Tonight Stad Francais’ coach was given the sternest test of his unbeaten competitive career yet. Saracens came within a TMO (Television Monitor Official) decision of at least drawing the match!
Right from Stads kick off the Saracen team showed their intent of taking the match to the French team. Consistent pressure kept the Stad team pinned back in their 22 for most of the first half. The power pack of the French were kept at bay, hardly seeing the ball and only stout defending kept the Saracen backs out. The turning point in the first half came when the Stad forwards pounced on a 50/50 ball and set up a driving maul for the first time in the game. Rolling a full 20m the Saracen team were getting left in an awkward position and the only choice they had was to take it down, Unfortunately for them (and McTague would argue it was one of the only times the Officials saw anything all evening) it was spotted. The penalty drove the French pack down to a 5m lineout and from here they are virtually unstoppable. A very accurate (smooth pass card) throw to the back of the line saw Parisse (obviously enjoying the fact he has just been given the Italian captaincy for the 6 Nations) drive for a gap in the Saracen defence, coming up short he was driven over by De Villiers and Plooy. Hernandez very uncharacteristically missed the easy kick.
But then it was back to the Saracens putting on the pressure. A deep kick off looked as if the Saracen backs were going to swarm all over Dominici. However a bit of lucky play saw Hernandez pick up from the resulting ruck and launch a massive 85m+ kick which bobbled down to the Saracen line. It was a straight race and Saubade the ultra fast Stad winger was not going to lose out. He picked up smoothly and trotted over the line for another score, with Hernandez not missing this time the look on McTague’s face said it all … 70% of the possession and 12 – 0 down!
Things almost got worse from the resulting kick off as again Saubade made a superb break down the wing, he was in for certain as the only person that could stop him was Rod Penney. Saubade is famous for his hand-off so Penney was taking no chances – the crowd thought it was a high tackle, the Stad coach later called it a ‘cheap shot’, but as is often the case with Penney’s ‘tackles’ (the Wasps coach had nearly walked off the pitch in disgust the week before) the referee seemed to think it was OK. Saubade had to leave the pitch for treatment. The incident nearly provoked an all out brawl and Penney actually had to run away from a pack of angry Stad players. Meanwhile Saracens were taking advantage of the distraction and Russell was nearly in the corner for a score. What McTague’s spokesman later called a ‘revenge’ tackle saved the day for Stad and as Blin (the Stad hooker) walked towards the sin bin McTague made the call for a tap and go penalty rather than the points – a bad decision in hindsight as the Stad defence held and Saracens went in trailing 12 -0. The referee looked relieved to call the half to a close!
The second half saw Saracens again come out the blocks firing. A brilliant move between De Kock and Glen Jackson saw the Saracen winger Haughton break through the Stad defence and under the posts – Stad were on the ropes … 12 – 7. The Saracen pressure grew and grew, their number 15 Russell was playing an awesome game, he had been mixing it up with the forwards in the rucks all game (rucking ability) but as one fan put it, ‘went a ruck too far’ – finding himself at the bottom of a French ruck when he had been dishing it out all game was never going to be a good move, the injury kept him out the game for a while and we have since heard he will be needing treatment on a bad cut and dislocated shoulder which may keep him out for some time.
It was a bout of Saracen pressure that saw the incident that will be talked about for years to come at Vicarage Road. The Stad scrum half gathered and passed from a ruck on Stads line … Corleto looked to have an easy kick into touch … but then he slipped as he went to kick. The Saracen pack pounced but Corleto scrambled onto the ball and basically refused to let go. Lucky not to be taking a walk it gave the Saracens a penalty 9m out! McTague gave the instructions to go for the try yet again … the pack rolled forward but then De Kock faked the inside forward pass and flipped it out to Ben Skirving who ploughed over the line under the posts. Bergamasco tackled him on the line but it looked to everyone in the stadium that Skiriving had managed to get the ball down. The referee went to the TMO who took a long time over the decision. The screen in the ground seemed to indicate that Skirving had got the ball down before being rolled over by Bergamasco. The decision was relayed to the Ref, even he looked slightly bewildered as he motioned ‘NO TRY’. McTague was outraged on the touchline …
Horizon Sports has spoken to the TMO and he has indicated that Bergamasco actually managed to get his ear under the ball stopping it from being grounded … we in the studio have never seen anything like it and it is bound to open the whole TMO debate again!
From this point on Stad played with new heart and nearly got in themselves from yet another 90m (torpedo kicker and massive kick card) kick from Hernandez. It went down to the wire however with Saracens threatening to score after the klaxon. A failed gather from Saracens saw Corleto pick the ball up and run into touch.
From a neutrals point of view the game was a ‘corker’ – for Saracens it has to go down as an opportunity missed – the TMO decision is bound to keep us busy for quite a while. Since the game McTague has refused to answer any questions from the media – the official word is no comment. Jones had this to say:
‘We showed our class out there tonight, our defence soaked up continual pressure from the home side, who it must be said played an excellent game. We made our breaks when we could and then managed to convert them into points, that was the difference between the teams I think. The TMO decision … well I thought he had grounded it but when you look at what the TMO saw it is obvious he made the right decision … I am never going to rib Mauro about his ‘elephant ears’ again … All in all an excellent night for us, going to Vicarage Road is never easy. We are obviously going to be going into the Wasps game as favourites and understandably so really … Fase seems to be having a rough time lately which is a shame as in the World Cup he showed a lot of promise I thought, maybe he can turn it around. The Saracens and Sharks game is probably going to be a preview of the play off game I imagine … they have all to play for!’
The PEWC CUP remember will see each team play each other twice in the group phase … the leader will gain a place in the final and then the 2nd and 3rd team will play each other for the other place in the final for the coveted cup, the loser playing again in the 3rd/4th playoff.
