Sarracens Vs Glasgow Warriors European Champions Cup 1/4 Final

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Sarracens v Glasgow Warriors
European Champions Cup 1/4 Finals

Allianz Park, London

02/04/2017

Kick off 13.00

Televised on Sky Sports


Teams


Saracens

15 Alex Goode (223)
14 Chris Ashton (111)
13 Marcelo Bosch (91)
12 Brad Barritt (c) (191)
11 Sean Maitland (16)
10 Owen Farrell (146)
9 Richard Wigglesworth (180)

1 Mako Vunipola (114)
2 Jamie George (166)
3 Juan Figallo (57)
4 Maro Itoje (69)
5 Jim Hamilton (69)
6 Michael Rhodes (51)
7 Jackson Wray (166)
8 Billy Vunipola (71)

Replacements

16 Schalk Brits (194)
17 Titi Lamositele (38)
18 Vincent Koch (8)
19 Kelly Brown (152)
20 Joel Conlon (10)
21 Ben Spencer (95)
22 Alex Lozowski (24)
23 Duncan Taylor (97)



Glasgow Warriors

15. Stuart Hogg (97) (30)
14. Tommy Seymour (97) (25)
13. Alex Dunbar (95) (23)
12. Peter Horne (110) (17)
11. Lee Jones (50) (24)
10. Finn Russell (60) (18)
9. Henry Pyrgos CO-CAPTAIN (120) (26)

1 Gordon Reid (110) (21)
2 Fraser Brown (60) (13)
3 Zander Fagerson (47) (12)
4 Brian Alainu’uese (12) (2)
5 Jonny Gray CO-CAPTAIN (69) (20)
6 Rob Harley (158) (32)
7 Ryan Wilson (125) (30)
8 Adam Ashe (35) (5)

Replacements:

16. Corey Flynn (15) (9)
17. Alex Allan (46) (13)
18. Sila Puafisi (39) (18)
19. Greg Peterson (19) (2)
20. Chris Fusaro (121) (26)
21. Ali Price (38) (9)
22. Nick Grigg (16) (3)
23. Rory Hughes (29) (2)






The reigning champs vs the upstarts from North of the border. No previous form for this, as they have not played each other in years and certainly not since they have both become good teams. Both sides used to playing on an artificial pitch and both have a lot of big game players.

Alledgedly 4000-5000 Glasgow fans coming down for this game. They will be very noisy and will drink a lot of beer!

Bring it on, it is going to be epic.

Doubt he'll get a ban for what is little more than grabbing shirts.

ruggerradge the thing is these days, Saracens have enough ball carriers and power to get over the gain line and punch holes in the opposition.

Saracens have gone through a development which has taken about 7-8 years from an one dimensional gameplan based on defence, kicking and the chase. Though even in those days they were capable of some exciting games - the 2009-10 AP final was exciting for example.

You compare the size and power of the pack then to now...well there is no comparison.

Borthwick for example was a great lineout man but his carrying... well....

The forwards throughout the pack are also more confident handling the ball. The game in my opinion has moved on from forwards just crashing it up. Changing the point of attack and keeping the opposition guessing makes it easier to score points.

Impressively both Goode and Barritt are still in the starting XV which lost narrowly to Leicester in that 2009-10 final but still it's massively improved. Brits started that final but is now a super sub.

Saracens have been fortunate, they have a significant financial backing, they have been able to sign and retain most of the players they want.

Replacing Ashton with L.Williams is not a luxury most teams would be able to do.

Yeah Williams will not weaken that side at all.

Felt Hamilton had a very very good game too. I wish he turned out more performances like that when he played for Scotland!

A big positive though was Hogg's defence. 2 or was it 3 Try saving tackles. He basically kept Glasgow in it when they were properly under the cosh.

Was a shame Glasgow lost Gray so early, not saying it would have made a difference but he is a fantastic player and he put in some great hits.

The most frustrating aspect was Russell, on one hand, brilliant vision and execution for that little chip that put Jones over. Other hand 2 missed touch finders, the one in the second half was absolutely ruinous. Glasgow had the momentum, one missed penalty into touch and 2 minutes later a converted try and the game is over. Had that kick gone out, and some kind of try came from the set piece, completely different game!

Russell is a brilliant player but to make errors like that in what was a game that was close on the scoreboard if nothing else is a critical error.

Why doesn't Hogg kick the touch finders for Glasgow, and Scotland?

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Also sadly for Farrell, (who I thought was tremendous) he might be in a bit of bother for the off the ball scrap...

http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/rmurphy/watch-owen-farrell-miss-munster-showdown-brawl-glasgow-win/

Ryan Wilson? In a fight? I cannot believe that.

