ ruck won a penalty and with the clock dead, Farrell tapped the ball. Barritt then Saull lunged for the line, before Spencer found Farrell and on to Wyles who put Goode over in the corner. Farrell converted and the match finished with the score more respectable than it might have been and a valuable loosing bonus point, that Biarritz might come to regret, secured. Quite what happened is difficult to be sure. Peyrelongue made a huge difference to Biarritz but in a way it came down to leadership. Spencer had a good game at scrum half but somehow de Kock’s wise old head was missed. Farrell is an excellent 10, one day maybe an outstanding 10, but Hodgson’s experience in the mayhem might have made the difference. And of course there was no Brits with his magic sparkle – how we missed him today. And so a potential victory ended in a hard earned loosing bonus point.
Back at the Radisson we shared a drink with Mr Owens and his irish side-kicks who declared the Biarritz crowd as the most hostile they’d met outside Munster (well he did need a police escort off the pitch) and Vicarage Road the gloomiest and most soulless ground on the circuit (hard to disagree).
But were we downhearted? Were we heck! We chose a nice little fish restaurant for dinner only to be joined by pretty much the entire Saracens squad plus a few hangers-on from Biarritz (much to the delight of the younger members of our party and sheer disgust from little DG who being a PE teacher was up a mountain in Wales with a load of 14 year olds and missed her opportunity!) I have to say the lads didn’t appear too upset at the result! As Mr DG says, when you’ve had a hard day at the office you’re entitled to relax and some of them were as relaxed as a newt! (Although I can state categorically that there wasn’t a dwarf in sight!)
We made the most of our weekend in the beautiful Basque town of Biarritz. We found an Edwardian-type tearoom for croissants and coffee where we could watch the surfers and after a trip to the aquarium we enjoyed a superb al fresco lunch. Many thanks to the Sarries supporters who dined at the Café de la Mer on Saturday night. We went there for Sunday tea and the waiter, clearly mistaking us for them, was very apologetic for the “way he had treated us”. We tried to insist it wasn’t us but he wasn’t having it and we got our drinks for free!
Just time for a quick paddle then back home. Good to be basquing in Biarritz. Shame about the result!
Biarritz: Haylett-Petty, Ngyenya, Baby (Peyrelongue), Traille, Balshaw, Bosch (Bolakoru), Roussarie (Lesgourges), Barcella (Kodela), August (Heguy), Marconnet (Watremez), Thion, Lund, Guyon, Harinordoquy (Taele), Lakafia (Faure).
Saracens: Wyles, Strettle (Powell), Farrell, Barritt, Short, Hodgson (Goode), Spencer, Gill (Carstens), Smit (George), Stevens (Nieto), Borthwick, Smith (Botha) Brown, Burger (Saull) Joubert.
Scorers:
Biarritz: Tries: Harinordoquy, Nygenya Conv: Peyrelongue Pen: Peyrelongue
Saracens: Try: Goode Conv Farrell Pen Farrell
Scores: (Biarritz first) 0-3 5-3 8-3 15-3 15-10
Referee Nigel Owens
Attendance 9,7 82
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:11:27:19:09:36 by Kat..
I suspect we had hoped to let them do the playing and catch them on the counter-attack, unfortunately it went the other way.
Thanks also to all the Sarries fans we met, particularly those who travelled by train or stayed at the Escale Oceania, and the players/Nigel who stopped to chat on the way out, despite being gutted with the result.
Quote:(Although I can state categorically that there wasn’t a dwarf in sight!)
Yeah, I was bl@@dy well stuck at work (although I stopped to watch the match on the wibbly wobbly web thingy).
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