WANDERERS 10

SARACENS 22

Friendly

Franklin’s Gardens

Monday, September 17th, 2007

In an evening of a blowing gale and repeated showers the Wanderers suffered their first defeat of the season to a powerful Saracens outfit.

The half-time score of Wanderers 3, Saracens 5 reflected the balance of play, if not the number of chances created by either side.

Saracens were the first to get off the mark when Noah Cato showed a great turn of speed to outpace the covering defence and score in the left corner. Edd Thrower missed the conversion but home fans were wondering about the health of their own kicker Stephen Myler, who had stayed down after the play had moved on.

He dusted himself off and showed no ill-effects of the knock when judging a cross kick to the chasing Matt Lord. The Wanderers just failed to reach the bouncing ball inside Saracens’ 22 and another chance went begging when Courtney Lawes knocked on in a tackle just shy of the line.

Ian Vass also created a chance with a well-taken break from his own five metre line. But the ball again went forward – a recurring theme in the first half – and Saracens nullified the threat.

The Wanderers points came in the 26th minute. A great combination of running between Myler and Chris Ashton took the hosts into the Saracens 22, winning a penalty that Myler converted.

Ross Batty’s yellow card de-powered an already under-powered Wanderers scrum and Saracens set about emphasising their advantage. But the Wanderers held out three gilt-edged chances and the half ended with the two-point deficit maintained.

The break saw the introduction of Neil Starling for his first action in 18 months. Obviously up for the challenge he was called into defensive action in the visitors’ first attack. He came through the tackle unscathed and was soon skipping through tackles to set up a good position in Saracens’ half.

Nevertheless the visitors extended their lead eight minutes into the half thanks to another powerful scrum, Alan Dickens touching down. But the gap was reduced eight minutes after that when Will Harries danced around the defence to score. Myler converted to bring the score to 12-10 in favour of Saracens.

So going into the final quarter the game was still tight. But 10 unanswered points from the visitors courtesy of Aaron Liffchak and Thrower effectively ended the contest, and as the rain came down once more the visitors held out one last Wanderers attack, despite Starling’s valiant efforts, and the game finished Wanderers 10, Saracens 22.

Teams:
Wanderers – Harries; Ashton, Kydd (Starling 40mins), Anderson (Hoyles 67mins), Smith; Myler, Vass; Sigley, Batty, Purbrook (Vickers 52mins), Hoy, Cannon (Gray 34-40mins, 52mins), Lawes (Giles 71mins), Easter, Lord (capt)(Milligan 40mins).

Saracens – Thrower; Haughton, Lozides (McMullen 40mins), Stanley, Cato (Morris 48mins); Goode, Dickens; Mitchell, Kyriacou, Liffchak, Fullarton (Thomas 25mins), Preocanin, Gustard (capt)(Matadigo 65mins), Matadigo (Saull 40mins), Hall.

Scorers:
Wanderers – Try: Harries; Con: Myler; Pen: Myler.

Saracens – Tries: Cato, Dickens, Liffchak, Thrower; Con: Thrower.

Yellow card:
Batty (32mins)

Attendance:
813

TIMELINE:
2mins SARRIES Try Cato 0-5
26mins WAND Pen Myler 3-5
32mins WAND Yellow card Batty
HALF-TIME WANDERERS 3 SARACENS 5
48mins SARRIES Try Dickens Con Thrower 3-12
56mins WAND Try Harries Con Myler 10-12
66mins SARRIES Try Liffchak 10-17
74mins SARRIES Try Thrower 10-22
FULL-TIME WANDERERS 10 SARACENS 22