Ospreys Humiliate Sarries

EDF Semi-Final 2 - Ospreys vs Saracens (30-3)

The second semi final was a painful thing to watch for the Saracens faithful, many of whom had travelled through sleet and snow in London to make their way to Cardiff for the game. I, for one, wondered why I'd bothered.

To be fair, the first half was pretty tight, with only Shane Williams' unconverted try and a penalty from James Hook giving the Ospreys an 8-0 advantage at the break. We also had a 10-minute spell of snow, leaving the supporters and players to rue the decision to leave the flaming roof open!

[Some idiot left the roof open... hadn't they heard the forecast for snow?]

I don't know who had done the team talk for Sarries at half time, but I think it was the same bloke who made the one against Newcastle just after Christmas! Please stop already!

[Kris Chesney goes for Mike Phillips in the loose, as the snow falls]

Basically, the floodgates opened. Sarries buckled and the Ospreys made light work of scoring 3 tries and a total of 22 points to Sarries' 3! NOT a good day at the office for the Men In Black, nor their supporters who trudged back to their buses in a dejected manner for the return trip down the M4. [right] Osprey Jonathan Thomas dominant in the lineout, just as the rest of his team were dominant elsewhere on the pitch.

The Ospreys are due at Vicarage Road in a fortnight for the Heineken Cup Quarterfinal against Saracens. Let's hope they don't get such an easy ride next time!

Two casualties of the game were Osprey Mike Phillips who sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury and will be out for up to six months. And Sarries' Kiwi Lock Chris Jack who's hand injury rules him out for the rest of the season. He will certainly be missed, on and off the pitch.

The Ospreys are now set for their EDF Final against the Tigers. And Sarries fans are praying The Gaffer can undo the damage to morale for the team. See more match photos from the game.

Sarries Squeeze Out Bath

Yesterday's game against Bath was a cracker. Saracens were without talismans in their team - Chris Jack has briefly gone back to NZ for a family commitment; Kevin Sorrell will be out for at least another 3 weeks with an ankle injury, and Captain Neil de Kock was pulled from the squad at the last minute to prevent a hamstring injury getting worse if played on, his place taken by Scrum Half Alan Dickens.

But despite facing a formiddable Bath side, the replacements and rest of the Saracens team held their hands (and heads) up to a man. They were strong in the tackles, dominant at the scrum (even scoring a couple against the head, despite being 6Kg lighter than the Bath bruisers). Glen Jackson was on song with the boot, scoring 6 out of 6 attempts at goal. And Brent Russell scored a brace of tries to help the Men In Black to an important 26-20 win.

[Brent Russell (the Pocket Rocket) shows Bath defender Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu a clean pair of heels]

There was plenty of adventurous play from both sides, and some great fast passes out of hand. Plus some big hits as usual!

[Bath hooker Pieter Dixon has trouble heading his way - in the form of two charging Saracens - Kris Chesney and Paul Gustard]

The much-vaunted new Bath signings Butch James [left] and Michael Claassens [right] also took to the pitch. James scored a lovely try in the 25th minute, but in the process dislocated his shoulder and will be out for 6 weeks. Ouch! Claassens was harries well by opposite number Alan Dickens, who has been short of game time for Sarries recently, but played a great match. (You can see more of my match photos here)

There were other casualties during the 80 minute too - temporary Captain Andy Farrell popped a rib and went off; Flanker Dave Seymour sustained a leg injury and forwards Fabio Ongaro and Hugh Vyvyan also took knocks. Due to Six Nations action next week, Saracens next game isn't until 10th February, so there's a few days to get the boys patched up before they face 11th-placed Worcester in Watford.

[Dave Seymour, another of the game's casualties, gets the ball out of a ruck]

Meanwhile, the Sarries coaching staff have made another big signing for next season, back rower Michael Owen [left] who will be leaving the Newport-Gwent Dragons for North London. Home-grown Ben Skirving has also extended his contract with Saracens until 2010. Initially overlooked by Brian Ashton for upcoming England squad, he's now been called up after another injury hit the team - good luck to him over the next few weeks!

