A first look at a much changed Saracens happened at Goldington Road, a warm up fixture against the Bedford Blues. The start of what’s likely to be an interesting season. There was a good turn out with a mix of Blues and Saracens fans. The Saracens team was also a good mix, of old and new. With Fergus Burke at Fly Half and Ivan van Zyl at Scrum Half. That pairing in particular was going to be interesting to see. As were the 2 Bracken’s on the bench! It was good to see Alex Lozowski back after he missed most of last season.
Saracens were awarded the first penalty, Blues the first free kick at the first scrum. The second scrum resulted in a full penalty for Blues, that resulted in a good attacking opportunity for the home team, as we saw the speed of their wingers, the ball was knocked on however in the ruck and Saracens came away with it, a charge down from a van Zyl kick saw Blues on the attack again, to no avail. Elliot Daly gave Saracens great field position after a penalty as play progressed. Andy Onyeama-Christie scored the first try of the evening. Fergus Burke added the extras.
Blues were playing with great intensity and Saracens had a couple of injury stops, with a bandage for Toby Knights’ head and a knee issue for Toby Elliot. A couple of Saracens knock ons saw 2 scrums in quick succession. Blues came away with the ball for both. They were then awarded a penalty and Saracens were walked 10, TWICE! That took some doing! Blues knocked the ball on at their line out, van Zyl kicked to the halfway line from the scrum.
A poor kick from van Zyl saw another great attack for the Blues, with a lovely pass to see a back storm through. Jac Arthur ultimately scored a forwards try for the Blues, with Joel Matavesi converting. It was 7 apiece after 28 minutes. Saracens were definitely in a match!
A brilliant potential 50/22 was knocked on by Elliot Daly, giving Blues great position. Luke Frost scored after Blues were awarded a penalty. Matavesi’s kick hit the post but the home team were ahead by 5.
Saracens were held up on the stroke of half time and the Blues went in with a deserved lead as the referee blew his whistle.
Blues were awarded a penalty early in the 2nd half and Jake Garside fresh on, received the ball and ran down the line to score. The kick went wide but the score was Blues 17 Saracens 7.
Alex Lozowski was shown yellow for back chat as Blues were awarded another penalty.
Blues lost the ball as they attacked from the line out, this time it was Brandon Jackson storming down the wing for Saracens to score. The kick missed. Blues still had a lead of 5 and an extra man on the pitch.
As he so often does, Andy Onyeama-Christie took matters into his own hands as Saracens went on the attack, he popped up with ball in hand to run in under the posts, the conversion was an easy one and good, Saracens took a 2 point lead.
The binning seemed to wake Saracens up, they won a penalty in the scrum after Toby Elliot had trapped his opposition player over the line. A 2nd penalty was awarded as Saracens drove for the line. After 4 attempts at the scrum, Saracens were awarded a penalty try, taking their lead to 9 points.
Josh Hallet took a lovely delayed pass from Charlie Bracken, to score, after Saracens had been awarded a penalty. Louie Johnson making his first appearance added the extras. Bracken was very speedy with the ball, looking a lot more confident than during his appearances last season.
Andy Christie scored his hat trick try after some quick work from Bracken. Johnson kicked a great conversion. Saracens scored again through Angus Hall after knocked on. The final score was Bedford Blues 17 Saracens 47, a scoreline that wasn’t really an indication of how well Bedford played. There were 3,502 at the match and we Saracens fans were made to feel very welcome. Wishing Bedford Blues well for the rest of the season.
365 Sporting Days 