thanks Daniel

By Chinjy
January 14 2014

A lot of the build-up for this match from the press and supporters alike were about how far this team had come but more importantly, that if Sarries wanted to win this Le H Cup then they had to go to France and win away. Toulouse, get ready for the Sarries faithful

A Saturday early morning flight from London Gatwick and a few hours later, we were in the heart of the Midi-Pyrénées. A good Saturday spent drinking local beers in The Classroom went down a treat, almost too much of a good thing as we were out for the count (from tiredness) pretty early on.

Game day. A few jars in town and into the Stade Ernst Wallon for a slow crescendo of atmosphere to kick-off and what a sound the locals make.

Early pressure from the hosts at the breakdown saw, what was to be an all too familiar trend against Toulouse, a penalty awarded to them after just 40-odd seconds. Billy Vunipola clutching at the ball a little too long. We, from a Sarries point of view with Rolland in charge, kind of knew what we were in for. Big physicality across the board and we needed to play a faster game than our French hosts.

And almost immediately, we did, with barnstorming in-roads from the forward pack led by Brits after a good scrum in the oppo 22. De Kock spotting Ashton in space on his right wing perch and a decent finish to outpace Gear and bring the try round. An uncharacteristic miss from Farrell and the scores were 5-3.

The rest of the half was fairly loose and, with the Toulouse back three led by Huget and Medard in particularly running mood and a few poor slip tackles notably from Ashton on Gear, our scramble defense needed to be top-drawer. It felt in the stands that Toulouse were starting, slowly but surely, to grind us down and this came in the form of penalty after penalty at the breakdown. Roaming around like hungry vultures, the trio of Dusautoir, Nyanga and Picamoles were everywhere.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Sarries with a few visits into the Toulouse 22. Yet, poor execution in any form of structured pattern play was to blame for the lack of points and the increasing pressure the Toulouse team were placing on the visitors. Half time Toulouse 12 – Saracens 8 and at the stadium, it felt Rolland was pinging us left, right and centre. Jean-Marc Doussain kicking everything on offer.

The second half was a tighter affair, yet the same game plan still applied for the Saracens. Get quick ball and higher kicks with a tighter chase to compete for desperately-needed possession. That unfortunately didn’t materialize and, credit where it’s due, Toulouse eventually grinded Sarries down with a Doussain pen kick after an infringement at the breakdown on 60 mins. 15-8.

Hindsight is a great thing and hadn’t Mako Vunipola got himself sin-binned for a silly hands in ruck moment, of which Doussain duly popped over, maybe Sarries could of snatched a losing bonus point. 18-8 lead for Toulouse.

Doussain, having a controlled performance at fly-half, and Farrell traded penalties and again the margin was a 10 point difference. Hodgson had a snatch at a drop goal but again, similar to Wembley with Farrell, it was exactly the same. Set-up was too long and not into the 22, too rushed and inevitably, unsuccessful. That summed up the day for Sarries and ‘lack of penetration’ was a phrase that perfectly described today’s performance.

Full time and Toulouse were outstanding, Sarries unfulfilling and the Toulouse fans absolutely amazing. Losing 21-11 was not the plan and now, facing French teams for this Sarries side is starting to become an unwelcoming Achilles’ heel in Europe.

Positives from this match. Scrums were on par with the huuuugge Toulouse pack, if not slightly on top at times and last-ditch D was immense.

Yet where was the line-out and attacking decision-making from key players in the team. This was all the result of Toulouses’ pressure in breakdown and big big tackles/hits driving us back behind the gainline.

A win is needed against Connacht to progress in this year’s European competition yet the big question(s) is: How many times do we need to lose to a big, physical team to find a winning formula? Discuss 

Toulouse:

Pen: Doussain (7)

Saracens:

Try: Ashton
  Pen: Farrell (2)


Toulouse: Medard; Huget, David, Poitrenaud, Gear; Doussain, Vermaak; Ferreira, Ralepelle, Johnston, Maestri, Albacete, Nyanga, Dustautoir, Picamoles.

Replacements: Fickou for David (48), Bezy for Vermaak (79), Montes for Ferreira (60), Millo-Chluski for Ralepelle (60), Steenkamp for Johnston (60), Tolofua for Maestri (60), Tekori for Albacete (69), Camara for Dustautoir (78).

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

Replacements: Taylor for Wyles (55), Hodgson for Farrell (69), Wigglesworth for de Kock (51), George for Brits (71), Stevens for Johnston (51), Kruis for Hargreaves (51), Joubert for Wray (55).

Not Used: Barrington.

Sin Bin: M Vunipola (60).

Att: 19,500

Ref: Alain Rolland (Ireland).