PNH

By J O'G
January 6 2014

 I certainly wasn’t going to miss the easiest match to get to this season for me, even if it is away. Despite the wind and rain, I was parked up in a side-street (no charge) less than 5 minute walk from the stadium, in 70 minutes. I went for the main stand this time and although I was on the 22 almost all the action in the match took place in front of me.

There were some visitors from the USA sitting behind me decked out in cherry and white scarves; on hearing there was one of their own playing they were quickly converted.  I wasn’t confident before kick-off; Glaws had won their last 2 games and it was a big and passionate crowd. 

The concerns were misplaced within a few minutes as Billy V burst through midfield and almost made it to the line. Ball was coming quickly but Cowan the scrum-half nipped in with a professional foul. Penalty to Sarries right in front of the posts and a yellow card.  Mr Pearce was certainly consistent as an hour or so later Billy V was carded for an almost identical offence to Cowan’s replacement. Within a few minutes Sarries were back again, with a lineout just inside the 22. There was the normal push and shove before Brits broke away down the blind side. Nobody had taken over Cowan’s duties and he was able to run straight at May, the only player covering the blind-side before popping a pass to NdeK who ran in unopposed. Faz missed the conversion from the touchline. He probably might have got his attempt in, but the Glaws faithful alerted Mr Pearce to the five yards he had stolen from the touchline.

Now I’ve seen some criticism of the Gloucester tackling in the papers, but I should say that wasn’t how I saw it for this instance and for the rest of the match. If Glaws can he held to account it was for their laziness. Sarries were using the kick-chase to great effect. When the ‘best back line in the Northern Hemisphere’ (Stuart Barnes) did get the ball they got men in black in their faces almost immediately. Gloucester seemed to employ the kick and we can’t be arsed to chase approach, which meant that Alex Goode had all the time in the world to kick back or run or do whatever he wanted to do. The only chasing player seemed to be the kicker, but they seemed to have problems negotiating the players wandering around between. Almost every time they seemed to ‘run into’ someone, with the corresponding moans from the crowd.

After a couple of productive ping-pong exchanges, Sarries were awarded an easy penalty that Faz put away. It was in the backs though that Sarries were getting the upper hand. One of the simplest skills that coaches try to install in all players is to ‘fix’ your opposite number before you pass it so that the defender cannot then slip off sideways. Brad and Faz were ‘fixing’ Burns and 36 at every opportunity giving Bosch the time and space to run inside and outside Tindall. After a few of these Tindall was getting fixed as well so that Sarries were able to execute two simple plays for two more tries. The first came when Brits came into the line outside Bosch. Inside, the defenders were fixed; Brits and Strettle were put into a straight two on one with the last man. Just like the first try, Brits made no mistake with his pass leaving Strettle with an easy run in. Faz again missed the kick.

Sarries were completely in control now; choking Glaws with kick-chases so they had no opportunity but to clear their lines. Goode was imperious with only one man running on to him. He kicked into the spaces behind the runner, or passed to a fellow Sarries player in space, or slid past the man coming on to him. This was giving Sarries a lot of ball in hand around the Gloucester 10 yard line, where every penalty gained was kickable. In the scrummage JJ and Mako were exerting great pressure and winning a few penalties. Glaws were lucky to clear the ball on their own put-in. It was only in the lineout where Gloucester had any real advantage. The ball was won by the side throwing in except, I think, on two occasions, but the following drive looked a good weapon for Glaws. They were able to get organised for the drive on a number of occasions. No great distance was made, but a few penalties won to get field position - not that anything came of those.

Sarries went further ahead with a penalty with 14 minutes to go to half-time. I, for one, was surprised that they didn’t kick for the corner. Gloucester were in disarray at this point and the bonus point by halftime seemed to be there for the taking. I got the impression that Sarries wanted to keep the game closer. That was pretty well the last meaningful action of the half as the rest of it took place around the half-way line with Gloucester trying to break an impenetrable Sarries defence.  Twelvetrees finally kicked the ball to Goode, but Farrell had one of his aggressive moments and moved across to block the chase. The result was a penalty on the ten yard line, which Gloucester gratefully took to get on the scoreboard.

The announcer was pretty forthright at halftime, telling the crowd that the home team needed to keep their hands on the ball otherwise the second half would see more of the same. The second half started and it WAS more of the same. Sarries worked a scrum on the 22 early on and exerted enough pressure for Billy V to break off with the ball in hand. When play is very well done, it seems simple, and it was on this occasion. Billy ran at Burns and when tackled offloaded to Faz, who was able to ‘fix’ Twelvetrees before passing out. Goode came into the line to make the second extra man and as the cover moved to the outside pair of Strettle and Bosch, a nice gap appeared for him to slide into. Farrell made the simple kick to make the score 29-3 and the game was up. It seemed that the only issue left in the game was when Sarries would get the bonus point.