Talking of which, the Six Nations is nearly upon us once more. A lot of water under the rugby bridge since the last one. I'm pleased to say I'll be going along to Twickenham for England's first game against Wales next weekend. And I'll be keeping a close eye on the other games too. Expext more posts soon!

Jumping Ship

It's that time of year again when players are negotiating new contracts as theirs come up for renewal.

Several players have made (perhaps) surprising moves over the last few days. Firstly, Welsh Scrum Half Dwayne Peel [left] has announced he's off to Sale next season. New Wales coach Warren Gatland had stated that he wouldn't be picking people who play their rugby outside of Wales, but apparently Peel is a special case.

A bigger shock for fans of Bath and Saracens is that England Lock Steve Borthwick [right] is leaving the West Country for North London next season! The Bath fans are justifiably distraught, while the Sarries supporters can't quite believe their luck. Personally, I'm looking forward to the prospect of Borthers and Chris Jack having a few games together. That's if the new boy can displace Hugh Vyvyan, who already seems to be building a strong playing partnership with Jack.

Finally, French Flanker Serge Betsen [left] has announced he's retiring from Les Bleus immediately, and will hang up his Biarritz boots completely at the end of the season. I can think of many a European player who won't be sorry to see the old bruiser go. I wonder how many more yellow cards he'll get before he gives up for good!

Basques Sent Packing

Having lost their last two matches, one home and one away to Bristol, the Sarries faithful were hoping for better things when Biarritz came calling for their Heineken Cup pool match. For the first half hour or so, there were a few heads in hands as the Men In Black seemed to be letting things slide once more. Two paltry penalties were all they had to show for their efforts, while Biarritz had managed a try from Romain Cabannes [left], a conversion and two penalties.

Somehow, during first half injury time, Sarries woke up when Hugh Vyvyan [right] managed to get over the line, and Jackson converted. All of a sudden, things didn't look too bad, going in at half time all square 13-13.

The Gaffer must have had stern words in the dressing room during the break. Saracens came out looking like a different team, and basically blew the Basques off the park in the second half! The floodgates opened.

Chris Jack scored with a taunting tongue before he put the ball down! [left, you can see Hugh Vyvyan celebrating already]. Then Rodd Penney crossed the line and Jackson converted. A few minutes later, Sarries were awarded a penalty which the sure-footed Jackson booted over with no trouble.

The forwards were dominating the scrum and Fabio Ongaro had obviously been practicing hitting the barn door during training last week, since most of his lineout throws went where they should.

The pack were also making plenty of big hits, running with the ball and generally making a nuisance of themselves as far as Biarritz were concerned. Prop Nick Lloyd showed great skill making a wonderful diving catch to keep the ball in play close to the Biarritz line. And although Cencus Johnston wasn't flying up the wing this week, he was making some phenomenal hits in midfield:

[Cencus moves in for the kill, and batters Jérôme Thion into spilling the ball]

In the 75th minute, Biarritz Bruiser Serge Betsen infringed again, and referee Nigel Owens sent him to the sin-bin for ten minutes. The Basques were down to 14 men, and after Sarries brought on a flurry of replacements with fresh legs, they made short work of putting more points on the board. Chris Jack scored his second of the day. Unfortunately, Glen Jackson was limping badly by then, so Captain Neil de Kock took the conversion - which he missed. But by then, the 4 tries and 5-points were in the bag.


Just when you thought it wasn't going to get any better, Saracens pushed deep into Biarritz territory during injury time, and the French knocked on. The Sarries scrum pulped their opposition - which kept collapsing the rolling maul Saracens were getting going 5m from the line. After 3 or 4 resets, each with the same result, Ref Owens lost patience with the Biarritz pack and walked to the posts to award Saracens a penalty try. Fullback Brent Russell took the kick and it sailed over to give Sarries a 45-16 victory.

