With all the talk of the dancing feet of Kyle Eastmond, it is often overlooked that there is another contender for England’s No12 shirt – and this one, although less eye-catching, has more caps than either Eastmond or the other men much-touted for that pivotal role in the middle of England’s midfield. But talk and the eye-catching are not for Brad Barritt.
Nevertheless, he was central to this fifth win out of six for Saracens, against a Gloucester side who are starting to find their feet after the upheaval of the summer. If it was brilliance you wanted from your No12 then look no further than the fine cut-out pass that Billy Twelvetrees, another contender and playing opposite Barritt, threw to Rob Cook for the game’s opening try at the end of the first quarter. But for eye-watering (as opposed to catching) intensity it was Barritt who applied the solder from minute one to minute 80.
In minute 82, Gloucester went over to earn a losing bonus point, having led by 10 after that Cook try, but do not be fooled. Saracens had been in pursuit of a bonus point themselves for the last quarter and will be disgruntled that they did not get it. Instead, they let Gloucester in at the death, having turned the ball over in their last attempt to register that fourth try. But this was a solid win, and it will not have escaped the coaches’ notice that the one game Saracens have lost this season – last week at Bath – was the one game Barritt did not play in, having picked up an injury the week before.
“It is fantastic to be back,” he said. “To put in a good individual performance, I am very happy. Missing the game last week was disappointing, but in the grand scheme of things it is a long season and missing one is of no huge consequence. It was important to be back this week in time for Europe. We have a huge game against Clermont next week and then Munster away. They are two daunting tasks but definitely tasks this team are looking forward to.”
The Wednesday after Europe restarts, Stuart Lancaster will be announcing his senior elite player squad. Barritt, Eastmond and Twelvetrees were in the same when it was announced in August last year, but with the rise since of Luther Burrell and pressure from Jonathan Joseph to join Manu Tuilagi in covering outside-centre, there will be at least one, probably two, disappointed inside-centres this time.
Both Twelvetrees and Barritt put in big shifts in defence on Saturday, even if the former was fire-fighting elsewhere when the latter put Ali Hargreaves through his channel in the buildup to Chris Ashton’s try, Saracens’ third, on the hour. Barritt was also a menace over the ball, England’s answer to Brian O’Driscoll in that respect if not in others.
But having caught the eye with his brilliance for the game’s opening try, Twelvetrees caught it again the very next play with the kind of howler Barritt rarely commits. In what his new director of rugby, David Humphreys, conceded was a turning point, Twelvetrees noticed space in the quadrant behind Ashton, and Jonny May itching to exploit it, but his chip over the top was far too slow. Chris Wyles charged it down for Saracens’ first try, and four minutes later Hargreaves, who vied with Barritt for the man-of-the-match award, was worked clear for a lead that Saracens would never relinquish.
“Huge credit to Saracens,” said the magnanimous Humphreys. “With a lot of teams maybe you’d say you were unlucky with that chargedown, but I think with the number of charge-downs Saracens get over the course of a season, it’s a case of crediting them. For us, we’ve moved a long way in six weeks. We’ve shown we can compete with the top teams. Now it’s about establishing some belief within our squad that we can go out and perform at a level that can put a team like Saracens under pressure.”
Putting teams under pressure is what Saracens specialise in. And few are more effective at identifying soft spots than Barritt – then squeezing them till the eyes water.
Saracens Ransom (Goode, 52); Ashton, Wyles, Barritt (Bosch, 69), Strettle; Hodgson, Wigglesworth (De Kock, 51); Barrington (Gill, 51), Brits (George, 8), Longbottom (Johnston, 51), Hamilton (Kruis, 59), Hargreaves (capt), Joubert, Brown (Fraser, 50), B Vunipola.
Tries Wyles, Hargreaves, Ashton. Cons Hodgson 2. Pens Hodgson 3.
Gloucester Cook; Sharples, Purdy (Atkinson, 69), Twelvetrees (capt), May; Hook, Laidlaw (Robson, 71); Wood (Thomas, 68), Hibbard (Dawidiuk, 57), Afoa (Puafisi, 71), Savage, Palmer (Stooke, 65), Kalamafoni (Moriarty, 65), Kvesic, Morgan.
Tries Cook, Savage. Con Laidlaw. Pens Laidlaw 3. Sin-bin Wood 57.
Referee D Richards. Att: 9.084.
