By Henry Harman
October 3 2003

After a turbulant week that has seen them well beaten by Gloucester (30-7) then docked 2 league points for an administrative error, Saracens face a fierce test on Sunday at Vicarage Road when they take on the very much in-form Harlequins side. With 3 wins from 3 so far this season, Quins have looked very good. They have Paul Burke kicking the goals, Ugo Monye setting the pace in try-scoring and the pack appear to have gelled very well.

The biggest challenge for Saracens comes in the shape of the Quins back-row. Pat Sanderson, Captain Andre Vos and Tony Diprose have been excellent this term; Tony Roques and Ryan Peacey will have to have big games to contain Vos and Sanderson. The dual between Sarries past (Diprose) and present (Taine Randell) at No 8 should be very interesting.

The boys from the Stoop will be missing a couple of their big guns. Lock Simon Miall, has been side-lined for 6 months with a ruptured tendon in his knee and bash-merchant George Harder, absent from last week’s game against London Irish is still out.

Saracens welcome back centre Ben Johnston to the starting line-up with Paul Bailey dropping to the bench, the only other change to the starting XV sees hooker James Parkes replace Joe Ross in some-what of a baptism of fire against Ace Tiatia.

When the two teams met pre-season at the Stoop, Sarries were well below par in the first half but pulled some pride back in the second. The final score, 25-20 to the hosts. The main concern that evening was the way the Quins pack dominated in the scrum. Sarries line-out, as it was last week against Glaws, was a shambles. These are all things that Rod Kafer has been working on in training this week.

Saracens took a step back in their development at Kingsholm last week, no doubt about it. For them to take 4 points from this game they are going to need to regain their composure that deserted them at Gloucester, play the game at their pace and for God's sake look after the ball!