365 Sporting Days

After the so called Derby weekends Bristol Bears had a bit of a trip to North London. That brought Max Malins back home, but he wouldn’t be facing Ben Earl sadly after he picked up an injury before the Quins game.

I’m going to start with a scrum as there was an early one, Ellie Genge went straight to his knees, A Saracens penalty then a 10m walk as Genge had a chat with Luke Pearce, Sir, that was unwelcome, he set his stall out early.

Farrell then made himself unpopular, when he apparently screamed at Sir asking in effect for a yellow, he was rightly, put in his place. He then, however was well placed to score out on the wing, after Saracens rolled the maul close to the Bears line, before releasing the ball. It’s quite unusual to hear, try scorer, Owen Farrell, he’s usually making rather than scoring. The conversion hit the posts.

The second scrum came after a poor pass by Callum Sheedy was dropped to the ground. The Bears Hooker engaged early and Saracens went quickly from the awarded free kick. Elliot Daly playing in his natural position at 13 had a great run, but was brought down, the ball was recycled and Alex Goode who’s having an outstanding season so far out in a pass to Alex Lewington on the wing who strolled in. The conversion went wide.

The next scrum from a Bears knock on, was re-set, next time the ball came out clean. The end result of the Saracens attack was another knock on and a Bears put in for the first time. Bears came away with the ball but a horrible pass out to the wing went into touch.

Farrell had a horror moment as he was charged down, rescued by Aled Davies, who saved the day. However a few moves later, Joe Batley, a very lanky 2nd row had the opportunity to run through the nonexistent Saracens defence, the build up had included a lovely pass from Malins, out the back of his hand. Sheedy added the extras.

We had another scrum, another re-set, on commentary those off the pitch were having a difficult time agreeing how long’d been played, as the clock seemed to be stuck, it was funny to hear a voice say, can I have your match fee?

Sheedy made an error once the ball had come from the scrum, kicking dead. The time chat was still going on, annoyingly! Saracens won a penalty from the scrum, and Farrell kicked close to the Bears line. Bears gave away a penalty in the line out, they went again. Billy Vunipola broke, quickly from the maul, to run in and score, we then had the horror of the Shark Song for his celebration, that is a grotty ear worm. Farrell missed another conversion. That was 6 points not taken.

Bristol won a penalty from the next scrum in the Saracens half as they kept the ball in and Saracens stood up too soon. Bristol won a penalty in the resulting line out. Putting them on the 5m line. Bears rolled over with relative ease, Ellis Genge being in possession of the ball. Sheedy added the extras, putting Bears just 1 point behind.

There was an odd moment when the ball Saracens were in possession of in a ruck suddenly shot out on the Bears side. Farrell did query it but the ref was happy it was all good. Bears then won a penalty from the scrum having knocked on. Sheedy kicked deep, putting them in another great spot. The maul didn’t make it but Gabriel Oghre did and in spite of what might’ve been a double movement the try was good. As was Sheedy’s kick, the teams went in with the score on Saracens 15 Bristol Bears 21.

Saracens had a great opportunity from the kickoff as the Bears players let it bounce, sadly Andy Christie had knocked it on, before Itoje ran in to score. Christie told Sir he had knocked on so we didn’t have to wait an age to find out.

Farrell took a shot at the posts after Bears gave away a penalty, from a fair way out, but directly in front, the ball went wide. Farrell then had a moment of individual excellence to put in a cross field kick for Lewington who scored, out on the wing. The kick, at last, was good. That put Saracens a point ahead.

Nick Tomkins gave away a penalty on the halfway line with a seat belt tackle. Saracens were then penalised on the floor. Sheedy whose boot was working well put Bears ahead by 2. I wonder why he didn’t kick for the corner with how well their maul had been working.

It was Saracens who found themselves with a 5m line out however after a lovely kick through by Daly, Ibitoye was mobbed and Bears gave away the penalty. It took another penalty and line out for Jamie George to get over the line. The conversion went through the middle of the posts to give Saracens a 5 point lead.

Saracens were kicking a lot in this game, and not always with a positive outcome, not least the kick Christie put in with his shin, happily just a line out for Bears, with the ball quickly turned over by Saracens. Farrell then put in an enormous kick! The Saracens forwards battered the line, but were ultimately held up.

A deliberately bad attempt at a drop goal, by Farrell, (according to my good friend Alun) saw the ball appear in one hand of Theo McFarland, he passed to Gareth Simpson who was brought down. Tom Willis would not be stopped this time though. The conversion, missed.

Bears scored a try from within their own half, after Saracens ambled towards a ball kicked into their half, with the exception of Christie, Ibitoye stormed up the pitch untouched with Kieron Marmion scoring with some ease. Sheedy added the extras to close the gap to 3.

Saracens were awarded a penalty in the Bears half and the Bears captain took the maul down, he got a yellow card for his efforts. Fitz Harding would sit out the rest of the game.

Another penalty gave another go at the line and Jamie George rolled over for his second of the game. The conversion looked a much easier one, from the stands, it went wide.

Maro Itoje was awarded the Player of the Match accolade, he’s been amazing since his return from the World Cup. The final score was Saracens 39 Bristol Bears 31.