Leicester v Saracens: Five takeaways as ‘immaculate’ Billy Searle stars while two-try wing ‘crying out’ for England minutes
Leicester Tigers duo Billy Searle and Adam Radwan impressed.
Following a 36-28 victory for Leicester Tigers against Saracens in the PREM on Sunday, here’s our five takeaways from the game at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
The top line
Leicester Tigers treated the Mattioli Woods Welford Road faithful to a characteristic display of simple, physical and intelligent rugby as they dispatched Saracens with five tries and five points to take themselves to fifth in the table. A late Charlie Bracken try saw that the Londoners didn’t go home empty handed as he crossed for their fourth score to leave them one place behind Tigers at the turnaround point of the season.
For the first 50 minutes of the match it seemed only one side had come to terms with the icy cold afternoon, with Saracens looking as if they’d much rather be warming their hands in the team bus. It took four minutes for Tigers to open their account via the outstanding Freddie Steward and from that moment the floodgates rather opened, as the hosts ran in four before half-time, courtesy of Olly Cracknell, Joe Heyes and the flying wing Adam Radwan, who grabbed another in the second period.
The enforced introduction of Theo Dan and Maro Itoje saw Sarries up their efforts and for the last 30 the visitors had very much the better of the scoreboard – but by then the damage had been done and the points were pretty much banked.
The magician and the Wand
At 10, Billy Searle had one of his most memorable outings in the green, red and white of Leicester. The 29-year-old Devonian has had a host of clubs – some 10 at professional level, but after a four-year sojourn to France, the fly-half has returned with a lot of wisdom and far more game control than when he left.
His kicking and distribution work were immaculate; Leicester recorded a 31% retention rate on Searle’s kicking efforts, something key on cold and frosty afternoons such as this – and equally importantly, once the ball was retained Tigers ran direct and hard into the heart of Saracens, pinned them territorially in their own half for some 57% of the first half.
At 13, Will Wand, despite the riches now available to Steve Borthwick, might well be in the England debate if he continues to deliver abrasive performances of the nature of the one he delivered on Sunday. The big centre was outstanding both sides of the ball, winning two turnovers, running for 46 metres, beating four defenders and nailing 10 tackles in a really bristling, all-action display.
Searle’s boot and Wand’s physicality gave Tigers both direction and space, two things that when combined deliver momentum – and it was precisely that word that defined Tigers’ performance – a team that grabbed the momentum early on and relentlessly kept battering into Saracens in the way Leicester teams have done since the start of professional leagues.
In a day where forwards typically tend to decide both scoreline and result, there’s little doubt that the Tigers 10 and 13 were the key men in deciding this contest and Searle was rightly named Player of the Match in an outstanding display.
Aerial intellect
One of the keys to Searle (and Steward’s) success in that aerial battle was the manner with which Tigers chose to control the drop zone around the ball challenger. Off Saracens kicks, there was a clear plan to have players both sides of the drop point of the ball, with Leicester noting that Sarries, and Elliot Daly in particular, have a habit of tap challenging back to oncoming forwards. By simply ensuring that they had players circling around the drop point to counter that tactic, Tigers stole four of Saracens’ own tap backs, one of which led to the first try for Steward after four phases of play.
On their own kicks, it was a case of really owning the space and there’s few better in the world at doing that than Steward, who claimed five in the air, ably assisted by Wand, who helped himself to three others.
Couple in a real ambition for the Tigers’ back-row to identify that direct power rather than pace (more of that later) was the likely Saracen vision in attack, the hosts’ back-row and first wave defence must be congratulated for stopping some of the best carriers in the PREM at source – low, hard chop tackles and fierce competition over the ball as the player fell to ground. When Emeka Ilione came on, he helped himself to two steals, 11 tackles (and 24 metres with ball in hand!) in a 35 minute cameo that will get the England selectors purring.
No pace, no power
Saracens are really at a crossroads as a side. They have amongst the best back five pack stocks in the league with four or five absolutely world class performers, plus some able deputies like Hugh Tizard, Andy Onyeama-Christie and Nick Isiekwe. Ball winning should, and isn’t, that big of an issue for them, but once they have the ball, they lack any form of pace or power to change things up if their kicking game fails, as it did today.
In the midfield, there’s nobody capable of delivering killer plays – whether by sheer pace or direct power. It’s very much a case of you can change the bowlers but you can’t change the style of bowling – and time after time Saracens struggled to get any form of front-foot pace onto the ball via their backline. It was either Tom Willis, Dan or Juan Martin Gonzalez – or it didn’t happen.
Their back three, other than the redoubtable Daly, are players that get work delivered to them rather than going to find it themselves. And even in the case of the England full-back he’s at his very best when others run off his vision, when he beats a man with guile and gets the ball behind the defender to get over the gainline.
Saracens are in dire need of a direct carrier and gas in their backline; Tigers had those players in Wand and on the wing, the electric Radwan – and until they find those players, they’re unlikely to challenge for higher honours than the fifth place they currently sit in.
Selectorial musings
With Wand putting his hand up in front of Lee Blackett, England will have come away from this match with some pencilled options that they perhaps were not as aware of before it. Radwan’s pace and form simply cries out for inclusion within the wider Six Nations training squad – and if Borthwick does go 5-3 or 6-2 he’s got the potential real impact with Radwan, safe in the knowledge he’s got players elsewhere (such as Tommy Freeman) that can cover multiple positions. England have been crying out for raw pace for a long time now, and if the former Falcon can convince England of his aerial ability, he might very well be given a run.
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At nine, when he came on, Bracken looked light years ahead of the more vaunted Jack van Poortvliet who made his first start for Leicester this season. Bracken does everything at pace, has a wonderful pass – both in accuracy and speed, and looks to be made for the international stage. JVP, on the other hand, was charged down four times, knocked on in a key attacking moment, and really failed to impose himself once more.
The footnote goes to two players returning from injury who both entered the fray and made big contributions. Saracens won the time Itoje was on the pitch by 19-10 and his mere presence seemed to have both a big physical and emotional impact on his team. And, read and repeat exactly those words for Tigers number eight, Ilione, who once again looked every inch the Test quality player England believe him to be as he delivered a really impressive 35 minutes in his club comeback after shoulder surgery in late October.
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