George Carlin wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Also sadly for Farrell, (who I thought was tremendous) he might be in a bit of bother for the off the ball scrap...

http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/rmurphy/watch-owen-farrell-miss-munster-showdown-brawl-glasgow-win/

Ryan Wilson? In a fight? I cannot believe that.

Farrell being angry? I can't believe that either....

beshocked wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Also sadly for Farrell, (who I thought was tremendous) he might be in a bit of bother for the off the ball scrap...

http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/rmurphy/watch-owen-farrell-miss-munster-showdown-brawl-glasgow-win/

Ryan Wilson? In a fight? I cannot believe that.

Farrell being angry? I can't believe that either....

think Farrell said " c'mon then Batman!" ?

Farrell and Wilson had a scrap? As predictable as Donald Trump saying something daft.

Sorry to see this result but Glasgow are a fair bit away for reaching the level of Sarries, as everyone on here predicted. Glasgow needed to be at full strength and play well to even have a hope, and by all accounts they managed neither, whilst Sarries played well. Only one outcome.

Still, well done Glasgow on finally reaching the QF of the premier European competition. If you ask nicely, us Edinburgh fans will tell you what it's like to reach the semi-finals....

Off the ball hand bags between flyhalf and forward who's trying to get into his face. Nowt to see.

I remember Floody getting away with lamping Hartley following a third border line/late tackle within 10 mins in a Midlands derby game. I think Hartley was so stunned he didn't even appeal.

Did Johnny Gray get a tooth knocked out in the game? or did he go off for a HIA?

majesticimperialman wrote:Did Johnny Gray get a tooth knocked out in the game? or did he go off for a HIA?

Both, he caught an accidental elbow from Farrell and in typical hardcore rugby player style tried to keep playing. His attempt at hitting a ruck 10 seconds later was akin to me trying to hit the couch after half a dozen pints and a couple of whiskys...

OK guys, having had time to sober up, here goes.

The Warrior Nation are fantastic.

We met up with Bru and Hagia Sophia, then Schiz and his carer arrived. An official photographer asked us to pose fore a picture. Just as she was about to SNAP some-one walked in front of the shutter. Cue lots of good natured abuse from us to Rory Lawson, for it was he, who took it in good spirit. The photolady upon hearing he was a former international sprinted off after him and dragged him back to restage the pic with him in the middle. He seemed a decent lad, chatted for a while and was a credit to his Uncle Bill.

The Sarries fans were great company. That's it. No qualifying comments. They were great.

The chance to play on the pitch after the game with young Pipetto was too good to miss.

The sight of Peter Horne limping across the field after the game was painful. He was heartbroken and hurting yet he still stopped, signed autographs and posed for selfies. I felt the need to say to him how grateful we all were and he was happy to talk about the game. Actually talk about how he felt it went, no bland platitudes. He was hurting and when I said look how far we've come, this is comparable to the Leinster semi-final, you have to go through this to get to where we want to be, and we will get there, his face brightened and he genuinely thanked me. There are very few moments in professional sport where an athlete is as unguarded as that and I was impressed with the man.

Sam Johnson, stood chatting for about ten minutes with Jason the Gentle second row and me. When he left Jason said, "That had nothing to do with rugby. It was just three blokes talking about Oz and Glasgow and Essex. And sharks and mums and just stuff. He's alright he is."

Coming off the pitch with Pipetto we almost walked into a guy enjoying a pint with some friends; it was Batman. He posed with Pipetto and we wound each other up about our trainers. Pipetto was very impressed with him.

The game was played at an unbelievable pace. Though Peter Horne said at 14-8 when the Glasgow players felt they where getting on top Saracens slowed it down and took all the pace out of it and Glasgow were unable to stop that happening.

Sarries off loading was unbelievable.

Lee Jones had a blinder.

I wouldn't want to be in Dancer's head this morning. Well, not ever. But especially this morning.

If there is a rugby heaven  Glasgow will play all their away games at Welford Road and Allianz, the sun will shine and I'll play in a forty a side game with men in kilts and Fez's. Pippetto will be at 9 and I'll take passes from him at 10. I even enjoyed the big lad in a kilt who flattened me as I got the off load away.

jimbopip wrote:
Lee Jones had a blinder.

I never thought I'd see those words. If Seymour and Hogg make the Lions, looks like Jones has a decent shot at more Scotland caps this summer. Hard to justify picking Hoyland ahead of him, and Maitland will presumably move to 15.

Am glad a fine day was had by all yesterday. Munster vs Sarries is an eye-watering next round fixture!