Saracens vs Tigers Saturday 15/09/12 3:30

[boon]

41.5k is a bit less than the 43k they declared v saints a few years back (iirc)

not much evidence of growth there, and turgid draws like todays are unlikely to pull in many extra fans when they do open up copthall. not a good game for the newcomer imho.

[TigerLad]

Quote from one of the Saracens fans about today's game.
"I find it hard to get fired up in a stadium that has all the atmosphere of a departure lounge."
Sound familiar?

[TigerLad]

Cockers needs to be giving Ford at least 20 minutes a game in my opinion, let him start the games against Saracens in the LV cup,against the Maori, London Irish in the LV and then aganst the Pests. This would give him a month of game time and he should start these, if he plays well off the bench he should start against Exeter.

[Tigerbeat]

Saracens and Tigers both defended well and tried to play attacking rugby but the game was littered with mistakes and poor discipline, hence the lack of tries.
I would have liked to have come away with a win but 2points is acceptable. Other teams are going to go to Sarries and come away with nothing.
With regards to Ford being given more game time I agree with Flood being left on today. Harrison and Ford may have left Tigers more vulnerable and Saracens would attack down this channel.

Flood and Youngs are the ideal half back combination and Ford and Harrison will get there opportunity in the autumn internationals and Six nations.

When this team clicks someone is going to the wrong end of a hammering. To win when you are you playing at your best is the sign of a good team.

Quins will be a different game and being at home, I expect a narrow win.

[Smurphswillgetya]

Good points:
Mafi, Goneova and Hamilton again played well

Bad Points:
Harrison - Playing our 3rd choice scrum-half means that we are going to struggle, too many mistakes from Harrison but at least it gives him the game time some people are always going on about. As another poster said the gulf between the premiership and A league is vast.
Crane looked slow and lacked any go forward and Castro was taking the ball standing still.

Under the circumstances a draw away from home is not a bad result and we could have had a deja-vu moment if Murphy had been on the pitch for that drop goal attempt.

Off-side - what off-side? Smit was in front of the ref and offside and yet was allowed to move forward and tackle Manu!!

[sjm]

Of course Ford will play in the november matches unless he is on the bench for england and TF is playing for us

[The Boy Dave]

For all the talk and build up I was disappointed with the match, it was very poor. Hodgson's drop goal summed up the level of the game for me as a better player would have seen the space outside and used it. I wouldn't wish being a Sarries fan on anyone. Although he may not be liked Ashton is class but him apart they have little to offer other than grunt and sweat. Tigers could and should have won.

[BJ.]

Two things I'll remember from yesterday's match:

1. Borthwick et al constantly lying on the wrong side, making no effort to roll away (unless waving an arm in the air is considering trying) and not being penalised whilst Dan Cole had three Saracens on top of him and he was pinged for not rolling away.

2. The constant turning to the referee and bleating by the Saracens if they thought there was the remotest chance of Leicester infringing. I'm starting to wonder if they are playing with the wrong-shaped ball.

[Nuttytiger]

Well I have a nights sleep after the trip to Wembley yesterday and have reflected on my initial thoughts. First the game....not great was it. Thought both teams struggled with attack, Tigers due to an inability to break down the Sarries defence and Sarries because they just didn't want to attack for most of the game.

I can't recall watching a game involving Sarries which has been entertaining from a neutrals perspective?? The only game was last years Geordan drop goal but I'm hardly neutral!!

Thought Goneva was good again, Hamilton did well after Geordan went off and Salvi was his normal self.

As regards the venue...well... that simply was the worst rugby watching experience of my life. I even considered applying for a blood bin replacement because my ears were bleeding!! Playing the music during play is hardly an effort to encourage respect for teams kickers is it??... Screaming "Come on make some noise for Sarries!" every two minutes didn't seem to have an effect...there is more atmosphere in a library...

The only time any Sarries fans shouted was when they cam out and had a chance to wave a free flag...

I guess you can judge the fan base by the number of Sarries shirts you saw...about 3 then!!!

The Sarries board will say "look at the number of kids encouraging the next generation of fans etc" but surely you have to serve up some decent rugby too??...It was dreadful...quite simply dreadful.

If anybody knows where the stadium announcer lives, then I suggest you keep it quiet for now.....

Sorry for the rant....but that's after a nights sleep!!

[DickyP]

Whilst echoing many of the criticisms of individuals above - and agreeing the game wasn't great, the more I think about the more I realize that the biggest problem was that the teams just cancelled each other out. They are too similar in the players they have in the various positions and the defensive strengths of both are exactly in countering the main attacking weapons of the other.

My real concern is that these two teams are incapable of putting on a great game between them any more unless one team makes mistakes or has a bad day. The only hints of real spark yesterday came when individuals like Goneva and Ashton almost 'got away'.

[sapajo]

Harrison and Ford may have left Tigers more vulnerable and Saracens would attack down this channel.

Good point Tigerbeat it was indeed probably a case of damage limitation! Lets hope we can somehow shaw up and steady the ship for Quins its a must do.

[voice of the crumbie]

The game was dire. The failings that Tigers have suffered from for several seasons to the fore once again:

Aimless and poor kicking out of hand
Inability to run "angles"
Poor passing / knock ons
Silly penalties conceded - we got lucky today. If Farrell had been on form or Hodgson on from the start or earlier we would have come away with nothing

In addition today it looked like we went there more worried about not losing than trying to win. We also made the strange decision not to contest the Sarries line out thus giving them free possession. The one time we did contest about three quarters through the 2nd half Mafi managed to disrupt and the ball came back Tigers' way.

However in points terms I would think we are better placed than we expected to be. I Imagine the coaching team would have expected 5 pointers from the first two games and a losing bonus point from today. I also imgaine that a narrow win next week against Quins will be the target in their minds and if we prevent them from getting a losing bonus point that will be a bonus.

[jgriffin]

My only concern is the hand-kicking. We have been giving the ball away for three seasons now like this, indeed really since Goodey left. In the Wuss game IMO Goodey showed why he is a more complete 10 than Flood, making things happen and hamd kicking superbly - several 50m touchfinders and several great line turners, for instance. Flood largely seems to have been programmed to boot it into 'statistically significant' areas at best.

[biffer]

That was a pretty boring game. Both sides defended very well, and that made it lack excitement.

In a game like that, small things are the difference between winning and not, and I think the poor service from scrum half was a significant part of us not being able to break them down - it just gave them that extra fraction of a second or didn't give us that extra half second, whichever way you want to look at it.

[Old Hob]

I agree with comments about our game management.

What concerned me was the partisan announcer and the screaming "American style" partisanship (which is also apparrent at Quins. many people there were new to Rugby and their induction (not respecting the other team etc etc ) may lead them to think it is like soccer.

As regards numbers: In every row were free Saracens flags and instructions to "wave them" came up on screen
I asked one chap whether he was a supporter: "No," he said, "I work for Allianz and we have thirty five thousand employees. Every one of us was offered up to 5 free tickets each."

As a business model it lacks a certain... ummmm .... everything!