Right from Stads kick off the Saracen team showed their intent of taking the match to the French team. Consistent pressure kept the Stad team pinned back in their 22 for most of the first half. The power pack of the French were kept at bay, hardly seeing the ball and only stout defending kept the Saracen backs out. The turning point in the first half came when the Stad forwards pounced on a 50/50 ball and set up a driving maul for the first time in the game. Rolling a full 20m the Saracen team were getting left in an awkward position and the only choice they had was to take it down, Unfortunately for them (and McTague would argue it was one of the only times the Officials saw anything all evening) it was spotted. The penalty drove the French pack down to a 5m lineout and from here they are virtually unstoppable. A very accurate (smooth pass card) throw to the back of the line saw Parisse (obviously enjoying the fact he has just been given the Italian captaincy for the 6 Nations) drive for a gap in the Saracen defence, coming up short he was driven over by De Villiers and Plooy. Hernandez very uncharacteristically missed the easy kick.
But then it was back to the Saracens putting on the pressure. A deep kick off looked as if the Saracen backs were going to swarm all over Dominici. However a bit of lucky play saw Hernandez pick up from the resulting ruck and launch a massive 85m+ kick which bobbled down to the Saracen line. It was a straight race and Saubade the ultra fast Stad winger was not going to lose out. He picked up smoothly and trotted over the line for another score, with Hernandez not missing this time the look on McTague’s face said it all … 70% of the possession and 12 – 0 down!
Things almost got worse from the resulting kick off as again Saubade made a superb break down the wing, he was in for certain as the only person that could stop him was Rod Penney. Saubade is famous for his hand-off so Penney was taking no chances – the crowd thought it was a high tackle, the Stad coach later called it a ‘cheap shot’, but as is often the case with Penney’s ‘tackles’ (the Wasps coach had nearly walked off the pitch in disgust the week before) the referee seemed to think it was OK. Saubade had to leave the pitch for treatment. The incident nearly provoked an all out brawl and Penney actually had to run away from a pack of angry Stad players. Meanwhile Saracens were taking advantage of the distraction and Russell was nearly in the corner for a score. What McTague’s spokesman later called a ‘revenge’ tackle saved the day for Stad and as Blin (the Stad hooker) walked towards the sin bin McTague made the call for a tap and go penalty rather than the points – a bad decision in hindsight as the Stad defence held and Saracens went in trailing 12 -0. The referee looked relieved to call the half to a close!
The second half saw Saracens again come out the blocks firing. A brilliant move between De Kock and Glen Jackson saw the Saracen winger Haughton break through the Stad defence and under the posts – Stad were on the ropes … 12 – 7. The Saracen pressure grew and grew, their number 15 Russell was playing an awesome game, he had been mixing it up with the forwards in the rucks all game (rucking ability) but as one fan put it, ‘went a ruck too far’ – finding himself at the bottom of a French ruck when he had been dishing it out all game was never going to be a good move, the injury kept him out the game for a while and we have since heard he will be needing treatment on a bad cut and dislocated shoulder which may keep him out for some time.
It was a bout of Saracen pressure that saw the incident that will be talked about for years to come at Vicarage Road. The Stad scrum half gathered and passed from a ruck on Stads line … Corleto looked to have an easy kick into touch … but then he slipped as he went to kick. The Saracen pack pounced but Corleto scrambled onto the ball and basically refused to let go. Lucky not to be taking a walk it gave the Saracens a penalty 9m out! McTague gave the instructions to go for the try yet again … the pack rolled forward but then De Kock faked the inside forward pass and flipped it out to Ben Skirving who ploughed over the line under the posts. Bergamasco tackled him on the line but it looked to everyone in the stadium that Skiriving had managed to get the ball down. The referee went to the TMO who took a long time over the decision. The screen in the ground seemed to indicate that Skirving had got the ball down before being rolled over by Bergamasco. The decision was relayed to the Ref, even he looked slightly bewildered as he motioned ‘NO TRY’. McTague was outraged on the touchline …
Horizon Sports has spoken to the TMO and he has indicated that Bergamasco actually managed to get his ear under the ball stopping it from being grounded … we in the studio have never seen anything like it and it is bound to open the whole TMO debate again!
From this point on Stad played with new heart and nearly got in themselves from yet another 90m (torpedo kicker and massive kick card) kick from Hernandez. It went down to the wire however with Saracens threatening to score after the klaxon. A failed gather from Saracens saw Corleto pick the ball up and run into touch.
From a neutrals point of view the game was a ‘corker’ – for Saracens it has to go down as an opportunity missed – the TMO decision is bound to keep us busy for quite a while. Since the game McTague has refused to answer any questions from the media – the official word is no comment. Jones had this to say:
‘We showed our class out there tonight, our defence soaked up continual pressure from the home side, who it must be said played an excellent game. We made our breaks when we could and then managed to convert them into points, that was the difference between the teams I think. The TMO decision … well I thought he had grounded it but when you look at what the TMO saw it is obvious he made the right decision … I am never going to rib Mauro about his ‘elephant ears’ again … All in all an excellent night for us, going to Vicarage Road is never easy. We are obviously going to be going into the Wasps game as favourites and understandably so really … Fase seems to be having a rough time lately which is a shame as in the World Cup he showed a lot of promise I thought, maybe he can turn it around. The Saracens and Sharks game is probably going to be a preview of the play off game I imagine … they have all to play for!’
The PEWC CUP remember will see each team play each other twice in the group phase … the leader will gain a place in the final and then the 2nd and 3rd team will play each other for the other place in the final for the coveted cup, the loser playing again in the 3rd/4th playoff.
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