Munster played their part too. They were dangerous on the break, no more so than in the run-up to their second try. Defensively they were superb; soaking up everything Sarries threw at them in the middle part of the first half, playing half a metre offside when the ref was looking and a full metre when he wasn’t. It was a consummate display of how to play the official. Nigel Owens was bewildered on more than one occasion as he, particularly in the second half, failed to live up to the high standards set by the two teams.

It would be both churlish and wrong to blame Owens and his flag-waving pals for the defeat, but some of the things missed by them were obvious bordering on the scandalous. And there was also the farce during the Lloyd and Cencus Johnston sin-binnings where he went over to drag Cobus Visagie off the exercise bike to take his place as a solitary prop in an uncontested scrum. Why? The press hacks around me were all up in arms at this particular piece of sheer officiating incompetence. At time of writing I have not seen the recording of the match, so I will be most interested in the view of Messrs. Barnes and Harrison when I finally get some time to look at it.

Back to the positives. The Ricoh Arena is a superb venue. Access is good, the view from every seat is great, the staff were all polite, courteous and knowledgeable and every one I came into contact with from the car park attendants to the stewards in the stands were an absolute pleasure to deal with. If there is anyone from Vicarage Road reading this, please do take note after the East Stand access debacle before the Wasps game.

And what of the supporters? Fab. All 30,000 of them. A credit to their teams, their countries and the game of rugby union. Let’s hope that, from a Sarries perspective, those who went to this match and who don’t frequent Vicarage Road during the Guinness Premiership season come along in 2008-09 to cheer on their side in Watford, and in the far reaches of Europe in next season’s Challenge Cup. We who go to all the games will be most pleased to see you.

What an occasion. What a performance. What a match. What memories we will cherish. They, the players and coaches, and we, the supporters, should be proud to be Saracens.

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