Sarries secure LV=Cup semi-final spot
07 Feb 2010 - 19:15
Saracens booked a place in the LV=Cup semi-finals despite losing by a single point against the Dragons at Vicarage Road on Sunday.
The home side were beaten 23-22 by the Welsh outfit but the losing bonus point gives Sarries a place in the last four and a visit to Franklins Gardens to face Northampton Saints on Sunday 14 March.
Sarries had moved into a 6—0 lead early in the game but a brace of tries from wing Will Harries set up the victory for the visitors despite Chris Wyles’ second half try which pulled the home side back into the game.
Replacement Derick Hougaard and Wyles both saw opportunities to win the game via penalties and drop goals as the close wore down, but both were off target which denied the home side the win, but the result was enough to see them through.
It was Saracens who took an early lead in the match with the home side penalised for not rolling away and Glen Jackson quickly found his range to score. The fly half was on target again a minute later to give his side a 6-0 lead with just 10 minutes on the clock.
However, despite no longer being able to qualify for the semi-finals of the competition, it was clear the Dragons hadn’t travelled down the M4 looking to make up the numbers. After fiercely competing for a ball on halfway, they turned over Sarries possession and wing Will Harries spotted a gap on the touchline. He raced clear and cut inside Jackson before racing outside Rodd Penney to cross the line. Jason Tovey converted to give the visitors the lead.
Sarries immediately mounted an attack from the restart and pressured the Dragons line, forcing them into the mistake which allowed Jackson to regain the lead. However, Tovey then saw a long range effort from just inside the Sarries half creep over the bar.
Jackson replied with another effort with 10 minutes of the half remaining but Tovey had the final say of the opening 40 minutes when his effort on the stroke of half time cleared the posts.
The Dragons picked up where they left off after the break and their second try of the game followed in almost identical fashion of the first. The home side lost possession in midfield and after a quick break, Harries outsprinted the home defence to touch down a chip ahead. Tovey converted to give the Dragons a 20-12 lead with 50 minutes on the clock.
Three changes immediately after the try saw Tom Ryder, Derick Hougaard and Neil de Kock take the field and Hougaard was quickly involved in the action as he dropped goal from 35 metres to cut the deficit.
And it wasn’t long before Sarries crossed the line themselves. Hougaard’s up and under was collected by Tovey inside his own 22, but the Dragons fly half hadn’t counted on a terrific chase from Chris Wyles who charged down his kick and collected the ball to score. Hougaard converted to give Sarries a 22-20 lead on the hour.
However, when the Dragons went into the Sarries 22 five minutes later, Tovey took full advantage to drop a goal and give his side a single point lead.
For the final 10 minutes, Sarries pushed but couldn’t find the winner. Hougaard saw two long range penalties drift wide along with a drop goal. Wyles also had two efforts at three points, but both were off target.
The Dragons held on to win but the bonus point sees Saracens through to the semi-finals of the LV=Cup in March.
Saracens line-up: Wyles, Haughton (Short 60), Penney, Powell, Tagicakibau, Jackson (Hougaard 50), Marshall (de Kock 50), Lealamanua, Brits (Reynecke 62), Skuse, Smith, Botha (Ryder 50), Van Heerden (Saull 60), Burger, Joubert. Replacements not used: Brown, Nieto.
Aviva Premiership Rugby Table
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Leicester Tigers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 27 | 0 |
| 9 | Gloucester Rugby | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 22 | 0 |
| 10 | Leeds Carnegie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 32 | 0 |
| 11 | Newcastle Falcons | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 35 | 0 |
| 12 | Saracens | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 33 | 0 |
Comments
bigscottyj says:
Good work lads! I'd have preferred Cardiff but Saints will have to do. Don't make it easy ourselves, do we?
07 Feb 2010 - 19:29 - (Report this post)
nigel says:
great game but need to move the ball around the park a bit more and stop the kicking game so much well done anyway
07 Feb 2010 - 19:46 - (Report this post)
Mac says:
Sorry Nigel, I went to Watford and watched an increasingly tedious/frustrating game. Where did you go?
07 Feb 2010 - 20:39 - (Report this post)
RJT says:
Cold and wet makes for difficult handling, but Dragons were an efficient and well organised team and deserved to win. Maybe we had too many out on international duty but losing at home to anyone is not good news, and the drop goal attempts in the last 10 minutes were all speculative - a time for composure to get good field position first? And we've got to improve our intensity if we are to stay near the top of the premiership.
07 Feb 2010 - 21:01 - (Report this post)
Eric Browett says:
You are all deluding yourselves if you think that was anything other than a poor, uninspiring performance. Crowds will decreas unless we produce more varied, attractive rugby.That was dire.
07 Feb 2010 - 21:09 - (Report this post)
Ziemac says:
It was not a good advert for the Sarries. A shame. But at least we are still through to the semis. But if we don't play better in the next round we'll lose, and deserve to.
