By Jonjo
May 6 2005

This should be easy enough, surely! Saracens, lying in 5th place in the League with 57 points, versus Worcester, who are in 9th place with 42 points, having only escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth; and with home advantage to Saracens. Except Wuss haven’t read the script, show no fear or respect to anyone and relish their position as underdogs.

And I notice that although Wuss have only two “4-Try” bonus points, they do have 5 “Losers” bonus points from their 13 losses. A track record of close games, then. We beat them by just the 1 point at Sixways, after conceding a couple of early tries, but we were missing Cobus, King Richard, Cec and Glenda that day (and Scabs went off injured after 31 minutes). We played them at Vicarage Road in September 2004, when we won 16-10, albeit not in the most convincing style.

[Forgetting the pinch of salt often needed when reading this season’s published team lists (TT) ]:

One to watch in particular is Craig Gillies, the man who heads the Premiership for line-out takes (163) and steals (30). Maybe he is the reason Dimes has opted to start with Ben Skirving at 6, giving us 4 good lineout options (5 if you include HRHRH).

The battle I am anticipating most eagerly is between the Openside Flankers. Pat Sanderson has played and led his team superbly all season, against Hilly. I know where my money is going, but it will be quite a contest.

Interesting also that Dimes has selected Mosese and Nicki as the half-backs. This may be for all sorts of reasons (form, fitness, playing style etc), but they are noticeably more physical than Broken and Glenda. Is that in anticipation of Sanderson getting out of the blocks quickly?

Worcester are missing Chris Horsman, Tim Collier and Dale Rasmussen for this game. Horsman’s absence taken together with Cobus’s recent return should give us the balance of power in the scrum. Worcester have a decent set of backs, marshalled by the recently decorated Matt Powell, formerly of this parish, but we should be a match for them.

Our track record has shown a massive improvement in the second half of the season. We have become much more consistent and have shown dogged determination. Perhaps most pleasing is that we have turned around matches when we have gone behind early on, and to me that shows growing self-confidence in the team. We even managed to acquit ourselves better in the second half against Pests, despite them running up a cricket score in the first half (and despite a difference in the penalty count that is hard to explain).

No, it certainly won’t be easy. Wuss are not soft, and they will be on fire at the prospect of getting to Twickenham, and hence into the Heineken Cup, so quickly. Despite the difference in our league placing, it would be a fair bet that the winner on Friday will take the honours at HQ. That needs to be us. Not just the team, but the largest, noisiest and most passionate crowd we can muster.

Saracens Team
1 Nick Lloyd, 2 Matt Cairns, 3 Cobus Visagie, 4 Iain Fullarton, 5 Simon Raiwalui, 6 Ben Skirving, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Hugh Vyvyan, 9 Mosese Rauluni, 10 Nicki Little, 11 Tevita Vaikona, 12 Dan Harris, 13 Kevin Sorrell, 14 Ben Johnston, 15 Thomas Castaignede,
Replacements: Raphael Ibanez, Kevin Yates, Kris Chesney, Taine Randell, Kyran Bracken, Glen Jackson, Mark Bartholomeusz.

Worcester Warriors: 15 Thinus Delport, 14 Giscard Pieters, 13 Tommy Hayes, 12 Thomas Lombard, 11 Ben Hinshelwood, 10 James Brown, 9 Matt Powell, 8 Drew Hickey, 7 Pat Sanderson (capt), 6 Neil Mason, 5 Craig Gillies, 4 Richard Blaze, 3 Neil Lyman, 2 Andre van Niekerk, 1 Tony Windo.
Replacements: Steve Sparks, Phil Murphy, Ben Daly, Siaosi Vaili, Neil Cole, Paul Sampson, Daren O'Leary.

[Post your answer on the message board to this question - Which of the above 44 players can be seen on the image at the head of this article? TT ]