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Jacko puts boots into Bristol

18 points for Glen
By Jason Harris October 2 2008
Forget the old adage that the forwards decides who wins games and the backs by how much, at the Memorial Stadium it was most definitely a case of whose kicker wins the game as Bristol's Adrian Jarvis and Ed Barnes missed four between them, while Glen Jackson booted 18 points to ensure Saracens came away from Bristol with their third win in a row and, more remarkably, their first away win of 2008.

With Bristol scrapping for everything in order to reduce the gap between themselves and the rest of the Guinness Premiership field and with Sarries having a history of being beaten up by the Bris pack, this was never going to be an easy task, and so it proved.

The home forwards, led superbly by captain Joe El Abd, made Saracens work hard in the loose and secured plenty of ball for their backs througougt the contest. But their scrum was a weak point exposed ruthlessly by Sarries just before the end of the first quarter.

After ruining a Bristol scrum deep inside the home 22, referee Tim Wigglesworth awarded the put-in at the reset to Sarries, and in a mirror-image of Rodd Penney's try four days earlier against Northampton, Kameli Ratuvou crossed unopposed in the left hand corner following a Michael Owen pick-up and a Glen Jackson midfield run-around with Kevin Sorrell. Jackson failed with the conversion, but Sarries were on the board.

Bristol fought back and the Arscott Brothers fashioned a gap for David Lemi who sneaked in at the left hand post and Adrian Jarvis added the extras to put his side into the lead for what turned out to be the only time in the game.

The team changed ends 11-10 after Jackson booted two more goals to Jarvis's one and the home crowed sensed a possible first win of the season and first in eleven Premiership game.

Unfortunately for the Memorial faithful, it wasn't to be as first Jarvis missed three further penalty attempts and Ed Barnes a fourth while Jackson coolly slotted three more to put the Men in Black ahead 20-10.

Barnes made amends with an easy three-pointer from in front of the posts after Ben Skirving's sin-binning 12 minutes from time, but Jackson restored the 10-point advantage as he wrong-footed the onrushing would be charge-downers and dropped the goal with his weaker left foot.

Bristol tried valiantly to get back into the game and took a deserved bonus point when Barnes kicked a second goal with three minutes left, but Saracens held out to take the points.

Several Sarries were left nursing a couple injuries but the most worrying is a possible medial ligament problem for Adam Powell who was replaced towards the end of the first half. Richard Haughton looked out on his feet, one of which was in a bit of pain following an unintentional stray boot landing on it and a bloody nose from a bang to the face, but he should be ok to take his place in the opening Challenge Cup game against Stade Montois on Saturday week.

Bristol: Try: Lemi (26). Conversion: Jarvis. Penalty goals: Jarvis (31), Barnes 2 (71, 77).

Saracens: Try: Ratuvou (21). Penalty goals: Jackson 5 (33, 37, 42, 55, 61). Dropped goal: Jackson 73. Scoring sequence (Bristol first): 0-5, 7-5, 10-5, 10-8, 10-11 (half-time) 10-14, 10-17, 10-20, 13-20, 13-23, 16-23. Bristol: L Arscott; T Arscott, N Brew, E Barnes, D Lemi; A Jarvis, G Beveridge; A Clarke, S Linklater, J Hobson (rep: P Bracken 62), M Sambucetti (rep: R Sidoli 60), N Budgett, A To’oala, J El Abd, D Ward-Smith (rep: A Blowers 60). Saracens: R Haughton (rep: M Rauluni, 41); R Penney, K Sorrell (rep: D Barrell, 78), A Powell (rep: C Wyles, 27), K Ratuvou; G Jackson, N de Kock; M Aguero, F Ongaro (rep: M Cairns, 65) C Johnston (rep: C Visagie, 73), S Borthwick, H Vyvyan (rep: K Chesney, 73), B Skirving (sin-bin, 70-80+2), A Saull, M Owen. Referee: T Wigglesworth. Attendance: 7,250.

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