Sarries end Force's run
Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:07
The touring Western Force suffered the first defeat of their United Kingdom tour, falling 10-19 to Saracens at Old Albanians.
Saracens ran in three tries to one against the Super 14 outfit.
Michael Owen crossed the line on his debut and there was also a score from Rodd Penney and a fine team try that was rounded off by Adam Powell that secured the win.
Although there is still plenty to work on, Saracens benefited from the hard work they on in defence - restricting the visitors to a single try, which went to Caleb Brown.
The English Premiership outfit also offered promising glimpses in attack to take into next week's pre-season s friendlies against Toulon and the Newport Gwent Dragons.
It was the home side who opened the scoring on 11 minutes, with a try for debutant Owen.
The former Wales captain, a signing from the Dragons, drove over the line from short range to cap what was an impressive first appearance in Saracens colours. That score came after a sustained period of pressure in the Force 22 and Owen was on hand to round things off. Glen Jackson struck the conversion from in front of the posts.
Midway through the first half, one of the many penalties throughout the game ended with the livewire James O'Connor converting the kick from 20 metres to reduce the scores. And as time was running out in the opening period, O'Connor struck another kick, but it drifted wide and referee Andrew Small blew for the half-time break.
The visitors started the second period well and really put pressure on the home side.
Eventually that told when fullback Dane Haylett-Petty broke through the defensive line and took advantage of a missed tackle to pass inside to Brown, who had a clear run to the line. O'Connor added the extras to give the touring side the lead.
While his distribution was incisive throughout the game, O'Connor's kicking radar was a little off and his penalty attempt from 22 metres just to the right of centre of the posts went wide and within minutes, Saracens had retaken the lead with the try of the night.
It started with a Cencus Johnston barrelling run on the Saracens 22 and ended with Powell diving over the line a minute later. Johnston's powerful run set up the break and when Rodd Penney and Dan Scarbrough took the ball on, Saracens showed what they are capable off, and with the offloading and clever movement working well, Powell found himself out wide and scored. Jackson's conversion went through off the upright.
Three minutes later the lead was extended when after winning the ball five metres from the visitors' line, Jackson sent a long miss-pass out to Penney and the wing took the ball on the bounce and had a clear run in. Jackson missed with his conversion.
Late on the visitors made several breaks through the defensive line, but the Saracens scramble defence worked hard to get back and put in a huge effort to deny the Force another score and win the game 19-10.
The match also saw Andy and Owen Farrell create history by becoming the first father-son pairing to play in a professional rugby match, but they failed to get on the field at the same time - in fact it was Owen who replaced his Dad on the pitch.
Farrell Snr came on midway through the second half but he left the pitch minutes later after dislocating his thumb and was replaced by his son.
Western Force Coach John Mitchell said his side was good enough to win the contest.
"We were good enough to win it, but we made some poor choices at times," Mitchell said.
"We blew at least three decent try-scoring opportunities and missed a couple of key shots at goal which would have given us a handy buffer. Those are the chances you have to take to win these tight matches and we failed to make the most of them."
Mitchell said the inexperience of his side played a hand in the defeat.
"They're doing well [the squad]. We could easily have ended up on top tonight had it not been for a bit of inexperience and a lack of execution at key times," he added.
"But that's why we are here, to learn from matches like this and take that experience forward into the next game."
Scorers:
For Saracens:
Tries: Owen, Powell, Penney
Cons: Jackson 2
For the Western Force:
Try: Brown
Con: O'Connor
Pen: O'Connor
Teams:
Saracens: 15 Dan Scarbrough, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Kevin Sorrell, 12 Adam Powell, 11 Rodd Penney, 10 Glen Jackson, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Michael Owen, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Chris Jack (captain), 5 Kris Chesney, 4 Harry Spencer, 3 Cencus Johnston, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Nick Lloyd.
Replacements - from: Matt Cairns, Tom Mercey, Rob Anderson, Will
Fraser, Moses Rauluni, Andy Farrell, Owen Farrell, Jackson Wray, Luke Baldwin.
Western Force: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Caleb Brown, 13 Josh Tatupu, 12 Scott Daruda, 11 Haig Sare, 10 James O'Connor, 9 Chris O'Young, 8 Tamaiti Horua, 7 David Pocock (captain), 6 Matt Hodgson, 5 Pat O'Connor, 4 Valeni Tia Tia, 3 AJ Whalley, 2 Luke Holmes, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Tai McIsaac, 17 Kieran Longbottom, 18 Tom Murday, 19 Filipe Manu, 20 Justin Turner, 21 Junior Pelesasa, 22 Dion Berryman.
