Even at this early stage of the season there is a good chance Saracens and Wasps will contest the Premiership final at Twickenham next May. Titles are not won in October but this preliminary skirmish in north London again underlined how tough it will be to unseat the defending champions. Despite the absence of several key players, Sarries are back astride the table and will switch into European mode this week with justifiable optimism.
In isolation it was not the kind of game to inspire endless poetry but there is a certain thumbscrew beauty about Saracens’ ruthless method in big matches.
Wasps had arrived unbeaten and as the league’s free-wheeling top scorers; they left having been outscored four tries to one by opponents who waited until the final quarter to flex their muscles most effectively. Two tries for the hooker Jamie George inside the last 11 minutes ensured not just a bonus point but sent a clear message of intent to their next opponents, Toulon.
Along the way Saracens also proved it is humanly possible for players to hammer away for club and country within the same week, despite the bruising session their leading men endured at England’s training camp in Brighton. Billy Vunipola was again a serious handful, with his brother Mako getting his name on the score sheet alongside the prolific George, now the Premiership’s leading scorer with five tries in six games.
With Owen Farrell and Alex Goode potentially back from injury in time for the Toulon trip, the watching Eddie Jones will be suitably grateful, having endured a few turbulent headlines in the wake of this week’s injuries to Anthony Watson, Jack Nowell and Sam Jones. Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, confirmed his players all returned feeling pretty weary and has pleaded for closer liaison in future between England’s management and the Premiership clubs. “The important thing is we review it,” said Young. “It cannot be England and clubs against each other … there cannot be a big brother in this relationship.
“They are not more important than us and we are not more important than them. The last thing we can do is knock a wedge between the national setup and the clubs. England want to win the World Cup, the clubs want to do well. If we want to achieve what we want, we won’t do it if we go our separate ways. It’s really important we all work in the same direction.”
A pre-arranged meeting between Jones and the Premiership directors of rugby on Thursday should help in that regard, with Saracens’ Mark McCall making clear it was the specific timing of the camp in the buildup to Europe that bothered him. Wasps, for their part, are now resigned to losing Jones for five months and have now picked up another injury to their England squad scrum-half, Dan Robson. With Tommy Taylor succumbing to a sick bug an hour before kick-off the anticipated hooking duel between the former Sale player and George never happened.
Instead, as widely predicted, it largely came down to whether Wasps’ attacking wit could pierce Saracens’ renowned defensive shield. For the first 35 minutes of the game the answer was emphatically negative, with Sarries happy to kick the ball to their opponents and back their energetic pressing defence to shut down any potential danger.
With Mako Vunipola having secured an early lead in the left corner following a well-worked lineout drive, the home side also proved adept at slowing down their opponents’ ball illegally, prompting a lecture for the captain, Brad Barritt, from the referee, Matthew Carley. The suffocating black blanket was not visibly affected and one shuddering collision between Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes could have been heard in Cricklewood.
The challenge for Wasps was to break free of the straitjacket imposed on their midfield and, to his credit, Danny Cipriani proved gloriously equal to the task. Not for the first time this season some lovely ghosting footwork took him outside and past an opponent, in this case Billy Vunipola, and a try for Josh Bassett was the instant reward. Just as Wasps’ hopes were rising, however, Sarries went straight back up the other end to put Mike Ellery over and ensure a 13-8 interval lead.
Maybe things would have been closer had Alex Lozowski, against his old club, not tracked back splendidly to outpace Cipriani as he threatened to score a magical solo try or if Maro Itoje had caused Wasps slightly less lineout hassle.
Saracens’ forwards, either way, grew progressively more dominant and George, whose low-slung centre of gravity makes him the ideal man to have at the back of a maul, put the outcome beyond doubt after Wasps had lost Bassett to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Sean Maitland.
McCall was understandably satisfied by the final margin but it was Young who hit the nail squarest on the head. “The better team won … I don’t think we were allowed to play and you’ve got to give them a lot of credit,” he conceded. “They really strangled us. We didn’t get the penetration with our ball carriers that we’ve had up until now.”
Saracens Maitland; Ellery (Gallagher, 68), Bosch, Barritt (capt; Tompkins, 76), Wyles; Lozowski, Wigglesworth (Spencer, 71); M Vunipola (Lamositele, 76), Brits (George, 51), Figallo (Du Plessis, 58), Itoje (Hamilton, 76), Kruis, Rhodes (Wray, 52), Burger, B Vunipola. Tries M Vunipola, Ellery, George 2. Cons Lozowski, Spencer. Pens Lozowski 2. Wasps Miller (Eastmond, 57); Wade (Halai, 71), Daly, Gopperth (capt), Bassett; Cipriani, Robson (Simpson, h-t); McIntyre (Mullan, 55), Cruse, Moore (Cooper-Woolley, 55), Symons (Rieder, 61), Myall (Launchbury, 37), Johnson (Gaskell, 61), Young, Hughes. Try Bassett. Pens Gopperth 3. Sin-bin Bassett 74. Referee M Carley (RFU). Att 9.911.
