Being top dogs in England is one thing but to be able to keep up with the pack in Europe is different. Saracens were taught a harsh lesson in power, patience and performance by one of the thoroughbreds of the Heineken Cup and have six days to rescue their campaign.
Travelling to the south of France on the back of a 10-match winning streak seemed the perfect preparation for last year’s semi-finalists to push their claims to finish on top of Pool Three and bag a home quarter-final. Were they ready? They certainly seemed so. But when push came to shove they were simply bowled over by the power and physicality of the four-time champions, who guaranteed themselves a ticket to the quarter-finals. If they get a home draw, which probably means winning with a bonus point in Zebre on Saturday, then look out whoever has to travel to Toulouse.
Saracens started brightly, were still in the hunt when 12-8 down at the interval but were well beaten by the end. Their set piece failed to establish itself and they were overwhelmed at the breakdown by the combined skills of Thierry Dusautoir, Yannick Nyanga and Louis Picamoles.
No momentum
It means a quick fire return to the drawing board for Mark McCall and his coaching staff, and a rapid patch-up job by the medical staff before the now "must win" game with Connacht at Allianz Park on Saturday.
“We weren’t anywhere near our best today. We couldn’t get any momentum into our play and we ended up getting sucked into a game we didn’t want to play,” admitted McCall. “Your set piece has to be good to gain momentum and, although our scrum was good, our lineout didn’t function. Toulouse played field position and they defended. They made life very tough. We seemed to have to work unbelievably hard for our points. It was a bit of a slow death out there.”
It was more of a slow strangle. The almost unerring boot of Jean-Marc Doussain kept the scoreboard ticking over in Toulouse’s favour and he ended the game with seven successful penalties from eight attempts from an unusually large penalty count conceded by Saracens, of 13.
That was unusual for them but a sign of the pressure they were put under by Toulouse, especially at the breakdown. While the metronomic Doussain was doing his stuff, so the pressure rose and Saracens were forced to chase the game.
It resulted in them losing out on the victory and on a losing bonus point and has now cast them into a dogfight against a Connacht team that has already been to Toulouse and won this season.
They, too, will be eager for the cash that comes with qualifying for the last eight alongside fellow Irish provinces Ulster, Munster and Leinster.
“We have a physically battered changing room and we have to play Connacht in six days’ time,” said McCall.
Crunch fixture
He added: "There is something at stake – whoever wins that game could qualify – and so it is a huge game
. We have six days to turn things around. If we can win that, we get the chance to go somewhere else in the quarter-finals and prove we are better than we were today.”
Doussain gave notice of his goalkicking talent with a penalty in the first minute after Saracens had lost control of the kick-off.
However, the early signs from the visitors were encouraging and Ashton’s sixth-minute try was richly deserved.
Borthwick won the lineout 10 metres out, the drive came on and Schalk Brits passed out of the driving maul to Ashton who crossed in the right corner. But that was about as good as it got for last season’s semi-finalists.
Doussain kicked his side into a 12-8 interval lead and then added three more penalties following the half-time break to bag all 21 points with seven penalties.
Guardian Service
