Saturday witnessed a perfect collision between two very different ways of playing rugby. Beauty and the Beast, if you like. You had all bells and whistles Bristol working their way through an enormous playbook of various ways to linebreak a defence, something they managed a whopping 16 times.
In contrast, you had the more pragmatic Saracens who defiantly found a way to scramble amid the chaos, cling on and ultimately deliver the knockout blow despite making just five linebreaks.
From a position where they looked set for a potential hiding, trailing 17-32 with a yellow card freshly brandished to Alex Goode following a two-try Bristolian extravaganza at the start of the second half, the Londoners ‘won’ those 10 minutes a man short 10-3.
That took guts and then what followed in the closing 10 minutes was even braver, an excellent bench collective – exemplified by the nuisance of Nick Isiekwe – helped them to strike for 10 unanswered points despite having only 30 per cent possession in that time.
Overall, the nine-try, 72-point belter was yet another classic showcase of a fabulously entertaining Gallagher Premiership, but the post-game Ashton Gate pints were all Saracens judging by the stragglers filtering out of the ground at around 7:30pm from the last remaining open stadium bar after a sunny, blue sky day had given way to a moonlit night.
There was a very good reason why the 18,000-plus mostly home fans had been in attendance for the fixture – this Bristol attack is beautiful to watch. The league’s top points scorers, top try scorers, a try bonus secured in all five of their matches. Even Saracens boss Mark McCall is a fan.
“Their attack is superb, it really is. It’s unique in world rugby. No one is attacking the way they are attacking, and they make you feel bad a lot because their linebreaks are 30-40 metres,” he vouched.
“No one attacks like this. It’s incredible. We know it’s coming. We practiced… but they caused us so many problems all day, and it is a phenomenal way of playing – it must be a joy to play for them – and I am so glad we scored a couple more points than them”. Here are the RugbyPass talking points from a madcap afternoon in BS3:
Home is no comfort
Pat Lam looked like he needed a hug when he arrived for his post-game media briefing. His team had done all the running, had led for 73 of the 83 minutes, had played so vibrantly and yet he was left sifting through the wreckage of yet another hard-to-swallow home loss.
His Bears are ferociously clinical on the road where they are on an eight-match winning run in the league, including wins this season at Newcastle, Bath and Exeter. At Ashton Gate, though, the dividends aren’t as enriching. Four of their last seven home games have now been lost, including both 2024/25 outings.
Lam was adamant there was no mental kink in them failing to get the W in front of their fans as frequently as they do on the road. “No. I think when we look at it, the difference from this game and the game against Gloucester, we weren’t there,” he insisted.
“Our attack was there but we weren’t there physically and we allowed Gloucester to come. Against Saracens, I do not fault the effort but you have just got to look at our line-up, look at the group that was sitting in the stands in their number ones, there were some quality players there.
“But this is a great experience with the guys we went with. We had two centres who were 21 and 22 years old and they did some great stuff. There are things they can be better at but… there are some positives there. All teams go through injuries.
“Off the back of the rugby we produced in our Bears system and our Bears way, a lot of those boys came in. A lot of guys have commented, particularly Sarries boys have commented on how they admire the way that we play.
“So we just keep going. We were on the wrong end of it, one point at the end. I always say the game plan will give you opportunities and that is what I’m most pleased about – we had so many we could have scored a lot more tries and we didn’t, but we scored five.”
This no-home-ground-mental-hang-up insistence from Lam will be swiftly tested, though. Northampton are the visitors next Friday night and a W surely is a must for the Bears.
? As cold as you like ?
? @saracens win it at the death with the LAST KICK! What a match!#BRIvSAR | #GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/U7LbUcCaOa
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) October 19, 2024
‘Out of this world…’
We’re suckers at RugbyPass for success stories founded on adversity and the return of Alex Lozowski to the England fold six years after he was last picked neatly fits that bill. He was 25 when he last ran onto Twickenham in a Test and fans should be thrilled to see him finally get back in there at the age of 31 if he does get the selection nod next month from Steve Borthwick.
The midfielder was encouragingly effective against Bristol, unflinching in landing his seven kicks from the tee for 17 points, including his 83rd-minute winner which arrived 25 minutes after it fleetingly looked like he could be in card trouble.
Bristol hooker Gabriel Oghre had been injured in a collision and when the replay was shown on the stadium’s big screens, the derision of Bears fans helped convince referee Anthony Woodthorpe to take a lengthy look.
