Saracens v Bristol Bears Preview

The man with the plan?

Saracens managed to perform a miracle last Sunday, they got everyone on this message board to agree! We simply weren’t good enough and Sale took a deserved victory. Suddenly this Saturday’s game against Bristol Bears has become hugely important.

We definitely could have asked for easier opponents for what is looking like a must win fixture. Bears are sitting on a perfect 10 points from their two games with an impressive home win against Saints last week following on from a bit more of a laboured win against Sale on the opening weekend.

Bristol look to have adapted their style slightly this season, taking a more pragmatic approach at times rather than looking to play from everywhere. Randall has had a strong start to the season showing more control than is seasons past, whilst still maintaining the sniping threat and high tempo play that saw Eddie Jones nickname him the “zip-zip man”. Rees-Zammit looks far more comfortable and threatening after his move back to the wing, which has allowed the classy Tom Jordan to take over at 15 and provide another playmaking option. Janse van Rensburg took a horrible head knock against Saints so is unlikely to feature which will make it harder for Bears to get on the front foot.

In the pack Elis Genge is also likely to miss out after hurting his wrist against Sale. However, his front row partner Oghre has been going great guns in the two games so far and, for my money, Fitz Harding is the number 1 in form back row in the country right now.

As for Sarries, the big question is how do we respond to Sunday’s farce? Will we follow the pattern of the McCall era when after a poor performance we would 9 times out of 10 pick pretty much the same side the next week to give the players a chance to “right some wrongs? Will Venter follow through on his claim to have already picked the side for the first 8 games? Will we see some wholesale changes in an effort to shake the team up? Frankly, who knows! Personally I think the biggest change needed is in attitude rather than personnel. Let’s show some more ambition in attack, more aggression in the carry and start whacking people in defence!

Some areas I think we can look to gain an advantage:

The Power Game

Unlike against Sale, one area we should be able to find some joy is through sheer grunt. Adding Earl and Martin into the pack will add a great deal to our carrying options and Bristol aren’t the biggest set of forwards in the league. With no Janse van Rensburg they will also be missing one of their main front foot carriers, with the rest of the backline built more for speed and guile than power.

Wolfpack Defence

One area that was a slight positive against Sale was the defence in general (the try just after half time not withstanding). We looked a lot better organised in kick chase and managed to win important turnovers after multiple phases of opposition attack. Bristol love to go through the phases so we need to show a desire to get of the line, knock them back, disrupt the breakdown and hunt for turnovers when the time is right.

Aerial Dominance

This is a tricky one as, kick badly to Bristol’s back three and they have the ability to cut you apart. However, if we can get it right then there is joy to be found as none of them are dominant in the air. I have a sneaking suspicion we will see Noah’s first outing of the season and Jack Bracken claimed a couple of excellent catches off his brother’s box kicks in the second half on Sunday. Not an area to overdo it, but done well it could be key to putting pressure on the Bears.

The weather for Saturday  is looking cooler than last Sunday but still dry, so let’s hope for a bit more entertainment than round 2.