Revenge: A Dish Best Served Cold

What a difference a fortnight makes!

Saracens' fans didn't dare hope they might see such a turn around in their team's fortunes, but they were surprised and delighted with the guys' performance against the Ospreys at Vicarage Road.

It was one of the best games I have ever witnessed Saracens play, in my 4+ years of watching them. Everyone from 1 to 22 put their all into the game.

[Slippery Winger Shane Williams is tackled by ferocious Sarries defence. By closing him down so often, Sarries severely restricted the Ospreys' scoring ability]

The Ospreys started brightly enough, with James Hook slotting a penalty in the 2nd minute. Sarries' Glen Jackson replied with two of his own in the 10th and 15th minutes. By the half hour, Sarries had lost both Brent Russell (hamstring) and Andy Farrell (shoulder) to injury. That could have proved to be unsettling for the team, but subs Francicso Leonelli and Adam Powell slotted in with barely a stutter.

Just before half time, Paul Gustard made a break but was brought up within inches short of the line, the TMO having to decide, much to the disappointment of the home fans.

[Fly Half James Hook was far from his usual best. Another factor in the Ospreys losing the plot]

Leonelli scored a crucial try in the 2nd mintue of the new half, with Glen Jackson having no trouble with the wide out conversion. In the 57th minute, Sarries were all but home again when Osprey Lee Byrne knocked on deliberately in a desparate attempt at defence. The ref had no hesitation in sending him to the bin for 10 minutes for cynical play, and Jackson slotted the extras to take Sarries to a 16-3 lead.

[Scrum Half Justin Marshall clears from a ruck, but wasn't able to marshall his troops as well as his name suggests - or with quite the aplomb of injured Mike Phillips]

After a raft of subsitutions for both sides, Osprey replacement Paul James managed to burrow over from close range for a score in the 74th minute. That meant a nailbiling last 6 minutes for Sarries, with only a 6 point advantage.

[Nick Lloyd goes for a trot. To a man, the Sarries boys were popping up all over the pitch in defence and attack, where you least expected them]

The Black defensive line held firm, and they even went on the attack again. Working themselves into the opposition 22, and up towards the 10m line with 2 minutes to go, Glen Jackson kept a calm head and true aim with the boot to drop a goal and put Sarries 9 points up. It was then a case of keeping possession, defending to the death and ticking the clock down.

[right - Hugh Vyvyan clutches the ball like a man possessed, watched by muddy Winger Richard Haughton]

With the crowd counting down the seconds, Sarries regained possession of the ball, hoofed it into the stands and propelled themselves into an historic Heineken Cup Semi Final against Munster at the Ricoh Arena on 27th April.

The sellout home crowd went nuts, such success all too rare in important games at Vicarage Road. Richard Hill, a master all afternoon of the dark arts of defence and disruption, was Man of the Match. Let's hope the team can take him to greater heights in the next coupld of rounds, and perhaps see him lift the Heineken Cup before he retires at the end of the season. That would indeed be a fitting end to the great man's career. Allez Les Noirs!

See more photos from the game.

Parma Hammered

Yes, OK, that was a terrible pun. I'm not proud.

Despite the cold and wet, just over 3,300 hardy supporters turned out to see Saracens thrash G.R.A.N. Parma in their Pool 2 match of the European Challenge Cup.

Sarrie the Camel was in festive mood, dolled up with tinsel and a Santa hat atop his fez [left].

And the team were having fun too - they ran in 11 tries, the final score being 71-16 to the home side. Great to see Richard Hill back on the park, fit again, and scoring. We missed him!

Next weekend sees the return fixture in the series. I would assume that Parma won't lay down quite as quickly on home turf, but hopefully we will see a few more scenes like this:

[Kameli Ratuvou shows the Parma defence a clean pair of heels as he heads for an intercept try, Sarries 11th of the game last Sunday.] See more of my photos from this game at the usual place.

The other great news from the last week is that Glen Jackson has signed an extenion with Sarries until the end of the 2009/10 season. The way he's scoring points at the minute, that's fabulous news!

Wasps Get Stung

Richard Hill scored on his first Saracens game back from injury, in last night's EDF Cup match against Wasps. It was apparently very wet, but Saracens won 26-15. And althought neither team could progress out of their group, it was still quite a good game, by all accounts. Thomas Castaignede was at Fly Half and got 16 poinst with the boot.

I didn't attend that match, but here's a photo [left] from the equivalent fixture last season, at Adams Park. On that occasion, Wasps ran out winners with 42-8. Now Saracens have to keep up their momentum for the next European Cup match, against GRAN Parma, on 10th December. I shall be attending that one, so will post some photos when I can.

Meanwhile, the debate over Robbo and his successor still rages. Johnno says he's not keen on coaching right now. Mike Catt suggests Dean Richards would be a great choice. Calls have come for RFU Chief Exec Francis Baron's head, but he's having none of it. And the dirty laundry is beginning to be aired - former England defence coach Phil Larder tells us what he thinks of Andy Robinson's decicion making.

