Saracens feel the bite ...

Steve Thomas our man on the touchline has sent in this report on last nights match …

Sale received the kick off which went back to the second row forwards , White caught the ball and moved out wide handing off a Saracens tackle and then passed out to Lamont (who recovered from his knock at the weekend very quickly) who in typical fashion burst through the defence and was away, a stout back row defence from Saracens saw a mass ruck in the Sarries 30 yard area. Saracens came out with the ball and ground forward, unfortunately a couple of solid Shark tackles saw a knock on and possession went to the Sharks , penalty kick gave Sharks position on the line out, which they won and then a quick pass from Wigglesworth saw Charlie Hodgson drop kick from the Saracens’ 10 metre line for three points.

From the restart things didn’t get better for Saracens as Wigglesworth gathered the ball and rushed forward to then pass to Ripol who moved forward down the right side again, as the defence gathered Ripol flipped a pass out and Lamont drove home to the right of the posts. Hodgson converted and the Sharks were cruising for an evening feed. However from the restart Saracens exploited a gap and against the run of play managed to drive over for a try.

The second half saw much of the same with the Sharks knocking on the door for most of the half. Eventually they drove down to the line where Lamont drove in under the posts . A slice dconversion by Hodgson missed the extra points, but the gap was growing wider. Again from the kick off Sharks drove forward yet again with Ripol who broke through the line, tackles were missed and then another try was scored. By now the Sharks were trying for the extra point and pushed for the fourth try, Saracens had to try and prevent this and hopefully get back within 7 points … but this never really looked possible. A late surge from Saracens as they latched onto a miskick saw them getting over the line as the hooter sounded … the score made it sound like a closer victory than it was, 22-14 does not reflect the dominance shown by the Sharks!