By Darraghgirl
December 12 2020

Just over 9 months have passed. The opposition is the same, the venue is the same but so much else has changed – such is limbo Rugby in the time of COVID! I was fortunate to get 2 tickets in the ballot for today’s friendly against Leicester Tigers so little DG and I set off for Barnet to take our places among the lucky 1000.

As this wasn’t classed as a “Stadium Event” (the long-postponed game against Gloucester back in April is still displayed), we parked on the road just a short walk along Champions Way. Allianz is of course no more and the yellow signs now point to Copt Hall Stadium. We pass the brand spanking new Copt Hall Leisure Centre which has appeared in our enforced absence and more by luck than judgement, present ourselves at Gate B at the appointed hour. We show the relevant email. The Pioneer asks for photo ID but points out that as everyone is wearing facemasks he can’t tell who anyone is anyway (just as well as the photo on my driving license is 20+ years old and sadly I have acquired a few wrinkles since then). Little DG is hungry so we head for the lone food outlet at the South concourse. The queue is long and at 12.00 precisely Little DG purchases the last cheese and onion pasty. They have run out of food! They assure the waiting punters that more is in the oven but it won’t be ready until 12.30! Methinks someone got that seriously wrong. Fortunately everyone is so pleased to be back that they stock up on crisps and chocolate and don’t make too much fuss.

We find our seats in the strange territory of the South Stand. It feels weird looking at others sitting in our East Stand seats although as it is raining and they are getting wet, there is ample compensation. The ground looks bare without the electronic advertising and with only 1 big screen. The first player to appear seems to be wearing a mask? Ah it’s my glasses steaming up under the mask. I decide to drink my tea which allows me remove my mask and see more clearly  – it’s Leicester’s full back Zack Henry, his short dark beard an almost exact replica! We soon discover that the South Stand is a dangerous place for the uninitiated. Balls start to thud into the seats either side of us. Henry and Johnny McPhillips are on kicking practice. You need eyes everywhere, especially as they practice from the touchlines!

Neil Golding, Saracens’ new Chairman is interviewed. He confirms that the Championship WILL take place and there will be an announcement soon. Good news indeed! Something is missing though. Where is Sarrie? Where is everyone’s favourite camel? Sarrie is nowhere to be seen. Is he on furlough? I do hope he hasn’t contracted the virus? Surely camels don’t get it do they?  

Both teams take the field – Sarries in their smart new kit and Leicester in a fetching sky-blue number with, as Little DG pointed out, some rather nice multi-coloured socks. No idea who the referee is! Leicester kick off and within 3 minutes have a try. Alex Day, captain for the day, makes a rather inauspicious start with a poor box-kick which barely makes any ground. From the line-out, the Leicester pack trundle over with hooker Jake Kerr touching down and a nice kick out wide from McPhillips adding the extras. We notice the action on the big screen is about 3 seconds behind the live action – a bit disconcerting but actually quite handy to watch an instant replay! Fortunately Sarries make amends straight away with Segun going over in the corner and an impeccable conversion by Hooley (who didn’t miss a kick all afternoon). Day, who was having a bit of a mare, was at fault again conceding a lineout from which Tigers won a penalty and took the points. Things got even worse when Sarries didn’t follow up a kick-chase and as the ball bounced dangerously in the 22, Venter knocked on trying to collect and then compounded the error looking at the referee rather than McPhillips who kicked the ball forwards and dived on it for Tigers’ second. He then kicked a touch-line conversion and with just 12 minutes gone we had seen 3 tries and Leicester led 17-7.

Leicester tried a bit of aerial ping pong but some lovely takes by Obatoyinbo and Segun dissuaded them from continuing. Pifeleti made a lovely break into the Leicester 22, the ball was recycled and Obatoyinbo found Venter, redeeming himself by running on to his pass and off-loading to Dom Morris who scored. Again Hooley was immaculate with the extras. Tigers again capitalised on a Sarries fumble. Harry Sloan tackled well but Henry broke through and off-loaded to Aspland-Robinson to score Leicester’s third. McPhillips again kicked the extras and stretched the lead to 14-24. Sarries won a penalty at the line-out and Hooley found a nice touch in the corner. This time the catch and drive worked well and Pifeleti scored. Once again Hooley kicked the extras for 21-24. Sarries survived a sustained attack from Tigers as half time approached. Sean Reffell departed, presumably injured, and was replaced, somewhat surprisingly, by the versatile Tom Woolstencroft in the back row.

