No way through: Defence ruled at Wembley
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There was nothing to separate Premiership heavyweights Saracens and Leicester Tigers in a hard-fought 9-9 draw in front of a healthy Wembley Stadium crowd in London on Saturday.
We'd seen tries aplenty in front of more than 60,000 at Twickenham on the opening day, but the 50,000 in attendance at the home of English football witnessed a game that was dominated by mean defence and the battle in midfield.
Though a low-scoring encounter, Leicester racked up a point a minute following the kick off courtesy of two Toby Flood penalty goals to establish an early lead.
Flood then made it 9-0 on the half-hour as the Tigers continued to capitalise on poor discipline from their opponents, before Owen Farrell, with his father looking on from the stands, got Sarries off the mark with a three-pointer of his own as the first half edged to a close.
Though Sarries would rue two missed attempts from Farrell in the first half that may have altered the outcome of this contest.
Following his introduction from the bench, Charlie Hodgson took over the Saracens kicking duties in the second half, and he was on target with a quickfire double just before the hour to level the scores.
As the game approached the closing stages, both sides sought to eat up the territory and carve out an opportunity to knock off over a drop-goal, that may have won them the game.
A close-range attempt from Hodgson in front of the posts in the 77th minute drifted to the right of the sticks, and that proved to be Sarries' final opportunity to win the match.
But a determined gallop forward from Flood in the final possession of the game allowed Leicester the opportunity to knock over a winner, but his long-range drop goal attempt, though handsome, was off target.
The scorers:
For Saracens:
Pens: Farrell, Hodgson
For Leicester:
Pens: Flood 3
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Jackson Wray, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick (capt), 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 Alistair Hargreaves, 20 Will Fraser, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Charlie Hodgson, 23 Chris Wyles.
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Rob Andrew, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Patrick Phibbs, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smith.
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Referee: Greg Garner
Assistant referees: Nigel Carrick, Paul Dix
Television match official: Graham Hughes
Timekeeper: David Hudson
Assessor: Brian Campsall
Comments
Sincero says...
yes, but zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Posted 13:41 18th September 2012
APV1 says...
@ lawynd - I find it hard to agree with you as a matter of principle - you're a Tigers fan. But on this, you're spot on, my friend!
I get so fed up with the trolls trying to divide our game by leagues and hemispheres. Why not enjoy it for what it is?
When I play, or go to watch a "friendly" match my local team are playing in, the skill level is awful (obviously worse when I'm playing!). Compare the 3rd XV to the 1st XV and there's a difference, let alone with professionals. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it.
Vive la difference!
Posted 13:48 17th September 2012
lawynd says...
So far, after eighteen games:
RaboDirect Pro12 - 67 tries, 680 points. 3.72 tries per game, 37.78 points per game.
Aviva Premiership - 83 tries, 865 points. 4.61 tries per game, 48.06 points per game.
For every Saracens - Tigers game there's a Treviso - Ospreys, Munster - Treviso or Dragons - Blues, none of which were exciting in the slightest.
Posted 11:42 17th September 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
OH MY GOD...
if thats the best the english clubs has to offer then it'll take more than Pro12 Eurocup qualification to make them competative. Face it! this whole eurocup fiddle is about trying to bring the likes of Leinster down to PRL's level, by forcing them to mistread their star player in the same manner the english and french clubs do. the Pro12 have got it right. its up to english clubs to raise the bar rather than try to drag everyone else down.
oh and just in case you think this game was an anomaly, you should have seen the Worcester vs Gloucester match on ESPN. the commentators could hardly hide their contempt and the gloucester coach (to his credit) didn't even try to defend the drivel that the two teams had churned out all afternoon. he basically sat next to austin heally as the ex-winger ripped him a new one and had to shrug and agree that it was utter drivel.
you do the maths. you work out, which fork in the road Nhem rugby should take to become the best in the world. then look yourselves in the mirror and see if you are being honest with yourself. it seem obvious to me that the majority of PRL fans are massively selfish and only interested in the what happens in their perocial little bubbles
Posted 11:15 17th September 2012
APV1 says...
@ The_Dange et al - whilst this game was tryless, it wasn't boring. And anyone who saw any of the other matches will realise just how daft you are. If you don't like it, don't watch it. You'll not be missed. Trolling just for the sake of it is showing you to be a little bit of a berk.
@ TVaddict - Hear! Hear!
Posted 10:57 17th September 2012
makemehappy says...
LOL - @TVaddict - all those that enjoy good rugby care about other leagues to a degree. At the very least its obvious they feed the national team. That was a hard fought game by two good English teams, with very powerful packs. They still don't excite that much do they though? That had something to do with the awful referee who allowed offside and playing of the ball in the ruck, throughout the game. Not unfair on either team, but it didnt have result in less excitement. Bottom line is that poor referees blight the NH's style of play. At least poor ones in the SH tend to make it more exciting (sometimes at the cost of things like forward passes admittedly), but at least you get quick ball!
Posted 07:12 17th September 2012
TVaddict says...
LOL@ the celtic idiots! Always impressive to see people commenting on a match in a league they don't care about, just to say negative things. I'm sure those people live rich full lives doing very, very, very important things.
Posted 17:22 16th September 2012
fergalcol says...
HA! Great show in terms if this weeks disgraceful carry on, Over hyped. Thats all really.
Posted 12:33 16th September 2012
Sincero says...
Have you English considered learning to play a little rugby before moaning about being done down in Europe? You suck.
Posted 22:16 15th September 2012
dangerous says...
I was there too. Worse game I have ever attended. Wouldn't mind the stats on how long it took to form scrums and how much time was spent with them. Very stop start. Lots of errors. Both teams much better than this.
Posted 21:42 15th September 2012
craigsman says...
@ Dange - suggest you check out the other prem games on today (quins vs sale, wasps vs Irish) before you write something that makes you look a tit.
Posted 20:14 15th September 2012
davodiablo says...
Was at this game , what a shocker . The weather was great , no wind and a hard track .There really is no excuse for rugby devoid of any skill at this level. Having the Saracan's commentator telling us what a spectacle it was just........no mate your team just served up dog food and you're telling me its caviar....grrr
Posted 19:44 15th September 2012
Tesh says...
Quite a handy result from a Quins fan's point of view. Cheers fellas
Posted 18:35 15th September 2012
BigRugbyBalls says...
Can't wait for this dazzling new European tournament, full of expansive free-scoring English teams. Getting my BLT Vision subscription tomorrow.
Posted 18:26 15th September 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
@dange: nonsense.
Posted 18:04 15th September 2012
The_Dange says...
LOL @ the state of this boring bosh merchant league.
Posted 17:36 15th September 2012