Blues 9 - 17 Saracens

The Blues held up well in another stern test at Grange Road.  After conceding five tries to Northampton last week, they showed great defensive spirit to stay within one score of professional opposition until the dying minutes.

The early passages of play were very open, with plenty of half breaks for both sides.  Saracens lock Sherriff nearly decapitated a Cambridge back with a swinging arm, but the referee apparently thought it unseemly to brandish a yellow card so early in the match.  To make matters worse, Saracens were first on the scoreboard.  After eschewing two kickable penalties, a solid line out gave them a base to maul to within inches of the Blues line, before Caulfield drove over.  Scrum-half Spencer assumed the kicking duties for Saracens, his conversion sneaking between the uprights via a deflection off the weather vane atop the inside post.

The Blues gained a solid foothold in the game, as breaks from lock Backer and number 8 O’Sullivan gave the Saracens defence plenty to think about, and scrum-half Peck was unlucky not to win some offside penalties for his quick tap-and-goes.  The Blues were in the ascendancy for the last ten minutes of the first half.  Although they never recycled the ball quickly enough to disorganise the Saracens defence, the Blues did not come away empty handed, as Stevens landed two penalties.  Saracens’ Stringer was sin-binned for conceding the second by collapsing a maul, meaning the Blues would have a man advantage to exploit as they attempted to build on a 6-7 deficit after half time.

But the Blues were unable to convert their numerical advantage, as Stevens missed a relatively straight-forward kick at goal that would have given them the lead. Stevens made up for this with some excellent positional kicking, but once Saracens were back to full strength it was not long before a flurry of pick and drives caught the Blues offside.  It was testament to the Blues’ defensive resilience that Saracens reverted to type, accepting the penalty goal on offer rather than pushing for a try.  Saracens continued to be enterprising in their back play, if not in their penalty tactics, but each time handling errors let them down.

More good work from Stevens saw him break through and force the Saracens defence to kill the ball.  This time Stevens’ kick was accurate, and with a miscued attempt from Spencer cancelling out his earlier miss, the difference was just a single point at 9-10.

After being completely outmuscled by Northampton last week, the Blues were competitive at the scrum until injuries meant Saracens had run out of front row forwards and scrums went uncontested.  Saracens pitched camp inside Blues territory for the last quarter of the game, and the students managed to hold out until three minutes from time.  After first dropping the ball over the line with penalty advantage, Saracens’ Itoje went over after a quick tap penalty.  The conversion put Saracens out of reach at 9-17, and the game fizzled out as the Blues’ O’Sullivan was sent to the sin bin.