Saracens vs Ospreys - EDF Cup

[Prestwick]

BIG thanks to An Tarbh for <strike>not</strike> creating this thread!



So far, so even, Ospreys trying waaaay too hard, Saracens making waaay too many mistakes and Del Boy (Richard Haughton) wins the award for "most awkward face" with his peach of a mug while watching Shane Williams slap his right paw down on the ball to score the only try of the first half:



<Haughton> SHANE'S JUMPING ONTO WHITE BASE! AAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!



Hook rounds off an indifferent half by missing a kick, more at ten.

 

[nick_w]

So far, so even, Ospreys trying waaaay too hard, Saracens making waaay too many mistakes.


[/b]

Bang on. Nichol is right saying that the Welsh internationals shouldn't sit back and relax after the Grand Slam, but at the same time, they just look like they are putting themselves under so much pressure. The only reason Sarries aren't in this game is the fact they aren't being clinical enough, nothing they did in the first half made me sit up out of my seat. Good to see Rauluni on. Psychological move perhaps (i.e. Welsh loss against Fiji in RWC 2007?)!!

Hope they'll be more points this half!

 

[Prestwick]

Hurrraaah! Points on the board!

 

[Vambo]

Poor game so far.

Looks like a bit of needle is creeping in though which might make it more entertaining.

 

[Prestwick]

Hope its Brent Russell...had to go back upstairs to work! ;___;

 

[nick_w]

Better second half. Was always going to be hard to follow the previous SF.

Osprey's seemed to relax in the second half, that was evident with Hensons try as he seemed to cut that line easily. Shocking missed tackle from Farrell.

Shame for Sarries really, they just didn't click though. Looking forward to Leicester Ospreys in April though. Should be an awesome game.

Wouldn't write off a Sarries upset in the European Cup though. That should be another good match.

 

[TVH11]

well only saw the last 20 mins (in work) but wot i saw the ospreys looked in control, and thats no dissrespect to sarries, from what i heard they were pretty good first half. But in the end i think the ospresys' bench made a huge difference. To have those players to come on, then theres gonna be an impact.

Will be interesting how the final turns out (hopefully ospresys don't throw it away again! and also the heineken quarter should be interesting also!

 

[shtove]

What is it about Henson? He turns English players in to women's accessories - first there was Handbag Tait, now Mandy Farrell the all purpose blusher.

 

[noikz]

What is it about Henson? He turns English players in to women's accessories - first there was Handbag Tait, now Mandy Farrell the all purpose blusher. [/b]

:lol2tn: :lol2tn: :lol2tn:

 

[Prestwick]

This is but a ruse!!! We just let you score all those tries!

Just you guys wait!

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

Terrible match, with Saracens by far the worst element of it. The ball they were producing was..........so..........very...........utterly............slow.

Andy Farrell is utterly useless. Sarries should cut their losses and bring through someone decent. Henson ripped him to shreds. There's no point being able to pass a ball 30 yards if the pass is both mistimed and behind the target man. Rubbish.

Can see Leicester's front row licking their lips at the prospect of scrummaging in the final though, that particular set-piece really isn't an area of strenth for the Ospreys, getting pushed around as they were at times by some journeymen club level players.

 

[loratadine]

we were missing duncan jones nd ian gough though who both add enormously to our scrumaging effort. and to be fair, yesterdays match isnt really a fair reflection on out scrum... wasnt really firing on all cylinders, i think the lads were all still hung over :/

but you got to remember that thhis is pretty much the welsh pack bar martyn williams, the welsh pack that more than held his own against any of the so called superior packs
i really cant see saracens being able to touch us in two weeks... the ospreys were woeful yesterday but still managed to rack up a cricket score... nd the boys not conceading a try was a real positive... and in a game where the grand slam cobwebs will hopefully have been well and truly shaken off i would expect a similar score, only in a much more convincing victory.

 

[Prestwick]

Terrible match, with Saracens by far the worst element of it. The ball they were producing was..........so..........very...........utterly............slow.[/b]

The service from De Kock was mostly quick but there was some Ellis-esque faffing around at times in the first half. Ratuvou however just can't hack it for some reason and its sad that the Gaffer holds back Alan Dickens because of his age when he is actually the far superior scrum half. Shocking frankly.

Andy Farrell is utterly useless. Sarries should cut their losses and bring through someone decent. Henson ripped him to shreds. There's no point being able to pass a ball 30 yards if the pass is both mistimed and behind the target man. Rubbish.[/b]

Quite, poor poor poor Glen Jackson. Half the time he just wasn't expecting to be lamped in the face by a sudden and wild pass from Farrell standing 15 meters in front of him and I'm surprised he didn't knock any of those on. By the time he had got over the shock of suddenly receiving the ball the Ospreys were already in his face and he'd always have no other choice than to kick.

The main problems are thus, nobody at the Saracens set up right now want to accept the fact that HRH Richard Hill (AKA GOD™ ) and Glen Jackson's retirements are imminent and guys like Kevin Sorrell and Chris Chesney won't be too far behind. David Seymour's contract isn't going to be renewed this summer by order of Eddie Jones which makes the gaping hole in Saracen's forwards even bigger.

Theres a crisis in talent which nobody seems to have accounted for and while the guys that the Saracens Academy are producing are top dollar (Cato & Goode responsible for England's recent U20 success btw kthnxbai) they're either too young or have simply been shunned for too long to make an impact. Don Barrell had a good run out at openside flanker yesterday but that was the only bright light. Borthwick will be a welcome addition but only a sticking plaster for a couple of years I'm afraid.

Essentially in the next 18 months we'll either see Saracens spend big (again) or we'll see wild eyed youngsters like Alex Goode being dumped in the deep end and expected to "do a Cipriani". Woeful man management.