Fallen giants Saracens suffer opening-day blues in Cornwall
FALLEN giants Saracens were left in no doubt as to what it will take to regain their Premiership status after suffering another tumble on the opening day of their Championship campaign in the wild west of Cornwall.
Dominated by a monster of a Pirates scrum, repeatedly picked off at the lineout and decidedly second best when it came to sheer heart and fighting spirit, they discovered the hard way just how tough it can be in the second tier of English rugby.
Pirates co-head coach Alan Paver, who lives round the corner from the Mennaye Field, went out to buy his side post-match dressing room beers on the morning of the match and his warriors deserved every last drop as they celebrated a famous victory.
“I knew we were going to put something special on the pitch. I didn’t know win or lose but we were
game, we were ready and I had this funny feeling. We had to live on the edge and we were there.
“The emotions right now are as high as they are ever going to be,” said Paver, who admitted that a year without competitive rugby had left his side “not match fit”.
He said: “They were probably good for 60 minutes but just sheer want,
passion and the occasion took them right through to the end.”
Nobody showed more guts for glory than flanker John Stevens – son of the late “Stack” Stevens, Cornwall rugby legend and former England hooker.
His nose broken after only seven minutes, Stevens underwent running repairs all afternoon to stem the blood flow.
The stats show that the Pirates took six scrums against the head, forcing penalties at five of them – and also disrupted six Saracens’ lineouts – against a forward unit packed with Premiership experience.
Pirates’ Kiwi prop Marlen Walker dominated South African World Cup winner Vincent Koch, allaction hooker Dan Frost turned the afternoon into a nightmare for USA international Kapeli Pifeleti, lock Danny Cutmore was immense in the lineout and stand-in skipper Tom Duncan led from the front, scoring the try that gave Pirates the lead for the first time.
It looked ominous when Pirates conceded five penalties in the opening six minutes – and then the first try.
A valiant rearguard action repelled all Sarries forward drives but Manu Vunipola whipped the ball out wide and Sean Maitland crossed in the left corner.
But the Pirates pack delivered an early message as a huge push saw the retreating Sarries setpiece penalised at their first scrum. Pirates opened their account through onloan Wales U20 fly-half Luke Scully’s penalty and went ahead in the 27th minutes after Frost burst through two tackles.
Sarries were penalised at the breakdown, JB Bruzuliuer took a quick tap and Duncan forced his way over.
Saracens, playing a
penalty advantage, regained the lead moving the ball wide once more to put Alex Lewington over.
Pirates retaliated when Frost squeezed over for their second try, converted by Scully, five minutes into the second half but Tim Swinson’s close-range try, converted by Manu Vunipola, edged Sarries 17-15 ahead.
Scully’s penalty restored a one-point lead for Pirates whose replacements reinforced the effort while Sarries wilted with their changes.
The game was on a knife-edge but the Pirates stood firm defensively while the visitors finally crumbled into disarray.
They looked on as a high kick found replacement scrum-half Rhodri Davies, who collected and raced clear for the try which Scully converted to secure a victory which will go down in the annals of Cornish rugby history.