07 Feb 2010 - 21:16 - (Report this post)
brighty1 says:
today was awful we rarely spread the ball wide and the kicking was awful penalties from the half way line instead of kicking to the corner the dragons deserved to beat us and we're going to have to hope everyones back for the trip to northampton in march
07 Feb 2010 - 21:16 - (Report this post)
Fitzzy says:
I am so frustrated (as were the rest of the Saracens fans) with this madness of squandering opportunities by going for hopeless drop goals. It smacks of desperation and a total lack of imagination. Jackson should have stayed on; Hougaard wasted our opportunities to keep the ball in-hand and win this game. This is Vickerage Road not the high Veldt ! In the end the Dragons deserved the win. Please Sarries don’t play like this again !
07 Feb 2010 - 21:20 - (Report this post)
woldman says:
This was the poorest performance I have seen by Sarries. We had no invention, no forward edge, poor decision making and were saved by a lucky try.
07 Feb 2010 - 22:23 - (Report this post)
Baz says:
Fans' forum on Wed is gonna be interesting! I think a lot of people were prepared to tolerate utterly dismal rugby while it was winning, but now it isn't winning, and leaving the stadium last night all I could hear from those around me was grumbling and discontent. I hope for his sake that Griffiths doesn't fan the flames by giving the South Stand a ticking off for booing the endless pathetic DG attempts.
08 Feb 2010 - 07:08 - (Report this post)
Dragon says:
With all the changes of days, and venues of the matches we are not happy season ticket holders anyway but when we have managed to make Vicorage Road we have not been impressed with the standard of rugby this season. We are mistified with the top of the table position. I thought that they were trying to attract more supporters and not loose the ones they currently have. Baz I am not sure it was just the south stand booing!! Was it rugby or a game of piggy in the middle with kicking instead of throwing.
08 Feb 2010 - 08:10 - (Report this post)
Raydow says:
I start with a pat on the back for making the semi finals as it is about the whole campain and not about a one off game, now it is serious with an away game to Northampton. Now for the negative, quite simply we were not good enough!!! We were shown how to do it by a much better Dragons side who had vision and belief in the backs and wingers, something we did not i think we should have alowed our backs and wingers to wear scafs and coats because they were as much a spectator as the crowd was!!! I cannot believe that we started to try and salvage the game with 20 minutes a go with very long range penarlties and drop goals. I have total faith in the club and coaching staff but this performance from on paper was a good side was not good enough at any level, lots of effort but no thought!!. Lets hope that we do a lot better against Worcester at Wembley on Saturday as they havnt lost any international and we need our squad to do the job for us.
08 Feb 2010 - 08:41 - (Report this post)
richardh says:
Can't really argue with many of the comments from yesterday ... sadly I thought that as usual we looked dangerous when we got the likes of Jacques Burger driving with the ball ( impressed with his performance ) , but we kicked too much and at critical times poorly ... that said defense was poor in build up to both tries we conceded ( how did that ball squirt out of the ruck in the build up for the 2nd try ? ) ... although you can't knock the class finishing of either try
08 Feb 2010 - 08:55 - (Report this post)
popeye says:
Firstly, will people please spell Vicarage correctly, as I'm sure most of you have been going there long enough to know how is is spelt. Secondly, and more importantly, I was very disappointed yesterday. We keep reading on the website and in the papers that we want to win all our matches, but I didn't see any evidence of wanting to win against the Dragons yesterday. All those specualtive penalties and drop goals, just to keep the time ticking down, because we knew if the score stayed that way, we would go through. Whatever happened to making sure, and sealing your own fate. I think the internationals were sorely missed. Particularly Borthwick, Barritt, Cato and Goode. Let's hope we can perform better on Saturday, bcause if we play the same way, it could be very embarrassing. Why is it we can play away at Leeds or Rovigo, and score all these well worked tries in open play, and yet back at the Vicarage, it's one lucky opportunist try and a few dodgy drop goals, all very disappointing.
08 Feb 2010 - 09:11 - (Report this post)
chrisworwood says:
A shocking display of Rugby. Has the management removed the rugby brains from the players? Why do we consistently kick away possession from a TRY scoring position? Can they boys not count, 4 attack against 2 defence equals TRY! We could have easily won the game by more than 20 points, but the back line never touched the ball, either Justin or Glen kicked the ball back to the opposition. The only two players who showed any initiative on the field was Schalk Brits and Ernst Jourbet. As nobody else was interested in playing rugby, Schalk fas forced to take on the mantle by himself - which meant he was bound to make a few errors. And as the backs never get to practice passing the ball and catching passes errors were everywhere. We need a thought process on the field. As a season ticket holder, the best part of the game is the two minutes at half time when the girls of the Sensations try to lift the spirits of disappointed fans. I don't think Nigel can convince me to renew them. Can I get 50% of my money back - we did loose a home game after all!
