By The Saracens
January 24 2023

Sometimes this Saracens team we follow play this game we love as sublimely as the angels and sometimes they revert to petulant schoolboys. This evening at the DAM health stadium we mostly saw the latter. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.

Mr DG and I decided to spend the weekend on the Scottish Borders with a trip to watch the lads at the end. Having been stymied by trains and planes we settle for automobiles - the drive north is stunning (once we leave the east coast fog behind). The borders’ countryside has to be among the most beautiful in the British Isles with rolling snow-capped hills as far as the eye can see. We arrive at a very pleasant pub south of the city for dinner, bed and a lovely Scottish breakfast. Sunday morning sees an enjoyable wander round Peebles before we make a trip to see some Waxwings to the west of Edinburgh (you may remember my other love is birds. Sadly Mr DG doesn’t share either of my hobbies. The joys of married life!) We arrive at the stadium in good time. Actually too good time because the gates are closed! Are these people mad? There are hundreds of fans  with money to spend standing outside in the cold!!! Eventually they let us in (why bother to do a bag check when you don’t do it properly? I could have had an Exocet missile in mine and they wouldn’t have noticed. Rant over,) and we make for the indoor bar at Murrayfield. We are amongst the lucky ones to get a table along with some very friendly Edinburgh supporters. Mr DG does the decent thing and queues up at the bar. The queues are worse than Harrods sale. When he finally returns I learn that not only do the staff have to sell Heineken in a branded glass (of which they have run out), but they only accept card payments and they only have 1 card machine between them! The food can apparently be ordered on the app which doesn’t work and eventually our new found Scottish friends take us to find a supervisor who manages to complete the order, then Says he “hopes” the food will be served before kick off! Oh Lordy. (Fortunately it is and is very pleasant). Anyway our Scottish friends point out the same highly inefficient system is in place for the international games at Murrayfield when there is 10 times the crowd. No wonder Scottish rugby has financial issues! Ok I’ve waffled on long enough. Sooner or later we have to get to the game itself.

This is the last game of the 4^th round. Both teams know what they have to do. Basically the winner gets a home game unless Sarries can garner 2 points from this match. A win for Sarries and they finish 2^nd and play Montpelier, otherwise the loser goes to Leicester.

The weather in the Scottish capital is pretty decent – around 7 degrees, dry with barely any breeze. There is a full house of over 7,700 at the DAM (something which I get the impression is quite unusual?) The teams are announced then almost immediately a change to Sarries: Mako is unfit and Robin Hislop will start with Mawi coming on to the bench. Both teams seem intent on kicking the ball then after 3 minutes it goes wrong. A penalty for offside (this to be come a recurring theme), an Edinburgh lineout and Cherry scores. Kinghorn converts and Edinburgh take the lead. Things get worse when Edinburgh kick long. Goodey takes the ball by the touchline and thinks he’s stayed in touch but the touch judge disagrees. Goodey remonstrates but to no avail. We were too far away but Goode usually knows where the whitewash is. Anyway Edinburgh get the put in, Sarries go offside and Kinghorn kicks the points for 10-0 

An uncharacteristic error from Daly who juggles but takes a high ball on the wing, looks to beat the defender then for some reason kicks the ball straight at Mata (about 5m away). Mata takes and the threat is over. As the game progresses, Sarries look out of sorts. A rare visit to the Edinburgh 22 results in an uncharacteristic knock on from Loz. An attacking lineout is lost. Tompkins knocks on – this is catching. Sarries have an attacking advantage but mess it up and in the end Goodey takes the 3 to get us on the scoreboard 10-3.

The scrum is a lottery. Mr Cayre seems to  give penalties at will to 1 side or the other. Again we aren’t close enough to see what is going on but it always seems odd when a scrum is pretty even but scrum penalties go against the attacking team. Edinburgh plonk the ball in the corner but Sarries defend the maul well and Christie disrupts the ensuing lineout. Jamie is down. The game goes on which seems wrong. Eventually Mr Cayre blows his whistle and we go to the TMO. Jamie looks groggy. The TV review doesn’t look good – the attacking player is bent in the carry, Jamie tackles but it's high and head on head. Mr Cayre goes for yellow. Pifelti, who has joined the fray, rapidly departs again. Kinghorn misses the penalty. 2 minutes later things get even worse. Same scenario but this time its Riccioni. Once again he comes off worse. Once again it’s yellow. Sarries down to 13 for the next 8 minutes – probably lucky it isn’t for the rest of the match. What to say? I kind of feel yellow was correct, red would have been harsh. As the law stands it is down to the tackler to get lower than the player he tackles but one does feel that when the ball carrier is almost bent double, a legal tackle is virtually impossible! Maybe this is the new way!

