After the pyrotechnics at Franklin’s Gardens the evening before, this was a return to the sort of thing we’re more accustomed to in the cold, wet days of January. Which is to say, a dispiriting, cold, wet affair that didn’t even have the virtue (as this kind of game usually does) of being close.
We suspected Saracens would win this without too much trouble – and that they did, a brace of tries from David Strettle helping them to an eighth win of the season, and a somewhat firmer grip on third place. But they remain 10 points behind the leaders, Northampton, who you suspect would have registered the full five points against a London Irish side in the doldrums, missing a raft of players.
However, such talk is of little relevance now. Saracens are not in the form they were at this stage last season, but they were reminded only too painfully then how irrelevant mid-season form is nowadays. What they will take comfort from is the form of Billy Vunipola, who is responding admirably to the challenge laid down to him by the England management.
Here was the latest man-of-the-match performance since his summary ejection from the national squad, midway through November. It was not an occasion teeming with match-award candidates, but Vunipola’s performance was the pick – a tireless afternoon of carrying, another 80 minutes under the belt, and, lest we forget, only just turned 22 years of age.
“What’s impressive is to come back after suffering a huge setback like he did,” said Mark McCall, his director of rugby. “It’s a hell of a blow for a young fella. You judge him by how he’s responded, and that’s five games in a row that he’s been there or thereabouts as man of the match.”
He and his brother, Mako – another with some ground to regain with England – combined well for the crucial score of the game, Saracens’ first try.
It stemmed from a five-metre scrum after half an hour. The wonder is that Billy had to pick up from the base at all. Saracens had just slotted their second penalty of the afternoon, after a scoreless first quarter, by driving through the Exiles scrum – not for the first time. When the lively Alex Lewington was forced to kick the ball dead after a Saracens counterattack soon after the restart, the last thing we expected to see was the ball in anyone’s hands.
But Irish managed to stand their ground at the ensuing scrum, albeit twisting to open up the angle for Vunipola Junior to burst off the base and carry just short of the line.
The ball came back swiftly, and there was Mako, all set to charge at three primed Irish defenders. But the loose-head prop flummoxed them all by holding off on the contact and feeding his looping three-quarters, who worked Strettle in at the corner for the 11-0 lead that Saracens held at the break.
It was a foul afternoon, the drizzle whipped through by a biting wind, and the situation looked ominous for London Irish, having made little of the elements at their backs in the first half.
Often, it is easier to play into the wind, particularly if you’re happier with ball in hand. Lewington skinned Strettle in his own 22 in one memorable break-out, and Tom Homer slotted the second of two Irish penalties early in the second half to bring the visitors back to within five.
Ten minutes later, though, and Saracens had re-established the 11-point cushion with two more penalties from Owen Farrell, who looked accurate in his own search for form, if hardly inspired yet.
The game was settled on the hour when Strettle reimposed himself with a fine finish, twisting and turning through a thicket of defenders in that characteristic way of his.
That was the end of any interest in the result itself. The only question was whether Saracens could register the bonus point. They didn’t come close, nor did they appear too interested in it. It’s just that time of year.