Half time saw the props replaced  by Eroni Mawi and Sam Wainwright and Tom Whiteley took over at 9 from Alex Day who had 40 minutes to forget. Sarries conceded rather too many penalties but eventually a lovely long clearance from Hooley cleared the danger. Whiteley kicked through for Segun but just put a tiny bit too much on the kick. 2 Sarries line-outs went wrong so when Sarries won a penalty in front it was perhaps not surprising Hooley kicked the points (of course he did) to level the scores. Whiteley almost set Segun off again but this time he over-ran the pass. Venter departed for Toby Knight (he had looked pretty solid especially in the backfield, after a dodgy start). Hooley put in a beautifully weighted cross-field kick which found Ben Harris, England 7’s player of the year. He showed his pace until a heavy tackle ended his afternoon. Into the last half hour and Sarries had finally got the measure of the Leicester line-out. This time Pifeleti pouched the ball and set Whiteley free. With 2 defenders zooming in on him deep in the 22, he kicked ahead, dodged outside the corner flag and then dived on the ball from the side just before it went dead for a super try. Another tricky conversion for Hooley but once again he was inch perfect and finally Sarries were ahead, 31-24.

Into the last 10 minutes and Sarries were turning the screw. Deep in  Tiger’s 22 they won 2 penalties, both of which were tapped but didn’t get over the line until finally Mawi was on the bottom of the pile and grounded the ball. Hooley again kicked the extras and the lead stretched to 38-24. Soon after, Pifeleti came off the back of the scrum and off-loaded onto the electric Whiteley who sped down the other touchline to score again. Hooley was never going to miss from wide out on the right for 45-24. Maybe Sarries should have scored once again at the end but Hooley’s almost perfect crosskick just evaded Segun. Inexplicably, with the clock dead, Leicester kept the ball in play for another couple of minutes, pinned in their own 22, until Henry had enough and kicked the ball out.

So very much a game of 2 halves. A first half to forget but a totally different second 40, inspired by Tom Whiteley who was a complete revelation! Kapeli Pifeleti looked very good and played the whole 80 minutes. Hooley went about his work quietly and competently. He landed all 7 kicks, most of them from tricky angles and tried a few delicate cross-kicks which on another day would have been more fruitful. The replacement props brought some almighty power to the scrum and once the whole team got to know each other a bit better, they looked a decent outfit. Mercifully the kicking game, with which the National team have bored us rigid, was largely absent and the result was an entertaining game with 9 tries scored. When you consider the players who were missing today (and I don’t just mean the internationals) there is plenty of room for optimism. I just hope we will get the chance to see it live!

SARACENS

Obatoyinbo, Harris (Hallett), Morris (Mills), Sloan, Segun, Hooley, Day (Whiteley), Crean (Mawi), Pifeleti, Clarey (Wainwright), Hunter-Hill, Stonham (Jon Kpoku), Benson, Reffell (Woolstencroft), Venter (Knight)

LEICESTER

Henry, Aspland-Robinson, Kelly, Worth, Williams, McPhillips, Van Poortvliet, Whitcombe, Kerr, Heffernan, Henderson, Enever, Chessum, Wallace, Smith.

Replacements: Vanes, Bower, Dowding, Lewis, Coghlan, Law, Olowofela, Browning

SCORERS:

Saracens:  Tries: Segun, Morris, Pifeleti, Whiteley (2), Mawi; Conv (6) Hooley; Pen: Hooley

Leicester:  Tries: Kerr, McPhillips, Aspland-Robinson; Conv (3) McPhillips; Pen: McPhillips