Time to stand up and be counted lads. It’s not looking great when Daly kicks one out on the full. Edinburgh are attacking. Penalties rain down. In my view we’re fortunate not to lose another one. Maybe Mr Cayre feels sorry for us. Another penalty on 5m. Understandably Edinburgh go for the scrum. Max and Christie leave us for Judge and PIfileti. Sarries manage to make the scrum last for almost 3 minutes. Inevitably though, after sterling defence from the lads, Edinburgh score. Loud cheers! The stadium announces their latest hero Jamie Ritchie but hang on, the TMO has seen something. Ritchie knocked on and the try is wiped. Edinburgh had yet another penalty advantage though so the pressure is not relieved. This time they go for a tap. Sarries 13 men are immense and somehow persuade Mr Cayre to raise his arm in their favour. Not only that, the 10 minutes are up and incredibly Jamie George returns along with Max and Andy. Riccioni has failed his HIA so Christian Judge will be with us until the end. What a show though. To defend with 13 men for 8 minutes and concede nothing feels like a huge gain! Even better, Goodey kicks a penalty just before half time for 10-6.  If we can just hang on until half time this will be a big gain for Sarries. We do, just, despite a sustained Edinburgh attack and another couple of penalties (have to say I’ve lost count) 

The half time entertainment is the Merchiston Castle Pipe Band. OK if you like that sort of thing although personally I’m pleased we’re up the other end and can barely hear it!

We’re all feeling more positive for the 2^nd half. That heroic defence was the Sarries we have come to know and love! Surely Smally can sort out the disciplinary issues and Sarries can get the win. Jamie doesn’t return (apparently he was reassessed at half time and found to be groggy so we have Pifileti. Given Jamie looked to have been out for the count anyway, I think we were all surprised to see him again. Methinks someone didn’t do their job right there). The half starts badly. Billy’s petulance causes Mr Cayre to march yet another Edinburgh penalty forward by 10m. When will he learn? Kinghorn kicks the points for 13-6. Instead of the rejuvenated performance we hoped to see, Sarries are error-strewn. Daly hobbles off to be replaced by Lewington. Sarries get a penalty on half way. I think we’re all a bit surprised that Goode signals the posts. He misses but only just so maybe not such a bad call. He gets another chance almost immediately and this time lands it for 13-9.

Loz creates a delightful 50:22 – only for Sarries to lose the line-out! You really wonder what’s going on at the set piece. Lots of changes: Davies replaced Van Zyl and Isiekwe comes on for Tizard. Edinburgh bring on Pyrgos for Vellacott (not popular with the locals), Goosen for Blain and Haining for Ritchie. Edinburgh are back on the attack and win yet more penalties Finally Mr Cayre sends Maro to the bin for slapping the ball our of Pyrgos’ hands. Mawi replaces Robin  Edinburgh score what looked like a pretty suspect try straight in front of us as the maul seems to divide and Schoeman comes through the middle and grounds the ball. Mr Cayre and the TMO don’t give it a 2^nd look, Kinghorn converts and Edinburgh take a 20-9 lead. It could be even worse as Mr Cayre gives Edinburgh yet another penalty and incredibly Kinghorn gets it all wrong and the kick doesn’t even make it to the posts! Sarries manage to hang on for the rest of the yellow card and Maro rejoins us with 10 minutes left and with Theo Dan for Christie. For once Sarries have some ball in the Edinburgh 22 and Mr Cayre sends Sam Skinner for an early bath. Sarries mess up the lineout and it’s a penalty to Edinburgh which sparks some minor fisticuffs. Edinburgh’s throw isn’t straight so Sarries go for the scrum. Mawi sets off down the wing and a lovely offload to Ben Earl sees him score in the corner. We need this conversion but sadly Alex can’t land it this time. We can still do this can’t we?