A red card would have been disastrous for Lozowski given that he assembles with England on Monday at Pennyhill before flying to Spain for their warm-weather camp ahead of the November 2 clash with New Zealand in London. All that would have been in jeopardy, but Woodthorpe ultimately didn’t feel the incident even warranted a yellow.
That left the player to continue with rescuing a result, which he dramatically did to wound Lam, damage that wasn’t new. “He has been a thorn in our side with his kicking. He’s an unbelievable kicker when we played him every time,” rued Lam.
“Alex is great. I sent him a message. It’s good to see him back in the England set-up and I love that, I love any story about resilience, where guys get knocked down through injury of whatever reason and they bounce back so hopefully if he gets capped again, it’s a great story for him.”
McCall agreed. “Alex Lozowski’s kicking was out of this world; I think every conversion was from the corner,” he gushed. “Bristol must hate Alex Lozowski! I can remember two other games when that’s happened. His place-kicking was incredible, and we needed it.
Might he now go on and kick points for England, never mind just play for the first time since 2018? “I’m not sure, all the 10s will want to place kick for England and he needs to get in the team first, but he has had a phenomenal start to the season, been very important to us,” reckoned the London club boss.
Toby Knight is EVERYONE describing @Alexlozowski10’s last gasp heroics… ?#YourSaracens? #BRIvSAR pic.twitter.com/J6s1LINNqY
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) October 19, 2024
The ‘new spirit’ Saracens
It’s still early days in the English league season, but the sight of Saracens leading the way after round five wasn’t something widely predicted before the campaign got started. Numerous pundits had them touted for a season of strife following the exits of Owen Farrell, the Vunipola brothers and others, but they have made a nonsense of those ‘won’t make the play-offs’ predictions with four wins from five to have them one point ahead of Bath and two clear of Bristol.
McCall rarely shows emotion but he was beaming on Saturday following a victory that was wildly celebrated. “I have been at the club a long time and I can’t remember a win like that one… So far (it has been great) but had we lost that game I would have been fine because I’m not saying we definitely, definitely deserved to win it but our fighting spirit meant we always had a chance,” he admitted.
Where has this renewed fighting spirit come from? “I don’t know,” he chuckled. “This is a group that over the very first day of pre-season it just felt good and the people who have come in have made a big impact and there is a strength in the pack at the minute.
“There is a new spirit in this group for sure and we saw that because a lot of younger lads ended up playing the game today. Toby Knight was magic for 80 minutes. He would have done a lot of unseen work and in a lot of those scrambles back towards the end, he was a key person. And getting people like Phil Brantingham game time and Brandon Jackson and Tobias (Elliott), it was really pleasing.”
‘Hot form’ Harry
Hat-tricks are like the buses at Bristol. None for ages and now two in two games with skipper Fitz Harding following last week’s three-try haul by Ibitoye at Exeter. Ibitoye had some moments of brilliance against Saracens but it was the skipper at No8 who tore it up.
“Brilliant. Hat-trick is just the icing on the cake. You know my thoughts on him. Why is he captain at such a young age [25]? He is a winner, he is a competitor, he is a fighter but he is outstanding in all areas of the game… he does what he talks and he is brilliant,” chirped Lam.
Another player with a devastating finish was Harry Randall, the Bristol scrum-half who now joins England for a battle with Ben Spencer and Jack van Poortvliet to fill the No9 shirt vacated by the injured Alex Mitchell. “It’s hot form,” said Lam about his player. “If you look from where we started playing our game again way back when we beat Bath by 50 points last January, he has been hot all the way through.”
Of assistance is how England have dealt with Randall and Ellis Genge, the only two Bristol players in Borthwick’s 36. “We are completely aligned on what he wants Harry and Ellis to do,” assured Lam in this new era of individual development plans issues from on high.
“Steve asked, ‘What’s the best way to do it?’ I said this is what we used to do in New Zealand, and then me and Joe Schmidt did it in Ireland as well where we brought in the key management, coaches; we had the same corresponding management, shared amongst ourselves what the plans were and agreed on it.
“My opening line to the players was me and Steve used to play against each other, this has come a long way because this would never happen. We played for clubs, didn’t worry about the country. This is a process of how much growth there has been between club and country, the fact we are sitting here talking to a player about what he needs to do for England and what he needs to do for the club.
“It’s brilliant… the real pinch point is going to come if a player gets injured or has his time managed but as far as alignment, the messaging to the players on what we want them to improve on, it’s spot on, it has come a long way which is great.”
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