Thanks Caroline

By The Saracens
November 8 2026

I have always enjoyed the Premiership Cup. It’s a bit like half term holidays! You can enjoy the game without worrying about the result (nobody cares do they? At least not at this stage), you get the chance to see some of our future Owen Farrells and Maro itoje’s (I used to love those Monday Night  ‘A’  Team fixtures) and it’s a return to a simpler form of rugby: no TMO, no TV playbacks, all down to the referee, right or wrong (but as long as he’s as right and wrong for both sides that’s fine).

We start with a short Act of Remembrance, 2 wreaths laid, the Last Post played pitch-perfect and a minute’s silence when, as always, I give thanks that I was born at a time when no one I love was ever forced to go and give their lives for freedom. For a few minutes, the game of rugby is insignificant.

Today is actually a triple header with Ampthill v Ealing Trailfinders and Sarries Women v Trailfinders Women providing the bread for the Sarries’ sandwich. Sadly circumstance mean we can only watch the mens’ game but it is good to see Ampthill fans and players staying around to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

Both teams have made significant changes from their Premiership encounter last week and it’s good to see them both respecting the spirit of the competition with a mix of youngsters and a few old heads. Nathan Michelow is given the Captain’s armband with able Lieutenants Malins, Onyeama-Christie, Va’enuku and James to keep the lads in order. I am excited to see both of our young 10’s in the squad: Luke Davidson starting and Finn Keylock on the bench. The centre pairing also looks exciting: Va’enuku and Angus Hall with Jack Bracken and young  Fraser Rawlins on the wings. The locks are new to me too: Mathis Dehauteur and Kennedy Sylvester.

Falcons are fastest out of the blocks and only excellent Sarries defence prevents an early try but it isn’t long before Sarries find their feet. A scrum on 10 minutes, penalty advantage and Tom James runs off the back, dummies most of the Newcastle defence and scores. Davidson converts and Sarries lead 7-0. Soon after, a Sarries’ maul heading determinedly for the NRB 22 – Davidson breaks, beats 2 men then dinks the ball ahead for Rawlins to score in the corner. Davidson just misses the conversion but that’s OK, it’s a tricky one. Soon after Max kicks the ball downfield for Rawlins but NRB force it into touch however any relief is temporary, the maul sets off from the line-out and scores. Neither the match announcer nor Sarries’ X feed know who though (it later transpires it was Captain Michelow) but Davidson converts this one too. At 19-0 we’re sailing along at a point a minute. As the first quarter comes to an end, Sarries are attacking deep in NRB territory. From where we are (up the other end) it looks like a knock on and many of the players pause too but Va’enuku touches down and the try is awarded and once again converted.

Sarries get a bit complacent and a couple more great opportunities go begging, they have complete dominance in the scrum but unfortunately, after a good start, 2 line outs go awry. (I know little about rugby but it seems to me that when your lineout isn’t working keep it simple – the lineout looks more like Strictly Come Dancing at times! Maybe words need to be had with our line-out coach). Anyway normal service resumes on the half hour when the scrum drives over for Captain Michelow to score a second. The force is with Luke as once again he converts: 33-0 and back ahead of the clock.

Finally NRB make it back into the Sarries’ 22 for the first time since the opening salvos but great defence from Sarries and a good box kick from James hoofs the ball into NRB territory. Dalziel, their young 10, makes a good catch only to find Rawlins and Hall descending upon him and pushing him backwards, forcing him to  touch down over his own tryline. Inevitably Sarries score from the 5m scrum, this time Onyeama-Christie going over. Luke once again converts and we go in at half time 40-0 up.

I have to say at that we enjoyed half time. It was getting chilly and the fog was starting to come down but after a very positive 40 minutes the future was looking bright. I also have to say how good it is to have a flowing game of rugby without the constant interruptions from the TMO. I’m sure things were missed but we got to half time in under 45’

And so to part 2. How often does it happen that you really enjoy a film, can’t wait for the sequel and find it incredibly disappointing? Thus it was today. Surely one day Sarries will play for 80 minutes? We do have a bit of a history of not going for the jugular, easing off when we could push on for the kill and if you think of it, most of our big wins recently have come on the back of a poor first half so there’s a little something inside me that fears the worst.

