By J O'G
September 5 2016

Double header time again; some love it and the ones who hate probably don’t go any more. I had an interesting journey there as on the train from Reading I sat alongside Big Jim’s wife and two lovely young kids. Twickenham finally arrived and I noticed this year the bag searches were before the ‘village’. Loads of young people were emptying cans from rucksacks and complaining. Eventually the game started and it seemed Worcester came with a game plan. Defend and push numbers into the breakdown to slow down the Sarries attacks and focus on the scrummage.  

There was lots of territory for Sarries, but also lots of knock-ons. Part of that seemed to me in the referees interpretation of knock-on. Lose control of the ball and it was called even though from the replay it was obvious the ball went straight down or slightly backwards due to a Worcester arm or shoulder. All the ball carriers were at fault; even Itoje and Burger. The first incident was a scare as Billy dropped the ball form a high kick. Te’o ran on to it and a couple of seasons ago Alex might not have made the tackle and it’s a positive thing for his game that he put a quality player both down and into touch. Te’o did offload but Kruis was on hand to pick it up. George was part of the next bit of play where a slick back movement resulted in no knock-ons. There was a stretch to the line but it was short. Graham Hughes TMO, Sarries, no try is normality. A fairly blatant late tackle was also reviewed and discarded.

During this time Sarries had been awarded 3 kickable penalties; only one was converted though and a slender 3 point lead was wiped out by Worcester’s first foray into the Sarries half. Lamb, normally rubbish with the boot slotted over what was to be the end of Worcester’s point scoring for the afternoon. Then another classy Sarries break; driving down the left before freeing up the backs on the backs on the right. Ashton was free and would probably have scored had Bosch’s pass been to hand. Frustration started to creep in and half-time was approaching. Fortunately, another kickable penalty was taken this time and Sarries led 6-3 at the break. It had to get better.

The second half saw Petrus replaced by Chippi Figallo and that ended Worcester’s scrum dominance. McCall had evidently ‘had a word’ at half-time as the tempo cranked up another gear. In addition Worcester’s flopping over at the breakdown seemed to have been sussed by the referee; who had been pretty lenient in the first half. Itoje stole a lineout; penalty at the fist breakdown. Kicked for a 9-3 lead. A few minutes later Sarries were back around the 22 and another penalty. This time though a kick to the corner. A solid take, troops gathered around and a grunt to the line. Jamie George came up with the ball. The young Lozowski added the extras. 16-3 was more like it, but there was much more to come. Again Sarries were in the Worcester 22 and yet another penalty. For some reason Sarries chose to kick for 3 points. Goode took the kick but hit the post. Worcester gathered but the clearing kick didn’t end up too far from where the kick to touch would have done.

Sarries won the lineout and shaped to drive, but Billy came off the back quickly and drove for the line. The ball was re-cycled and passed to Burger who shaped to drive. The remaining defenders focussed on him and he was able to ship the ball to Lozowski who dived in untouched. He converted for 23-3. The surge wasn’t quite finished as Sarries collected and attacked again. This time as Lowoski sidestepped James Johnson he flung out an arm I think by reflex. Clothesline – disgruntled Sarries players chasing him – yellow card. Again Sarries kicked to the corner, again a fake drive. Billy again held up and again a second surge. The ball was played out to Burger ten yards out. This sort of position is where he earns his money. I can’t think of another player (Billy included) who would have scored under the posts, three men hanging off him. Again it was converted for 30-3

We then had 10 minutes of Worcester fightback. Thanks to an earlier injury to the tight head, Johnsons departure meant uncontested scrums .Sarries were still knocking a few passes on so this gave Worcester easy ball to run and kick. They were more productive with 14 than 15. With the bonus point in sight Sarries were trying more complicated routines and not working out. Worcester were able to use the easy ball from uncontested scrums to keep field position and give the Sarries defence a good workout. Even when Sarries got the odd penalty they were too far out to kick to the corner. With all the subs used a back line of Spencer and Goode as half-backs, Taylor and Lozowski in the centres, Ashton and Ellery on the wings, Maitland at full-back. A new combination all round and not really working.

Finally as the match came to a conclusion a moment of high skill from Ben Spencer. Pulling the ball from a ruck he saw a gap, dummied and got in behind the defence. He ran hard weaving left and right as defenders reacted slowly. Keeping moving fast he had the defenders all over the place and crossed the line brilliantly. The kick was unconverted but Sarries had the bonus point. The performance was very sketchy, but at the end 5 points and a 32 points difference is enough to start again at the top.      

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall: "Overall, I am probably not happy with that. I am happy we got five points and happy to get the win.

"It was a hugely rusty performance but we defended very well. Give Worcester credit for the way they played in that first half. They were really physical and they made life difficult for us at the breakdown.

"But I was pretty calm at half-time and I thought we were ruthless in that 15 minutes of the second half and that set us up to get the win."

Saracens: Goode; Ashton, Bosch, Barritt (capt), Maitland; Lozowski, Wigglesworth; M Vunipola, George, Du Plessis, Itoje, Kruis, Wray, Burger, B Vunipola.

Scorers (35) : Tries: George, Lozowski, Burger, Spencer  Conv: Lozowski (3)  Pens: Lozowski (3)

Replacements: Brits, Barrington, Figallo, Hamilton, Rhodes, Spencer, Taylor, Ellery.

Worcester: Willison; Hammond, Olivier, Te'o, Vuna; Lamb, Arr; Rapava Ruskin, Annett, Schonert, Cavubati, Barry, Dowson, Mama, van Velze (capt).

Replacements: Bregvadze, Leleimalefaga, Johnston, Scotland-Williamson, Faosiliva, Baldwin, Heathcote, Humphreys.

Scorer (3): Pen: Lamb

Referee: Matt Carley

Attendance: 47,029