Ageing former Saracens Captain answers agricultural absences

Saturday saw the Saracens travel away to Wymondham for their third league fixture of the season, and a sunny afternoon ideal for a game of running rugby. The Saracens turned out a very different side to the previous week, with the good weather meaning various members of the team were busy planting wheat…. Leaving it up to Ewan Lawton to fill the fly half boots, and the slim-line Benny Goodman to control the midfield with James Hayhoe. Never the less the Saracens started dominantly, and having kicked off, soon gained possession of the ball. A series of attempts to break the Wymondham defence followed form Diss backs and forwards alike, and soon a Wymondham error led to a Blue scrum being awarded on the halfway. Ryan Shannon, in his debut at hooker, made a clean strike to deliver quick ball off the scrum, with Lawton throwing a miss pass to hit Goodman in the centres, who in turn shipped the ball to Holdsworth on the wing. Holdsworth then used his turn of pace to accelerate round 2 of the Wymondham defence out wide and run in Saracens’ first try after just 7 minutes, Lawton narrowly missing the conversion. Again the Saracens looked strong with the ball, attacking with all 15 men, with Wymondham’s defence being thoroughly tested. A series of interchanges in the mid field, after a break by Henry Passmore saw Jake Girdler score under the posts at the 12 minute mark, with Lawton converting.
Wymondham responded to this with added aggression, although this resulted in a series of Penalties being awarded against them for infringements around the ruck, and Saracens remaining firmly in control and predominantly camped in the Wymondham half. However, the Wymondham defence held strong until late in the first half, when Ewan Lawton executed an exceptionally accurate cross-field kick straight into fullback Chris Trede’s hands, who broke two tackles to score under the posts. Lawton converted to leave the score 19-0 to the Saracens at half time.
Jacob Page caught the re-start cleanly, and a string of sniping runs and well-timed off-loads saw Ben Holdsworth cross the line out wide for his second try, Lawton narrowly missing the conversion. The Saracens seemed to get a little complacent at this point, and Wymondham started to come back into the gain, predominantly through a series of penalties conceded by Diss’ ill-discipline. It was through a penalty in front of the posts that Wymondham got on the score board after 9 minutes. This woke the Saracens up and they regained composure, to once again take control of the game, making much better use of phase play, using forwards to crash up in the midfield. A series of pick and goes was followed by a series of interchanges in the backs, with a scissor move between Hayhoe and Goodman resulting in the former Saracens captain powering over the line to score. Lawton’s conversion pulling just outside the left post.
Saracens complacency again got the better of them late into the half and a series of penalties allowed the home side deep into Diss’ half, when after a period of solid defence, one of the Wymondham back line cut an angle back through the Diss back line to score, although the conversion was missed. Again the Saracens composure got the better of them and they spent the last couple of minutes of the game defending their own try line, while Wymondham battled hard to cross the line, but to no avail. The final whistle sounded to leave the visitors with a respectable 29-8 victory.