Haringay Rhinos vs Saracens Amateur RFC

Saracens made the short journey to Haringay Rhinos’ ground and were keen to take advantage of the great conditions that would suit their style of free flowing, expansive rugby.

It was great to see that the faithful Saracens’ travelling support, including Mike ‘King Of The Touch Judges’ Chapman, gave the boys a great ovation as they ran onto the pitch.

Having lost the toss, Captain Dom ‘Tails Always Fails’ Smart, was surprised when the opposing Captain decided to play into the sun and against the wind for the first half. However, Saracens did not take advantage of this early good fortune. Haringay Rhinos made some effective lines breaks and following some sloppy tackling were the first to score. Luckily for Saracens, the Haringay kicker was more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgaIw829Yxk than Jonny Wilkinson.

This had the desired effect however, and sparked Saracens into life. A free flowing move, following some exceptional handling allowed Andrew ‘My Legs Hurt From Too Many Squats’ Bullmore, who had identified the acres of free space out wide, to casually stroll into the corner.

The rest of the half involved some excellent defence from the Saracens’ Forwards, included Lee ‘Can’t Believe I was Early For A Game’ Wolsey, Newton ‘Best Dressed Rugby Player Ever’ Mills, Connor ‘I’d Smile Even If I Wanted To Break Your Face’ Reddington and Zak ‘I’m An International Don’t You Know?’ Nutley. This resulted in the score being tied going into the second quarter.

In the second quarter Haringay showed why they are in the league above, and piled on the pressure. However, it was down to the excellent effort in defence that kept the score to only 15 – 5. It was testament to the strength in depth of the squad that so many changes can be made, including a number of U18s (who showed they are ready to make the transition) with little effect on the overall team performance. Felix ‘I Tackle More Like A Lion Than A Cat’ Brasseur was fantastic in both defence and attack.

Following more changes in the third quarter, Saracens returned to the style of rugby that had been so effective previously. Unlucky injuries to Rob ‘Mr Glass’ Eston and Dan ‘Do My Quads Look Big In This?’ Larkan, after both performing fantastically, were the only negative part of the rest of the game. Sean ‘There Can’t Be Long Left Now?!’ Casalaspro provided a great platform for what happened next.

Saracens showed excellent handling and pace to stretch the home side from touch line to the touch line. This lead to further scores from Harry ‘Best Brother’ Kelly, Mark ‘Termo’ Lawson, Dom ‘Games Now Take Four Days To Recover From’ Smart and an excellent individual effort from Michael ‘Need Any Cheap Beef?’ Scrace.

Final score 25 – 15

Lucky ‘Shame The Cheetahs Lost Today’ Flourie was pleased with the performance. ‘The boys were great today, am I right if I say that? Right here, right now we performed very well.’