4:52pm Sunday 22nd November 2009
By Alan Feldberg
SARACENS 22, WASPS 6.
A DAY after Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley and Tim Payne all picked up injuries playing for England, the last thing Wasps needed was another kicking but that's exactly what they got at Vicarage Road.
Knowing what to expect and dealing with it are two completely different things and when Wasps woke up and saw the rain pouring down their hearts must have sank at the prospect of a trip to kicking kings of the Premiership.
The sodden conditions played right into Saracens' hands and they took full advantage with a sure, organised, perfunctory performance that Wasps had no answer to.
Paul Sackey, Tom Varndell, Joe Simpson and Dom Waldouck all started but this was never a day for champagne rugby and like the rest of the backs they spent the afternoon watching their forwards arm wrestle and trying not to fumble when the ball did sometimes shoot their way.
The brightest among them was Mark van Gisbergen, who was steady under the high ball and asked Sarries questions with some probing kicks, and with Dave Walder keeping the scoreboard ticking over Wasps remained a threat until very near the end.
But the Sarries tight five were too good and their kicking game too grooved and in the end Wasps were well-beaten.
The first half boiled down to one ten-metre surge from Saracens hooker Schalk Brits.
With 12 minutes gone he peeled off the back of ruck and held Joe Simpson at bay to go over in the corner - that and the subsequent conversion from Derick Hougaard was all that separated the teams in the first half as Sarries reached the break with a seven-point lead.
Other than that, the two teams matched each other step for step with wo kicks from Hougaard answered by two from Dave Walder.
And Wasps had threatened a try themselves early in the game, when Walder surprised the hosts with a quickly-taken restart that arrowed into touch while Saracens were still walking back to their positions.
It gave Wasps their first attacking platform of the game but Waldouck was stopped as he tried to cut a line to the posts.
Wasps tried again later in the half, when George Skivington took a short line out and made a break for home.
From 40m he was never going to get there, and when Wasps recycled and moved the ball out to the backs they found the Saracens defence had turned that too into a blind alley.
It was that sort of day for them, and in fact it was the hosts who came closest to a second try as they piled on the pressure in the final minutes of the half.
Wasps resisted to deny what would have been a match-winning score, but it was little more than an act of defiance from gallant losers.
In the second half Saracens did not need to apply the lethal blow, they killed off Wasps instead with a series of forensic strikes as Hougaard's boot stretched the lead to 16-6 and then 19-6 and then 22-6.
Two more penalties went awry to offer Wasps some hope going into the final stages, but when they did finally strain the leash and put their hosts under some pressure with ten minutes remaining, the men in black and gold were penalised for crossing and their attacking position was gone.
A few minutes later and an instantly forgettable game had too.
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