Saracens 15-15 Gloucester
This was what you might describe as "old school". In so many ways Saracens are the market leaders in English rugby but the rather important matter, in a professional sport, of attracting a substantial fanbase continues to trouble them. This was not the kind of match to solve the problem.
Not that it was anyone's fault. Both teams made a decent fist of things under the circumstances but the soaking weather and the demands of a busy festive season ruled out any hopes of "entertainment", as understood by the modern marketing manager. Thus, there was an inevitability about the draw. It means that Saracens, having gained four on Harlequins five days earlier, surrender two points to the runaway leaders in the second instalment of holiday fixtures, leaving the gap at the top at seven.
In the era of the Grand Final, though, such details are of secondary importance and there was an element of jockeying for position on the field here as much as there is among the teams in the table. Gloucester never held the lead at any stage, and Saracens never pulled away ? yet both coaches were perfectly happy afterwards.
"Backing up big occasions like Twickenham [where they beat Harlequins in front of 82,000] five days ago is sometimes difficult," said Mark McCall, Saracens' director of rugby, "but this group is made of special stuff. In games like that, when it's pouring with rain, there are going to be errors."
Saracens may have made more technical ones than their visitors but they are at the top of the English game because they are so smart. Tactically there are few sides to compare with them. Their kicking game caused Gloucester far more problems than vice versa. Gloucester could retort that their set piece was just about superior and of the two young Englishmen at fly-half theirs kicked at goal with slightly greater accuracy.
Freddie Burns showed some nerve to step up and land the match-saving penalty with two minutes to go from a good 40 metres on the angle. None of his six shots at goal was straightforward but he landed five of them, the last two in the final quarter, to draw Gloucester level each time. The economical way in which the home team kept the game in Gloucester territory meant that Owen Farrell, the other young fly-half, was able to miss a couple of penalties he might have expected to land and still keep his team ahead for the most part.
There was not so much as a sniff of a try all afternoon. Both sides suffered disruption on the day. Farrell was supposed to be taking this one easy but, when Charlie Hodgson's wife gave birth in the morning, he was summoned from the bench. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, meanwhile, was meant to be playing at 12 for Gloucester but a shoulder injury did for him on the day. Even so it was acknowledged by Bryan Redpath, his head coach, that the Samoan's recent tweeting form, abusing Farrell after the game between these two at Kingsholm in October, would have made his appearance a bit more of an event than it should be.
Mike Tindall, another figure hardly free of controversy lately, stepped in and was as manful as ever. Gloucester probably came the closer to scoring a five-pointer and Tindall was involved on both occasions. But his pass at the end of a fine counterattack was intercepted by Farrell to scupper James Simpson-Daniel's chances of finishing it with a try, and later in the first half he fumbled immediately after a Saracens fumble had given Gloucester another rare glimpse of the try-line. But neither side really looked likely to score a try. It was Saracens' greater composure that earned them the edge in this one, with Alex Goode epitomising their excellence as much as anyone. He was immaculate under the high ball and kept everyone guessing whether he was going to run the ball back or ping it into painful areas of the pitch. Whichever he chose he did it well. Full-back is not a problem area for England.
"We were never in front," acknowledged Redpath, "so we can't see it as an opportunity lost. But we stayed in there, made it hard for the opposition and ground out two points away from home. So we'll take it as a positive."
Certainly, it was an improvement on such recent catastrophes as their 40-point hiding at Harlequins in September. There's a whiff of hardness about this Gloucester team now, which once meant this sort of foul day would spell danger for the opposition. Times are different but this was a throwback. No wonder both camps were satisfied with the points.
Saracens Goode; Wyles, Powell, Barritt, Short; Farrell, Stringer (Spencer, 62); Gill (Smit, 54), George (Brits, 67; George 75), Stevens (Nieto, 54), Borthwick (capt), Botha (Kruis, 62), Brown (Melck, 62), Saull, Wray.
Pens Farrell 5.
Gloucester Morgan; Sharples, Trinder, Tindall, Simpson-Daniel; Burns, R Lawson; Wood, S Lawson (Cortese, 76), Harden (Chistolini, 71), Buxton, Hamilton, Strokosch, Qera (Cox, 69) , Narraway (capt).
Pens Burns 5.
Referee S Davey. Attendance 7,555.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/01/saracens-gloucester-premiership-match-report
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