It seems NRB have fuelled up with their sponsor’s drink while our lads have had to make do with flat coke. The half starts scrappily with a wasted opportunity for Sarries but NRB are fired up and notch up their first try when Dalziel breaks and scores under the posts. The substitutions begin: Weilbach, Dehauteur and Onyeama-Christie for Clarey, Tizard and Knight. Then Clarke for Isaacs and James for Charlie B. On paper that should have strengthened the team? On the pitch it didn’t – a scrum so dominant in the first half started conceding penalties so I guess we hold our hands up to Weilbach in particular.

15 minutes into the second half and Sarries still seem to be in the dressing room. Another good scoring opportunity is botched but perhaps the most significant event is what looks like a nasty injury to Jack Bracken who is helped off the field very gingerly, putting no weight on his right leg to be replaced by Finn Keylock.

Finally, we score again, this time a lovely break by Toby Knight who outpaces the NRB defence and scores giving Davidson an  easy conversion.  More subs with Brantingham and Eke being replaced by young Owen Gillet and Tayo Adegbamile. Sweet Caroline rings round the ground from DJ Charlie – now don’t get me wrong, I like Sweet Caroline (possibly because it’s my daughter’s name) and I still regret the day we stopped playing it at the end of the game but I do feel it was a bit presumptuous with 10 minutes still to go.

For once the scrum holds up and Michelow makes a nice break off the back and heads for the line finding Keylock outside him who scores the 8^th try in the corner with his first touch of the ball. He looks delighted but I guess this is somewhat tempered when the announcer declares the try-scorer to be Charlie Bracken! The force is most definitely with Luke who kicks an excellent conversion from the touchline to make it 7 out of 8.

5 minutes left, game over? Apparently not because once again we leak 2 soft tries at the close, the first a break by Bolam (converted), the second a break along the left wing (with what looked like at least 1 forward pass) scored by Barreto: not converted so it finishes 54-19.

POSITIVES: an excellent first half. Lots of good stuff from the youngsters. Davidson (man of the match) kicked beautifully, both goal and place-kicking. He generally martialled the team pretty well and apart from a couple of brain-farts at the end of each half (one led to a try, one didn’t) had a very solid game. I was impressed with Malins who seemed to be really encouraging the young backs and put himself about to make some great tackles. Va’enuku remains a work in progress but one to be persisted with and Hall is a big asset – we need to stick with him. The young forwards undoubtedly outshined their more esteemed replacements. And nice to see former Sarries Brandon Jackson and Samson Adejimi doing well for their ne club.

NEGATIVES: it’s so frustrating that we don’t seem to be able to play  for 80 minutes. This time a really positive first 40 was followed by a pretty dire second half (which we actually lost 14-19). Leaking tries at the death is also becoming a rather worrying habit. We’ve got away with it for the last 2 weeks but once we play a decent team it’s going to hurt us. The line-out remains a concern: can none of our hookers throw or is it just all too complicated and too risky. Definitely needs a rethink. And finally the injury to Jack Bracken. Hopefully it’s not as serious as it looked. He’s a great prospect but he’s still young and we need to look after him.

So 2 games in the Cup and 2 good wins. The Prem Cup is probably our best chance of silverware this season so maybe we need to take it seriously! On to Tigers next week, we shall see.

Oh, by the way, it was a good day for Ealing Trailfinders. A seriously denuded Ampthill lost 19-50, then Trailfinders Women beat Saracens women 22-21 in the Jaecoo Next Gen Cup. Ealing must rather like the StoneX!

SARACENS:

Malins, Rawlins, Hall, Va’enuku, J Bracken (Keylock), Davidson, James (C Bracken); Brantingham (Gillet), Clarke (Isaacs), Weilbach (Clarey), Dehauteur (Tizard), Sylvester, Eke (Adegbamile), Onyeama-Christie (Knight), Michelow

NEWCASTLE RED BULLS

Obatoyinbo (Greenwood), Ene (Grayson), Spencer, Beeckmans, Jackson, Dalziel, Elliott (Barreto); Brocklebank (West), Adejimi (Fletcher), Harper (McCallum), Carmichael (Jordan), Baker, Leatherbarrow (Oakes), Bolam, Flesch

SCORERS:

Saracens (54)  Tries: James, Rawlins, Michelow (2), Va’enuku,  Onyeama-Christie, Knight, Keylock; Conv: Davidson (7)

Newcastle Red Bulls (19)  Tries: Dalziel, Bolam, Barreto; Conv: Dalziel (2)

Referee: Joe James