Before Christmas we would have believed. With 5 minutes left Sarries would have gone on to win. There would have been no doubt. But something has changed and those of us Sarries supporters in the Riverside Stand have lost that blind faith. We are discussing whether it is Leicester or Ospreys we will visit. They told us that this was a winner takes all game and for once it isn’t going to be us. Then incredibly a ray of hope. A message from little DG at home watching on TV (Sunday night kick-offs in Scotland don’t work for teachers). “So long as we don’t concede a point we have a home tie”. What? “Both sides have the same number of match points and equal points difference. Sarries have scored more tries so they get the home berth as it stands”. Word spreads round the stand and we start cheering the lads on. Do they know how crucial it is they don’t concede? The clock’s almost dead. Incredibly Edinburgh are penalised for taking too long at a caterpillar. A Sarries’ scrum. Hang in there boys, wind down the clock. Oh no the referee, has given Edinburgh the penalty this time. They kick for touch, they win the ball and attack and then incredibly they kick the ball out. What have they done? They can’t know! Both the team and most of their supporters think Edinburgh have done enough but they haven’t. Despite everything, Sarries have conjured up a home time out of nowhere. We scarcely believe it and as word starts to go round the Scots, their unbridled joy is suddenly tempered. “Well anyway we beat Saracens”. You did but today it wasn’t quite enough. Mr DG and I head home much happier than we were just a few minutes ago. Sometimes you win when you lose!

What has happened to our team though? Well though Edinburgh played, Sarries looked rudderless, clueless, hopeless even for much of the game. So many unforced errors, so many penalties (they were lucky not to get another yellow just for that). The weather was blameless - dry, calm and (at least for Edinburgh) quite balmy. Apart from some superb defence when down to 13 men, they didn’t look like the Saracens we have come to know and love. I do believe Farrell’s absence is huge, not just for his skill but his rugby presence. We’ve been unlucky with injuries - the first choice front row didn’t make it to half time and arguably our most in-form back limped off too. And boy do we miss Theo - like they say, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone! Ben Earl is mostly what stands between Sarries and oblivion right now and Ben has deservedly been selected for England. The next few games will be tough. Maybe a bit of fresh blood can work a miracle and get us back where we belong. Bristol are our visitors on Saturday and there’s no time to start like the present!

Edinburgh:-

Immelman, Blain (Goosen), Bennett, Lang, Kinghorn, Savala, Vellacott (Pyrgos); Schoeman, Cherry (McBurney) , Nel, Skinner, Gilchrist, Ritchie (Haining), Crosbie, Mata

Saracens:

Daly (Lewington), Malins, Lozowski, Tompkins, Maitland, Goode, Van Zyl (Davies); Hislop (Mawi), George (Pifileti), Riccioni (Judge), Itoje, Tizard (Isiekwe), Christie (Dan), Earl, B Vunipola

SCORERS:-

Edinburgh: Tries – Cherry, Schoeman; Conv: Kinghorn (2), Pen: Kinghorn (2)

Saracens: Try: Earl; Pens: Goode (3)

Yellow Cards:

Saracens: George, Riccioni

Edinburgh: Skinner

Attendance:- 7,774

Referee: Ludovic Cayre (Fr)

SOMETIMES YOU WIN WHEN YOU LOSE

Discussion started by TheSaracens.com , 24/01/2023 11:42

TheSaracens.com
24/01/2023 11:42

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:02:13:12:43:20 by Darraghgirl.

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ComeOnSarries
24/01/2023 13:19

Very good and fair write up of what was a curate’s egg of a performance. Some desperate and effective defence but not much else

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OldMarovian
24/01/2023 16:50

Fantastic and evocative report DG. Almost makes me want to go to Scotland!

I think the point that in previous times (even earlier in the season given how it started and how many games at the StoneX were won with a kick in the last minute) Sarries supporters might have thought the team would close the game out if fair but equally I think it's hard to appreciate how much that defensive performance over 15-ish? minutes will have taken out of the team. Add on the early front-row subs and you have a lot of very knackered players. Sarries play much more defensively away and I think that with tired bodies out there opening the game up was quite a risk.

As it was it is quite incredible that the team still managed to secure the home game. I think we all realise we're probably going to need some of our table lead for the upcoming 6 Nations as whilst we have a great squad it's getting very thin in some positions.

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maynas
24/01/2023 22:40

Can’t say that the bar system makes me want to go !!

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