08 Feb 2010 - 09:18 - (Report this post)
Le Chef says:
I agree with popeye we did miss our international players and will do so again on Saturday. But why play at Wembley. I know they have sold 40/45000 tickets but it s a one off. They won't come to Vicarage road if we play the type of game as yesterday.
08 Feb 2010 - 09:42 - (Report this post)
davidburstow says:
Glad we are through but i have never shouted: "STOP KICKING IT" so many times in my life!!
08 Feb 2010 - 11:41 - (Report this post)
Denis Cattell says:
I went home after the match last night not only frustrated at having watched such a dire performance from Saracens but also believing they were now out of the LV competition as my morning paper had said that they needed to win in order to proceed. Learning that I had been misinformed and that they were actually into the next round was in a way pleasing for the obvious reason and also because it explained why a Saracens player kicked the ball out of play at the end of the match - I had thought he had taken pity on us and put us out of our misery asap. But I quickly became annoyed that the Club had not given us any clear information about the rules of the competition or its state of play on the website. It was like being a competitor in the well known radio panel game Mornington Crescent!
08 Feb 2010 - 12:13 - (Report this post)
SteveW says:
I have to agree with almost all the comments above. Yesterday was one of the worse I've ever spent at Vicarage Road. Unfortunately I cannot get to the fans forum - will someone please ask the coaching staff if the players are instructed to play this way. To add insult to injury the appeals to take friends and family to Wembley were still being broadcast as we left the Statdium last night. I will not subject any of my friends to the sort of display we had to endure yeserday. We could have and should have won easily yesterday and then we would have a winnable away game in Cardiff wheras we now have to go to Northampton who don't seem to have lost at home since the stone age!
08 Feb 2010 - 12:14 - (Report this post)
Shirley Adams says:
Maybe it would help if the 'powers that be' explained to us WHY the players continue to kick away possession, when it is abundantantly clear that this tactic is not, not only working but makes for a very boring game.
08 Feb 2010 - 12:32 - (Report this post)
Angus says:
I think i will take up watching paint dry. Far more fun!!
08 Feb 2010 - 12:46 - (Report this post)
brighty1 says:
Denis Cattell all the rules were printed in the programme at every round at home, thou i do agree with you they could have put something on the big screen at the end saying we were in the semis and who we were playing considering we were the last game in the competition roll on saturday at wembley and lets pray for a better performance. (does anyone no if the saxons boys will be back next weekend or are they still away)
08 Feb 2010 - 13:16 - (Report this post)
primavesi says:
Unlike most people on this site I dont have a problem with us using a kicking game in conditions like that as ling as its a good kicking game. This wasnt the case yesterday. too many kicks were just aimless punts down field giving dragons an easy mark. on a greasy pitch we should have made much more use of little grubber kicks into space or for the corners instead of poorly executed up-n-unders. We have a lot of talented backs but they never got in the game apart from Tagi who I thought had a decent game and made some strong tackles. Ernst was excellent as usual and Jaques Burger was impressive and looks like a good signing. Those are the positives but as many have already said there were far more negatives. We are not going to increase crowd numbers playing in that way on sky tv (even if we are winning most games).
08 Feb 2010 - 14:02 - (Report this post)
Wild Jimmy says:
Well the only good thing I can think about the guys being away on international duty is that they have probably made more passes in the last few weeks than they have for the rest of the saeson!
08 Feb 2010 - 14:21 - (Report this post)
bigmal50 says:
All i can say is what another dreadful inept performance even kicking when we have a three man overlap. Do we have the same trainers as England lets pass it backwards and forwards across the pitch and get nowhere so kick it yet again!!! We have been getting worse and worse as the season has gone on and if we had played like this at the beginning of the season we would be fighting relegation now. God help us against Northampton they know how to run the ball and score tries. Do we have the right coaches in place i'm not sure??
08 Feb 2010 - 15:17 - (Report this post)
King Richard II says:
Well - What was the deal - Buy a season ticket for the remainder of the season and if we don't win all of the home games you get your money back !! - I wonder how much this has just cost the club?
08 Feb 2010 - 18:48 - (Report this post)
phil says:
I didnt go to the game on Sunday, a late kick off on a sunday is not helpful. Having watched the game on tv I am glad I didnt make the effort. What a dreadful display. What really annoyed me more than the inept decision making and aimless kicking was the 'happy to lose at home attitude' demonstrated by the kicking of the ball off the field for the last play. What happened to the ' lets make VR a fortress'. We have lost 3 big games this season ( Tigers,Toulon, Dragons) all to teams who refuse to take part in a kicking dual and are prepared to run the ball. Its not rocket science!
10 Feb 2010 - 00:18 - (Report this post)