The 50:22 — where if a player kicks
the ball from their own half and lands it
in the opposing 22 his side can throw in
to the subsequent lineout — has been
the most popular new addition. It was
intended to create more space, as even
if teams do not employ it regularly, the
threat of a 50:22 kick has meant
defences need to drop players into the
backfield to cover.
And now a goalline drop-out is taken
when a team is held up over the tryline
— it was introduced to encourage
teams to spread the ball wider rather
than going through multiple phases in
the opposing 22. “Those two will be upfor full adoption. They’ve been well-
received,” the World Rugby chief
executive, Alan Gilpin, told the Sydney
Morning Herald.
“Defences are being forced to put
players in the backfield, and that creates
space but also reduces the number of
collisions in the defensive line, which is
making the game safer.”
World Rugby’s council is set to meet
in mid-May, when it will announce that
Australia will host the 2027 men’s
World Cup, with the 2031 edition set for
the United States. The women’s tourna-
ments will be held in the respective
countries in 2029 and 2033.Owen Farrell’s Saracens breezed past
Brive to book their place in the round of
16 of the Challenge Cup next week, the
captain taking 15 points and earning the
man-of-the-match award.
On just his second game since
November, having recovered from two
ankle injuries and concussion, the
England skipper was in slick form.
He found 50:22 kicks, dictated play at
the gain-line expertly, and kicked six of
eight conversions in gusty conditions,
playing the whole match.
Saracens’s win, in which Brive full
back Axel Muller was sent off in the
second half for a shocking high tackle
on substitute Ben Harris, means they
are set for their first European knock-
out match since September 2020.
Then they played in the Champions
Cup semi-final, against Racing 92 and
losing 19-15, before their salary-cap
saga saw them relegated from the
Gallagher Premiership.
Now they look primed to face Wasps,
who will drop down from the top
continental cup, in the last 16, as long as
results go the right way.
“Owen was great,” said director of
rugby Mark McCall of his leader. “We
needed someone to do that. He hasn’t
played a lot — the game was quick,
there was a lot of ball in play, which is
what we wanted, and he was in
complete control over the course of the
80 minutes.
“He also set a great example defen-
sively and some of the strengths he
showed with ball in hand made it a
really good display by him.”
Brive — once champions of the
Heineken Cup 25 years ago, which is re-
markable for a town with a slightly
bigger population than Yeovil — have
sunk a bit since then.
Now they were not here particularly
prioritising Europe, but harking back to
those old days.
Alain Penaud, Philippe Carbonneau
and Co were here, lifting the old cup
they won by beating Leicester 28-9 at
the Cardiff Arms Park before kick-off
— with French grand slam star and son
of Alain, Damian, watching on.
Concentrating on surviving in the
Top 14, and avoiding the dreaded
relegation play-offs, Brive rested some
top-line players last night for this, and
gave four their first experience of elite
competition.
Starting openside flanker Sacha Gue,
21, was one of those on his first profes-
sional outing alongside substitutes
handed them a four-on-one overlap,
which Isiekwe took to score.
Farrell hit both kicks from the left,
having checked the Beaufort Scale
more closely.
After the break, Ivan van Zyl
wandered in after Daly had been put
away by Goode for Sarries’s next try.
However, with the game gone for
them, Brive then started ruffling
Saracens’s feathers.
Daly was incensed when he felt he
was hit late on the wing by Pierre
Tournebize — his reaction giving away
a penalty — and after Theo McFarland
had been held down, and ever-so-
slightly kicked out to release himself,
referee Mike Adamson had a word with
captains Farrell and Matthieu Voisin.
“We just want to play rugby,” said
Farrell.
They kept their promise, Earl too
quick for Brive, as he scored between
the posts after a dynamic short-line
having started the move from the back
of the scrum. Farrell then converted.
By this point, with 18 minutes left,
Brive had had it, and when Farrell
found Goode, who fizzed a right-hand
pass to Rotimi Segun, that was theirsixth try. Number seven followed,
George finishing off a move started by
a Harris break.
Harris was hit horrendously high by
full-back Muller as he passed, and after
a TMO check, the Brive man was
rightly sent off. Harris then recovered
to run in Saracens’s eighth and Farrell
kicked it into the night to end a fine
evening.Scorers: Brive: Try Tuicuvu (14min).
Saracens: Tries Christie (10), Mawi (22), Isiekwe
(35), Van Zyl (41), Earl (58), Segun (62), George
(70), Harris (75). Conversions Farrell 6.
