56 Monday May 23 2022 | the timesSportRugby union
5Saracens are unbeaten in
league games in which they
have conceded five or more
tries this seasonWords by Kit ShepardDanny Care runs into the arms of Gloucester’s Santiago Carreras, left, and Freddie Clarke during Harlequins’ comeback winStuart Barnes
England must
make collision
key to World
Cup thinking
TMO (the monday overview)
P
oor Northampton Saints
caught Saracens on the
rebound from their defeat in
Toulon. The 42-38 final
scoreline was not so much a
reflection as a distortion of the game
itself. Northampton’s late points flurry
did nothing to disguise the gulf
between these likely play-off
contenders.
The Saints are set to overwhelm
Newcastle Falcons in the last round of
Premiership matches a week on
Saturday, especially as Chris Boyd has
assembled a side capable of carving
open any opponent, let alone one as
stripped of motivation as the low-
flying Falcons.
The problem is that Northampton
are incapable of competing with the
better teams at the collision. For all
their pretty rugby, they have barely a
puncher’s chance in the play-off semi-
finals, against either Saracens or
Leicester Tigers.
Saracens dominated the tackle, the
gainline, the breakdown; all the
component parts that make up rugby
union’s collision zone. Eddie Jones has
been talking about the importance of
the collision. He reckons it is
effectively what international rugby is
all about.
The almost fundamental faith in
Manu Tuilagi is inextricably linked toHamlet’s lesser-quoted rugby
dilemma, “to clobber or not to be
clobbered”. At his best the Sale centre
does the clobbering. That remains the
most likely answer to the question of
the England midfield in the thoughts
of their head coach. Never mind if he
left the field at half-time in Friday’s
win against Wasps with what Alex
Sanderson, the Sale director of rugby,
reported as a “tight knee”.
Sanderson expressed caution. He
wants the 31-year-old to be fit for this
week’s England camp; he wants him
to be fit and available for the World
Cup. At the moment, with national
interests seemingly taking priority,
Sale are not getting a great deal of
value from their headline-hogging
centre. Rugby is a brutal game and if
someone doesn’t play or pulls out
because of the odd tightness, he or
she is not going to play much rugby.
That, of course, has been the
history of the unfortunate Tuilagi. But
Jones still dreams because of the
importance attached to collision. Go
forward and phase ball is quick, the
attack running on to it, the defenders
in hurried retreat. If your set piece is
solid, control at the collision nearly
always means game, set and match.
For all the lovely lines that the
increasingly eye-catching Tommy
Freeman runs from deep for
Northampton and the sly rugby
intelligence of Boyd will not make
them into anything other than the fall
guy in the play-offs.
Saracens were far too powerful in
north London. It was one of their
most impressive performances of the
season. Owen Farrell was able to take
the ball to the line and offer a slicksequence of passing options.
Theoretically, on the evidence of
Saturday they should be favourites to
pip Leicester on the final day of the
club season at Twickenham.
Ah, but such thinking is all too
short term. Only nine days ago,
Toulon took Saracens to the cleaners
in the Challenge Cup semi-finals.
Mark McCall’s men looked mortal on
the Med.
Farrell was somewhere between
frustrated and furious, his team going
backwards as quickly as they were
surging forwards on Saturday. Maybe
the Premiership teams lack the power
of Toulon, in which case it is difficult
not to fancy Saracens on the basis of
their dismantling of Northampton.
Yes, Leicester were outclassed in
the first half of their Champions Cup
quarter-final defeat at the hands of
the Leinster machine but they fought
back with dogged determination.
Steve Borthwick’s side are essentially
a set-piece unit but men such asJasper Wiese at No 8 and Freddie
Steward at full back have enabled the
Tigers to control collisions against
English teams. The Fiji wing Nemani
Nadolo, benched in the quarter-final,
needs to be unleashed from the start.