Other honourable mentions must go to Man of the Match Hugh Vyvan; as well as scoring a try, he was all over the place, running the ball and making tackles. Andy Farrell, unselected for England's upcoming Six Nations campaign, made a big impact in midfield, as did ever-present Centre Kevin Sorrell [left].

He has started 16 out of 18 games for Saracens so far this season. Of those, he's played the full 80 minutes in all but two fixtures. And he came off the bench after 25 minutes in another game early in the season. The poor bloke must be knackered! No wonder the Sarries faithful call him Super Kev. He spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin at Bristol last week - probably a chance to have a bit of a rest!

So Saracens go into their final pool match at Glasgow on Friday knowing they will go through to the Quarterfinals as long as they can stop the Warriors getting a 5-point win - which is eminently feasible given how close recent games have been.

You can see more of my photos from Saturday's game here.

Add: here are some post-match reviews from the papers:

Chris Hewett in the Indy
Mick Cleary in the Telegraph
Mike Averis of the Gruaniad
Chris Foy in the Daily Mail
David Hands in the Times

Viadana Get Pulped

I have to admit, I had little enthusiasm for the idea of rugby on a pouring wet day, and as I set out to drive the 100+ mile round trip in a deluge yesterday, I sincerely hoped it would be worth my trouble. I had decided against going on the train (an equally appalling prospect from Chelmsford to Watford), so had to queue for half an hour for a car park space with all the Christmas shoppers. Thankfully, I'd left loads of time for the trip.

The rain was still lashing down when the game started, and I feared we were in for a dull kicking game with lots of handling errors. How wrong could I be! Within the first 2 minutes, Saracens had scored through new Fijian Flaker Sakiusa Matadigo [left], making his home debut for the club.

Most of the fans sat there in happy disbelief as Sarries proceded to score another four tries before half time, bagging the all-important bonus point with only half the match gone!

Two more new signings were also taking the field for the first time in First Team colours, having performed well in the A-Team's 63-0 drubbing of Bath last Monday. Namely All Black Lock Chris Jack [right, with Hugh Vyvyan dwarfing Captain Neil de Kock during a break in play] and South African Utility Back Brent Russell.

CJ showed what a class act he is, stealing lineouts, running in broken play and setting up some lovely cheeky reverse pass offloads, one of which gave Kameli Ratouvu his first try during the match. Alan Gaffney has said the rest of the squad need to get into a higher gear so they can keep up with him - but from what I saw, they weren't having much trouble!

One guy who definitely wouldn't have any problem keeping pace with the big Kiwi is the aforementioned Russell [left, just about to kick the ball down the opposition Fullback's throat]. Whenever he saw half a gap, he was off like greased lightening. And he was solid under the high ball catches even with such tricky handling conditions. So money well spent, I reckon!

The rest of the team seemed to be working really well together too - there was plenty of quick ball and passing out of the tackles. The scrum was immense, winning at least three against the head and worrying the Italians on plenty of other occasions - but to give them credit, they rarely buckled and gave away penalties at the scrum - Viadana's speciality seemed to be straying offside at rucks. Most of the time, the ref spotted it quickly and Sarries were awarded another penalty. Most were taken as kicks to the corner for a catch and drive move, and Glen Jackson only had one penalty attempt at goal all afternoon. He got that, and 9 out of the 10 conversions!

Cencus Johnston [right] came on for Cobus Visagie after the break, and got up to his usual tricks - he made good ground and has a lovely sidestep which seems to fool the opposition defences - they obviously don't believe a 20-stone prop can be so mobile!

By the end of the match, poor old Viadana were looking rather tired and glad it was over - they did score one try of their own, by Fly Half Calvin Howarth [left], from a wayward Saracens' pass which he intercepted and ran most of the way up field to score. Although he converted it, he hadn't had a great time with the boot for the rest of the game - several restart kicks either didn't go 10m, or went straight out into touch - and at other times, he failed to find touch when he needed to!