Penalty Farrell (6).BRIVE
A Muller; P Tournebize, S Tuivucu, N Lee,
V Tierfort; T Abzhandadze (T Lacoste 59),
E Sanga; H Thompson-Stringer (C Thomas 14),
P Narisia (F Dufour 47), S Bekoshvili
(W Tapueluelu 52), V Lebas, S Cerqueira,
V Matthieu, S Gue, D Lam.
SARACENS
A Goode; R Segun, E Daly, D Taylor (D Morris 59),
A Lewington (B Harris 40); O Farrell, I van Zyl
R de Haas 51); E Mawi (R Barrington 42),
T Woolstencroft (J George 22), A Clarey
(S Wainwright 51), N Isiekwe, T McFarland,
A Christie, J Wray (C Hunter-Hill 57), B Vunipola
(B Earl 51).
Referee M Adamson (SRU).Farrell takes control for Saracens
the times | Saturday April 9 2022 2GS 17
Sport
Brive
5
Saracens
European Challenge Cup
Will Kelleher
55
Van Zyl goes over for Saracens’s fourth try as they breezed past Brive last night, including a fine performance by Farrell, below, in only his second game since NovemberDAVE WINTER/INPHO/SHUTTERSTOCKThe 50:22 kick and goalline drop-out
will become permanent parts of rugby’s
law book from next season after
successful trials.
Both were introduced in August as
part of player welfare-driven global law
trials which also included tightening up
rules around players “pre-latching”
before contact. World Rugby’s Law
Review Group met this week and is set
to confirm next month that those
amendments will stay for good.50:22 kick law is here to stay after trial
Will Kelleher
Deputy Rugby Correspondenterstone Rovers, Warrington, Oldham,
Castleford, Wakefield and Salford. Mal-
oney then dropped down from Super
League before retiring in 2008.
An England international who
reckons he sustained 14 concussions
during his career, Maloney says: “There
was one game where someone said:
‘Franny, you can’t snore on the field.’
“I was snoring during the game
because I was out cold and they put me
on a stretcher and in a neck brace —
knocked out for nine minutes. Another
time I played for Castleford and was
knocked out but got back up because
that was the mentality we had.”
Maloney, who has three sons and
lives in Leeds with his partner of two
years, Natalie Sanderson, says his
memory loss has worsened in recent
years and, when he underwent a brain
scan and other testing this year, his
worst fears were confirmed.
“I went to watch Leeds Rhinos and I
left Headingley early because I had a
panic attack, but I couldn’t remember
where I parked my car. I work in a
school and I keep forgetting the kids’
names. I used to be the life and soul of
the party but not any more. It’s scary.”
The lawsuit being pursued against
the RFL on behalf of Maloney and
others alleges a systematic failure by
the governing body to protect players
from concussive and sub-concussive
injuries. “We didn’t sign up for demen-
tia in our forties,” Maloney stresses.
An RFL spokesperson said: “The
RFL... is desperately sad to hear of
Francis’s difficulties in this way.”Arthur Bruges, Noé Bedou and
Maximilien Bost, none of whom had
played Top 14 or Challenge Cup rugby
before.
So, with Saracens plumped with
England stars such as Farrell,
Billy Vunipola, Jamie George,
Elliot Daly, Nick Isiekwe, Ben
Earl as well as Alex Goode, it
could have been a rough
night for the French.
The weather was not
keen to help them, either.
Storm Diego wobbled each
set of posts around so much
that they resembled those in-
flatable flailing-arm tube men
often seen at American petrol
stations.
That — naturally — made
kicking for goal tricky, as
players were not sure whether
to aim for where the posts
were when they readied
themselves, or where they
might drift to.
Luckily for Farrell, his first
kick, a penalty, was so bang in
front he could not miss. He did
miss the next from out left,though, hitting the jelly-like
left upright, after flanker Andy
Christie had successfully
charged down Georgian fly-
half Tedo Abzhandadze
and scored.
Brive did have indi-
vidual talents, barked
on by their coach, the
former British & Irish
Lions and Ireland
lock Jeremy David-
son, who stood pitch-
side roaring regularly.
One was wing Seta
Tuicuvu, who burst blis-
teringly away 15 minutes
in, carrying one handed,
to score a belter.
The ball then blew off the
tee after Abzhandadze had
started running up to kick it, so
his conversion could not even be
attempted.
It was one of those nights. Sara-
cens then split Brive into bits.
Prop Eroni Mawi was having a
night of it, carrying well, and his
close-range effort gave Saracens
their second, before a later surge