There is no guarantee of a high-
quality Saracens performance if
Leicester win these millimetres and
keep Saracens on the back foot — if
this is to be the final. Harlequins,
unlike the Saints, appear to have a
slugger’s chance but with Andre
Esterhuizen and Marcus Smith quiet
at the Stoop, the champions got
themselves in their usual first-half
pickle against Gloucester, who
attacked the breakdown on the front
foot.
In the end, Harlequins wrested
control but if they allow either of the
top-two sides to race into such a lead,
the famous comebacks will be coming
to an end. Smith stood as
disappointingly deep as Farrell was
ambitiously flat. His team managedlittle to no momentum in a
disappointing first 40 minutes.
If the big ball-carriers such as Alex
Dombrandt and Esterhuizen cannot
win their collisions, Smith cannot
tiptoe towards the gainline where his
box of tricks is more effective. Yet if
the fly half isn’t standing in more
challenging positions, his runners
haven’t a hope of coming out on top
in the collision. It’s an endless circle
they have to break if they are to make
their title defence a successful one.
If England are to re-establish their
credentials as World Cup contenders
they require something of a modern-
day rugby miracle; an injury-free
Tuilagi, Smith being fed a diet of
gainline ball as he loops around a flat-
standing Farrell. That was the 2021
autumn template. There is nothing to
suggest that Jones has changed his
mind.
As Toulon, Saracens, Leicester,
Northampton and Harlequins well
know, Jones is right. Collision is king.BOB BRADFORD/CAMERASPORT/GETTY IMAGESBristol cut the deficit to
two by the 56th minute,
though, as Hannah West,
Keira Bevan and Phoebe
Murray went over. They
edged ahead when West
scored again in the 73rd
minute but the wing
Detiveaux responded to
delight Sandy Park.
Saracens had earlier
avenged last season’s final
loss to Harlequins with a
commanding victory.
Three tries from England
forwards Poppy Cleall (2)
and Marlie Packer put
them 22-5 up at half-time,
before May Campbell
scored shortly after the
interval. Harlequins
scored one try in each
half, Jess Breach and Amy
Cokayne crossing but lost
their crown emphatically.Exeter Chiefs qualified for
their first Allianz Premier
15s final by beating Bristol
Bears 28-24 in a dramatic
semi-final yesterday.
Jennine Detiveaux’s
78th-minute try put
Exeter ahead for good
after Bristol recovered
from 21-0 down to lead.
The Chiefs won the
inaugural Allianz Cup last
month and can complete
an unprecedented double
at Sixways in the final on
Friday, June 3.
They will face Saracens,
who beat champions
Harlequins 30-10 at the
StoneX Stadium.
Exeter raced into a 21-0
lead after 22 minutes,
with Hope Rogers scoring
either side of a Linde van
der Velden try.E Genge
(Leicester)F Clarke
(Gloucester)T McFarland
(Saracens)R Segun
(Saracens)C Piutau
(Bristol)T Freeman
(Northampton)T Faletau
(Bath)S Underhill
(Bath)J Joyce
(Bristol)A van der
Merwe
(Sale)W Louw
(Harlequins)1 34 526F de Klerk
(Sale)9J Marchant
(Harlequins)13G Porter
(Leicester)12C Sheedy
(Bristol)108 711 15 14Taulupe Faletau
was superb in
Bath’s home win
over London
Irish. The Wales
No 8 set up a try
with a 41m break,
excelled in the
lineout, right,
and made a
match-saving
tackle. With
Faletau off to
Cardiff, this was
a fond farewell to
the Rec.Try of the week Player of the week Exeter into Allianz Premier 15s f inal
Alapati Leiua’s try against
Exeter Chiefs showcased
Bristol Bears at their
best. The fly half
Callum Sheedy
weaved through
the Exeter
defence with
an impish
sidestep on
halfway, before
an equally
enterprising
out-the-back
offload found
Leiua, right.
The Samoa
centre did
the rest,
powering away
from Joe
Simmonds
to score.5
Stat of the week
Team of the week