Finally, tomorrow sees the last game of the Sprinboks' autumn tour, against a World XV at Welford Road. Saracens provide four international players for the World XV - Cobus Visagie (South Africa), Fabio Ongaro (Italy), Thomas Castaignede (France) and Andy Farrell (Great Britain RL). Their captain is Lawrence Dallaglio. Let's see how Faz performs in such esteemed company!

A Roundup Of News

Lots of news regarding the impending England vs New Zealand game on Sunday:

Impossible job? Mike Ford, England's defence coach, has one of the toughest jobs in rugby right now. Let's hope he's been doing his homework!

Two guys that we will miss on the pitch, and won't be able to renew their sparring from last year (see above) are Mark Cueto and Dan Carter. Cueto failed to recover from injury sustained in a Heineken Cup game against the Ospreys. Carter, meanwhile, is rested by Graham Henry ahead of the All Blacks' games against France and Wales. Nick Evans gets the nod at No. 10.

England 'had to gamble on youth' - Shaun Perry (left) and Anthony Allen win their first caps against the All Blacks - what a baptism of fire! And Paul Sackey is primed for his England chance to impress. He certainly flies for Wasps on the Wing.

Old boy Iain Balshaw is shocked by his England chance at Fullback. I'm sure he'll make the most of it. And talking of renaissances, lock Ben Kay has recently found his form again. All in all, Graham Henry expects England to come out on the attack when they take the field in front of a record 82,000 fans on Sunday.

Comback Kings?
Jonny Wilkinson is set for his latest comeback - how many is that now?
Hilly scored a try during his first match for Saracens in their Guinness A League defeat of Northampton, 43-12.And Dallaglio thinks if he doesn't get picked for the Six Nations squad next year, he's probably blown his chance at another pop at the World Cup.

One final thought:
The underdogs can triumph on the day - as Australia found out to their cost when they were beaten by the Ospreys last night! Well done, guys!

Austin The Merchant Banker

It had to happen sooner or later, but I read today that rugby's talkative Mr Autin Healey has finally decided to hang up his boots.

Healey was often renowned for his sledging of opponents on the pitch, pratical jokes off it, and sometimes, just for being an irritating bloke! At his recent benefit game, Richard Hill was asked what some of the worst memories of his illustrious career have been, and without hesitation he said, "having to share a room with Austin Healey on tour"! Well, there you go.

Here's a picture of Austin during Johnno's testimonial match at Twickenham last June, with the Big Man following him up the pitch.

I guess folks will miss him really. He's certainly performed on the pitch for his club, when fitness has allowed, and gained 51 caps for England. But now he's decided he's too slow to keep up on the field, players everywhere will be safe from his barracking. He's decided to take up a career as a Merchant Banker. If the cap fits, Austin!

A Muddy Affair

Hilly's Benefit game at Vicarage Road was pretty wet at times yesterday, and the World XV rather unwisely had a white kit, which very soon ended up sludge brown. You could spot the subs a mile off when they came on the pitch, we were nearly blinded by the Ariel Whites!

Bit of a pity Saracens XV trailed so far behind, but it was an entertaining game to watch, all the same. And lots of tries! Well done to Academy sub number 22 Richard Gill, who scored a try for Saracens a few minutes after coming on the pitch. He aslo made a very decent tackle on old stager Carlos Spencer, obviously a youth not afraid to get stuck into icons of the game. And just like seeing Captain Hugh Vyvyan dropping a goal a few months back, I also witnessed something I was never expecting - Saracens prop Ben Broster converting a try with a very decent hoof from the touchline - move over "Glenda" Jackson!

There were some great rugby names on both sides, notably David Flatman and Tony Diprose - former Sarries who returned to pull on the black jersey for the afternoon - and as well as King Carlos, the World XV boasted the likes of internationals Justin Marshall, Matt Burke, Joe Roff, Xavier Rush and Raphael Ibanez. They were captained by the inimitable Lawrence Dallaglio. You can see a bunch of the boys getting stuck into each other in the attached photo.

Personalised Plates

I have seen several personalised number plates recently which have caught my eye.

The first is on a shabby looking pickup, and reads E9UUS - without a gap. The font of the "9" has been tweaked to look more like a "q". One can only assume the driver is into horses in a big way.

Another one I see regularly parked at my station is a smart Mercedes sports jobbie, with the plate which used to read C1SC X - I always wondered if it belonged to some fat cat manager type who worked for CISCO (makers of internet hardware routers and switches - an "x" being shorthand for a switch in networking circles). The driver seemed pretty dull so I haven't approached to ask him! And I notice recently that The Boys In Blue must have had a word with him about the non-standard spacing of his plate - it reappeared recently reading C1 SCX as it should!

But one has to wonder about the psyche of someone who is happy to drive around in a car with the plate which reads B19 POO - in this case the "9" looked distinctly like a "g"!

Off to see Hilly's benefit game on Sunday, which should be fun. Loads of big names in the World XV team. But the weather looks a bit iffy, so it might end up being a bit of a muddy affair.