Other honourable mentions should go to Richard Hill - great to see him having a good game and scoring from a pushover, and Richard "Del Boy" Haughton who scored three tries. All in all, well worth the stinking journey round the M25 to see - Saracens' highest win in their Heineken Cup history. Let's hope they can get another 5-point victory next week - when they are away to Viadana. I'm sure they will have a good psychological advantage now!

You can see more of my photos from Saturday's game here.

The other surprise of the weekend was Glasgow beating Biarritz 9-6 to take them to second in Pool 4 - with Sarries sitting nicely at the top:

Sarries Go Shopping?

As previously mentioned, I'm a bit mobility-challenged at the moment, and so wasn't able to attend Saracens' fantastic win over Leicester Tigers at the weekend. Looks like I missed a cracker, which was 11-all at half time, but Saracens piled on the pressure in the second half, and finished 26-19 winners. Old boy Kris Chesney [left] and new blood Adam Powell [right] scored one try apiece after the break.

After five games, the win takes Sarries up to the heady heights of second in the Guinness Premiership table [see below]. Even after their success last season, they never got that high! Let's hope the guys can keep up the momentum.

I notice that Bath are doing rather well too, considering their woeful form at the back end of last season. And from the table above, Leicester and Wasps are obviously struggling to retain some form with a large contingent of their players away on World Cup duty.

Talking of that, it looks like Eddie Jones might have persuaded young Takudzwa Ngwenya to come to Sarries for a month's trial, hot on the heels of his World Cup performance. I can't believe the way he outstripped Bryan Habana for a fantastic try when the USA played the Springboks.

[Ngwenya lines up Simon Shaw for a tackle in the England vs USA match]

The lad's obviously not scared of putting in big hits in defence, either, as the photo above shows - the next frame showed Simon Shaw in a heep with Ngwenya buried underneath!

I've not kept tabs on Saracens transfer list very well this season - there have been a few changes, but nothing link the revolving door of a few seasons ago. Here's a roundup:

Out: Simon Raiwalui (Racing Metro), Ben Russell (Racing Metro), Ben Broster (Llanelli Scarlets), Thomas Castaignede [right] (retired), Shane Byrne (released), Tevita Vaikona (released), Ben Johnston (Brive), Tomas de Vedia (London Irish).

In: Chris Jack [left] (Canterbury Crusaders), Matias Aguero (Viadana), Gordon Ross (Castres), Edd Thrower (Wasps)

I'm particularly going to miss the mercurial M. Castaignede, who was always a joy to watch when he was fit and in form. I've enjoyed his commentary stints for ITV's World Cup coverage too, so perhaps we'll see Thomas the pundit more in the future. But I'm also looking forward to seeing the new signings in action, particularly the towering 6'8" of Chris Jack in the lineout!

I'm hoping to be at the Bristol game on 4th November, when all the World Cup matches will be done and dusted, and we shall have been put out of our misery, knowing whether or not England pulled off the seemingly impossible! Still pinching myself that we're in the final, frankly!

England Sinking?

I haven't written in a while for two reasons - firstly not much rugby happening at the moment, and secondly I've been on my hols to Barcelona, and have just caught my breath!

I say not much rugger on at the moment, obviously discounting the three disasterous England performances of late:

• 11th June saw England get a drubbing against Australia, losing 34-3 in Sydney.
• On 17th June, England Saxons managed to lose the Plate Final in the Churchill Cup to Ireland A, thus coming 4th (out of six!).
• On the same date, England main squad lost again against Australia, this time on the end of a 43-18 hammering.

Can't say I'm entirely surprised bearing in mind the fairly inexperienced squad we took while resting some of the senior boys ahead of the next long season. But I'm wondering if Andy Robinson has lost some of his perspective in insisting England can still win the World Cup again next year. On those performances? I won't be betting my mortgage on it!

The Autumn Internationals (kicking off with New Zealand at Twickenham on 5th November) will be very interesting. Fireworks on the pitch too, perhaps? Here's a picture of the last time the AllBlacks visited: Steve Borthwick does battle with his opposite number Chris Jack.