365 Sporting Days

It’s been 8 weeks since we’ve seen any Premiership Rugby, with a break taking place while the 6 Nations was played. Harlequins played Tigers on January 26th losing narrowly and Saracens scored 40 to Chiefs 22 on January 27th. Most of the build up to this game had it pegged as Owen Farrell v Marcus Smith. Farrell of course had withdrawn from any England participation, but Smith had the following involvement, after being injured early on.

• Ireland – on as sub for Ford after 59 minutes (hitting the drop goal that won the match
• France – on as sub for Furbank after 8 minutes.

Smith is 25 and has made 152 appearances in a Quins shirt, Farrell was making his 250th for Saracens on this day and is 32. To a great degree they are chalk and cheese, but I’m sure they have far more regard for each other than the opposition fans of their respective teams. A Saracens fan in front of me felt the need to say he didn’t like Smith but smiled wryly when I asked if he wouldn’t want him at Saracens, he and his son were also very happy to get a wave from him at full time. While I’m talking Fly Halves I have to share one of THE most ridiculous comments I’ve heard about a player (from a fellow Saracens fan) ‘Farrell’s the best Fly Half in the World (open to debate) he’s also the best Rugby League player in the world! WHAT!?? He doesn’t and hasn’t played that game at a senior level, he’s been at Saracens since he was 14!

On to the match Farrell came on to great applause around the stadium, huge credit to Danny Care who joined in with the clapping.

Saracens had been inconsistent so far this season, but things seemed to be clicking after a thrashing in Bordeaux. With a move to Racing confirmed for Farrell he was back to his best in that match against Exeter. Ben Earl in particular was outstanding in his England shirt it was good to see him back in black.

There were over 61,000 people at the higghly impressive Tottenham Stadium I was hoping for a good competition. What we got most definitely wasn’t that!

Farrell kicked off and Quins had the ball for a moment, we sae Saracebs intentions early on as Theo Dan ran through 4 or 5 defenders, Saracens went close but the ball was hit over the line, Saracens stormed back firslt through Earl, as the ball was kicked out by Smith. Playing with a penalty advantage Elliot Daly popped a lovely pass out to Alex Lewington who twisted round with Smith holding on to him, to score. Farrell converted from the touch line.

Quins had some attacking time, but the Saracens defence held firm. There was a strange moment when Tyrone Green took a great catch from a kick from Farrell, he called for the mark on the floor, getting a good kick away. Quins gave away a number of penalties which ultimately saw a yellow card brandished at Stephan Lewies as they gave away another having received a warning.

Having kicked to touch again with the latest penalty, they rolled the maul over the Quins line with Theo Dan in possession of the ball, most of the backs had joined the maul to add extra power. Farrell added the extras.

Saracens scored their next with pure pace after Billy Vunipola had stolen the ball, a lovely floating pass to Sean Maitland, who was a last minute addition to the starting line up, he could have walked the ball in. The kick from the opposite touch line went wide. Saracens were ahead by 19 points in the 18th minute.

Saracens haven’t been great at defending the maul from the line out close to their own line, Smith had a great opportunity to put Quins close but sliced his kick and Saracens did a good job of defending the attack, with Quins being penalised allowing Farrell to clear the ball.

Listening to the commentary it’s a little uncomfortable hearing Austin Healey and Lawrence Dallaglio being so positive about Saracens. There was a lot to wax lyrical about for Saracens 4th try, Dan took the ball from an overthrown Quins line out, he was stopped in his tracks but then the backs got their hands on the ball, with Daly flicking the ball through his legs, Maitland had some work to do, but got his second of the game, the conversion went the other side of the posts. But Saracens had 24 in the 28th minute.

A rare error from Saracens saw Lewington kick the ball off the end of the end of the pitch giving Quins a scrum deep in the Saracens half. Saraxcdens gave away a penalty in the scrum, Smith kicked to touch, a better effort this time. The maul wasn’t going anywhere so Care took the ball out, passing to Esterhuizen, who was knocked back, the move ended with Quins losing the ball into touch.

Lewington made up for his poor kick with a belter to touch after Quins had been on the attack, Quins showed their beautiful hands as they came away from the resulting line out, but Green’s pass to Louis Lynagh was forward. Another forward pass halted Cadan Murley’s attack, that’s a man who must wonder what he has to do to get into the England team!

With the clock running down Saracens gave away a penalty as Quins rucked over the ball close to their own line, the ball ended up in Saracens hand however , Care kicked the ball out when he got his hands on it.

Care’s next kick early in the 2nd half went out on the full, giving Saracens a great attacking platform. with Maitland storming away, Saracens were awarded a penalty giving them a line out close to the Quins line, a 2nd try for Dan and a 5th for Saracens, The TMO wanted a look at the line out but the referee was happy with it and the try stood. Farrell’s conversion was good. He’s had a sighter while the officials checked the try.

‘It’s not great mate is it’ were the wise words from Quins coach Nick Evans, Quins defence was not functioning well to say the least. Elliot Daly put up a lovely kick which he caught himself, sadly his pass to Theo McFarland went to ground.

Quins went through 8 phases of play before Saracens gave away a penalty, ir seemed a strange time to make front row changes as Jamie George and Eroni Mawi came on, Quins had their line out close to the Saracens line and Dombrandt emerged from the maul to score. Smith had a hard kick but it sailed through the posts. Dombrandt seemed to come alive somewhat after that point, he’d been pretty anonymous to that point. Quins are a very dangerous team and they had a spell of possession, it wouldn’t have been unheard of for them to come back into this game. But, it was Saracens who scored through Lucio Cinti after George had hacked the ball forwards leaving Smith in a vulnerable position, Quins kicked to touch giving Saracens that opportunity. I had to wait fo rthe TVV to watch that try as a man in the front row in front of me felt the need to stand up as Saracens ran up the pitch, Nick Tompkins had a great run before he got a pass away to Daly who put in the final pass to Cinti.

Poor Nick David came on as a sub only to have to go off injured moments later, a big blow for him, he looked reasonably happy after the final whistle went, hopefully it’s not as bad as it looked. From a Saracens perspective it was good to see Tom Willis back in action as well as Marco Riccioni.

In spite of having a ref link I totally missed the fact that Care was shown a yellow card in the build up to Saracens next try, he tackled Van Zyl in an offside position. Maitland looked to be on for his hat-trick but was brought down, he flicked the ball to Juan Martin Gonzalez who scored. There was a bit of argie bargie after the try was scored, and Quins were lucky not to see another yellow card as a Quin went into Farrell’s back with knees at least after the try was scored.

The final blow by Saracens came on 70- minutes and Alex Goode was the man to take them past 50, after Gonzalez through a pass over the top. Farrell added the extras to take Saracens to 52 and Farrell to a record for the most points scored against one club. He is going to be missed by Saracens next season, if not Quins.

The final score was Saracens 52 Harlequis 7, some performance by the ‘home’ team, one to forget for the visitors. Saracens leap frogged Quins to go second overnight, at least until Bath play Sale tomorrow. Saracens travel to Northampton on Good Friday and Quions entertain Bath at home on the Saturday, 2 tough games! Quins will lick their wounds and bounce back I’m sure. Exteter Chiefs have quietly moved into 3rd after beating Newcastle today. There is still all to play for!