A few minutes later Cowan was replaced by Robson who with his first touch of the ball changed the game entirely. He wriggled through a gap in the defence and seemed to be in under the posts. Desperate defence stopped him and Billy was deemed to have done so illegally; the reverse of his bonus after 4 minutes. With Sarries down to 14 men, Glaws kicked to the corner to make the most of their advantage in the lineout. A planned throw came in, with the jumper collecting and throwing straight back to the hooker. He was pushed into touch, but not before the jumper toppled over in the line. It seemed to me that his efforts to force the pass had taken him away from his supporters, but after a number of replays, which to me seemed to show nothing, Borthwick was also sent to the bin.

Loud cheers followed this; after all Borths was a local rival for years. It also put Glaws in a strong position and they went for the scrummage. Five yards out, two men up, the crowd growling, shouting and the whole tempo in the ground rising. Sarries re-organised; Kelly Brown in the second row and Brad came into flanker. JJ had also been replaced by Matt Stevens and the dominance went with it. A Gloucester score seemed almost certain; if not a push-over, then the one man extra in the backs would be used. The crowd knew this too and the atmosphere was building up. I must say, that what followed was one of my top 10 Sarries moments, when the six forwards and Brad pushed the well set Gloucester pack off the ball into the ground and a penalty was awarded. Faz cleared up to halfway and the lineout was won. I’m afraid to say I was not at all restrained; jumping to my feet and upsetting the sea of now silent fans around me. Sorry. A few minutes later from a kick-chase Glaws knocked on and a player in front picked up the rebound. The penalty offence I would like to see removed, but it gave Faz a minute to wind down a minute on the sin-bin time and Sarries finished the 10 minutes 0-3

By the time the sin-bin was up at 65 minutes both packs had changed half of their personnel and with it the intensity of the game. Sarries it seemed had used up all their efforts in those 10 minutes and didn’t really get hold of the ball for the rest of the match, let alone get close enough for a bonus-point score. It was Gloucester with the intensity and the will to continue. They managed to contrive another penalty; Mr Pearce seemed to find fault with Sarries players a lot in this period.  From the lineout in the corner the drive was stopped but after a couple of pick and drives Cox managed to push the ball onto the line. Twelvetrees missed the conversion from out wide and the score was 8-29 which it remained for the remainder of the match. The visitors from overseas got their chance to chant USA, USA to Wyles when he was stood in front of us, which he completely ignored.

All in all a classy Sarries performance, and a lazy Gloucester one. I was looking forward to the Brad-36 battle but it didn’t really happen. Burns seemed to kick away a lot of possession with little to run and from that there were no breaks just a couple of shuffled passes outside and one effective kick-blocked chase for the penalty. JJ and Bosch were the real positives from the game, both taking their opposite numbers to the cleaners.

Bring on Toulouse, I say!

 LINE-UPS

Gloucester: Cook, Sharples, Tindall, Twelvetrees, May, F. Burns, Cowan, Wood, Edmonds, Puafisi, Stooke, Hudson, Cox, Kvesic, B. Morgan.

Replacements: Robson for Cowan (55), M. Thomas for Wood (75), Dawidiuk for Edmonds (45), Knight for Puafisi (45), James for Stooke (63), G. Evans for B. Morgan (64). Not Used: Y. Thomas, Monahan.

Sin Bin: Cowan (4).

Saracens: Goode, Ashton, Bosch, Barritt, Strettle, Farrell, De Kock, M. Vunipola, Brits, Johnston, Borthwick, Hargreaves, Wray, Brown, B. Vunipola.

Replacements: Wyles for Strettle (69), Hodgson for Farrell (71), Wigglesworth for de Kock (15), Gill for M. Vunipola (62), George for Brits (63), Stevens for Johnston (55), Botha for Hargreaves (69), Melck for Brown (67).

Sin Bin: B. Vunipola (55), Borthwick (57).

Ref: Luke Pearce (RFU).

Scores: 0-3 Farrell pen, 0-8 de Kock try, 0-11 Farrell pen, 0-16 Strettle try, 0-19 Farrell pen, 3-19 Twelvetrees pen, 3-24 Goode try, 3-26 Farrell con, 3-29 Farrell pen, 8-29 Cox try.

Attendance 13,800. The official maximum is another 3,000 although where they would fit is another matter. The Shed seemed pretty full and there were no more than 250 empty seats in the stands