365 Sporting Days

The trip to Bristol was most definitely worth it, I saw more of the place than I’d seen before, it’s a lovely City! And I saw 2 Saracens wins. It was great to see both the Women and the Men in one stadium on one day – more of that please!

After a loss at Harlequins I felt very nervous about the second match involving the teams sitting in first and second in the league, I was right to feel so! Alex Goode was playing at 10 after an injury saw Fergus Burke on the sidelines. Bristol hadn’t beaten Saracens since Covid times. Watching back on the TV it’s so good to see Andy Onyeama-Christie in the Directors Box with a smile on his face after his hour injury last week, even better to hear the club hope he might be back by the end of the season. I had the benefit of ref link at the game, which always enhances the experience.

Bears won an early penalty and kicked to touch after Saracens had failed to roll away; Gabriel Oghre went short and the Bears made the 5 metres they needed and Fityz Harding scored with less than 2 minutes on the clock. AJ MacGinty missed the kick. Saracens were penalised after the restart giving Bears a chance to get into the Saracens half again, they were thwarted by a forward pass. It’s always a delight to hear Sam Warburton on commentary he’s knowledgable and always fair.

The first scrum saw a Free Kick for Saracens; Saracens throwing a forward pass into touch in effect as it was in front of Rotimi Segun. The second quick successive scrum was re-set and pushed buy Saracens but taken away by the Bears. Saracens ripped the ball as play progressed. The ball was kicked off the end of the pitch taking play back for the 3rd scrum. Bears lost Josh Caulfield to injury after just 7 minutes.

Saracens conceded a 3rd penalty with just 9 minutes on the clock, MacGinty’s kick sales through the posts pt give the Bears an 8 nil lead. We saw some of their slick passing skills from Bears as Gabriel Ibitoye put in a one handed pass to Richard Lane, then on to Toby Fricker. Fricker’s pass to Harry Randall was dropped.

The next phase saw Bears taking chances close to their own line, Randall’s kick finally made was kept in by Elliot Daly, luckily for Saracens his flick went to Alex Goode, who fumbled the ball backwards but got it away. Saracens conceded a 4th penalty giving Bears a kick into the Saracens half. The short line out option didn’t work this time as Ellis Genge basically through the ball back out into touch. Saracens took the scrum option as the ball had gone forwards. Saracens showed their passing credentials from the scrum and Ibitoye got ‘tangled’ with Daly, pushing him, straight into a fellow Bears player. That collision didn’t look great, but Daly had little chance from the push in the back. Ibitoye was shown yellow, to boo’s from the home crowd. The fact a Bears player could have been injured by his actions passing them by.

Saracens went quickly from the line out, choosing to pass out rather than roll the maul, Toby Elliot picked the ball up after Josh Hallett had gone close, he was confirmed as scoring. Alex Lozowski added the extras.

Bears were next on the scoreboard after Daly had thrown a loose ball as Saracens attacked, picked up by Oghre the ball made its way out to Benjamin Elizalde on the wing who bounced through Tobias Elliot, he ran on and put in a great pass to Randall who scored a great try. The kick missed but The Bears moved on the 13 points.

Thei Dan was held up after a concerted attacking effort from Saracens, they went back at it after the ball was kicked out, but Max Lahiff picked up a loose ball on the ground, giving Randall a chance to clear the ball. Ivan van Zyl’s kicked k was returned in some style but lost by Bears. We then had the delight of Hugh Tizard ‘storming’ down the pitch, nit something you see often from 1 second rower. The ball went out to Daly then on to Segun on the wing, he showed that Ibitoye wasn’t the only one of the pitch with a side step and speed to burn, a lovely try for the Saracens winger! Lozowski’s kick was a good one and Saracens were in the lead for the first time in the match.

Saracens knocked the ball on, on the floor from the re-start, Saracens won a penalty in the scrum, which saw an angry Max Lahiff! Bears thought they’s scored on 33 minutes but Fricker was tackled by Daly and had a foot in touch, it was a tight call, but it was wiped off. Playing with a penalty in their pockets Harding made no mistake a few minutes later after some clever play by Santiago Grondona who put the ball to the floor as he was tackled to then pick it up again and pass. MacGinty converted to take Bears to 20. Saracens were awarded a penalty from the kick off and Lozowski took the kick to take them to within 3. The score was Bristol Bears 20 Saracens 17 at Half-Time.

Bears had another quick start to a half, Ibitoye seemed to have an invisibility c look on as he went through at least 3 Saracens players, he put in a very smart back handed pass, the ball went loose for a moment but Bears took it ball into their control and a lovely floating pass out the wing saw Harding run in to score his hat-trick try, To add insult to injury for Saracens Goode had knocked on and that was deemed to be deliberate, he was shown a yellow card. Bristol had a 10 point lead and Saracens were down a man.

Bears scored a beauty against those 14 men, with a great run by MacGinty, involvement form Harding too, they’d run from deep in their own half. Fricker was not going to be stopped this time. At this point I’m checking the tackles stats, Saracens missed 44 tackles in the game, not a great stat at all! MacGinty missed the kick but the score was Bristol 32 Saracens 17.

After the kick off Saracens went on the attack and Daly made his way through several Bears defenders to score< Why Carre had made a good run in the build up, he’s had a good season so far in the Saracens shirt. Lozowski’s kick was from the side line and good, That took Saracens to within 8 with 47 minutes on the clock. Nick Izekwie came on for his 150th appearance, remarkable after having to face open heart surgery.

Lozowski slotted a penalty on 52 minutes to close the gap to 5, MacGinty took the gap back out to 8 with his own penalty on 59 minutes. Lozowski had been involved in a controversial moment as Bristol attacked close to the hour mark. It was ion front of where I was sitting an ddinblt look good, it involved a tackle to attempt at a tackle on Oghre, I couldn’t hear the conversation between the officials on the day, the TMO referred the situation. The commentary felt it was a yellow at most, the TMO felt there was no attempt to wrap, the referee his Assistant Felt Lozowski was undone by Oghre going so low, he may have had a point. One things for certain the officials had a better view than those in the stands, good refereeing according to Sam Warburton.

Randall put in a great kick seeing replacement scrum half Gareth Simpson dumoed into touch close to the Saracens line, they weathered that storm however and Randall’s next high kick went straight into touch. Saracens moved the ball quickly from the line out going to ground just once, Daly put in a looping pass to replacement Brandon Jackson on the wing, who passed back inside to Daly who scored, the successful conversion took Saracens within a point with 7 minutes remaining.

Saracens couldn’t win this match could they? It looked like Bears might score again but for some inexplicable reason Joe Jenkins with Ibitoye on his inside chose to keep hold of the ball the result was a penalty for Saracens top get them back into the Bears half. Bears turned the ball over on the floor and went on the attack again, Ibitoye passed to Goode, then picked up a loose ball on the ground, he hesitated and that attacking chance was halted.

With 2.5 minutes remaining Saracens knocked on, Bears tried to keep the ball up their jumpers, but gave away a penalty as they went. With less than a minute on the clock Saracens had a line out deep in the Bears half, it looked like Saracens might set up a drop goal chance and Bears did well tp keep them out, but Ibitoye had, very unnecessarily gone over the top of the ruck trying to hit Simpson’s arm. Lozowski who’d bee immaculate with his kicking, in spite of boo’s ringing round the ground, stepped up and cooly slotted it through the posts to snatch a win. Again it was great to see Andy Onyeama-Christie cheering his team mates at the end.