MATCH REPORT | Saracens Storm 33-26 Edinburgh 'A'
Saracens Storm marked their return to action with a last-gasp victory as a late penalty try secured them a 33-26 victory over Edinburgh ‘A’ at StoneX Stadium.
The young Sarries side, who had to absorb a huge amount of pressure scored five tries in total on a memorable evening under the lights in North London.
The Storm started with the bit between their teeth and crossed for their first try inside the first 60 seconds. A number of phases outside the 22 gave them some territory and then Olamide Sodeke picked a strong line and went straight through a gap to crash under the posts. Louie Johnson converted to make it 7-0.
It got even better three minutes later as Brandon Jackson ran across the pitch and then stepped past two defenders to score a brilliant long-range individual try in the corner.
Edinburgh responded in a lively opening 10 minutes when Mikey Jones stretched over from a maul, but Jackson hit straight back with his second as he intercepted and raced away from 40 metres to extend the advantage to 21-5.
The visitors wouldn’t give in though, and a superb dummy from Conor McAlpine fooled the defence and his inside pass sent Jerry Blyth-Lafferty under the posts to get them back in the match.
The chances kept coming for Sarries as they showed no signs of easing off. A knock on over the line from a maul let Edinburgh off, and then Johnson’s inch-perfect kick in behind kept the visitors pinned on their won line.
Try number four then arrived for Storm when Kapeli Pifeleti bulldozed over three defenders down the left wing and then intelligently passed inside to Callum Braley who could dive over from within touching distance.
Blyth-Lafferty got his second for Edinburgh just before half time as he punched a hole in the defence and ran through unattended, and Cammy Scott’s conversion cut the Storm lead to 26-19 which is how it stayed until the break.
The second half started with both sides struggling to regain the momentum, a Max Clark break was as close as Sarries came to troubling the scoreboard, whilst McAlpine was then held up over the line for the visitors.
Jackson then thought he was in to complete his hat-trick after intercepting with the whole pitch free ahead of him, but the referee came back for an earlier infringement and his hopes were dashed.
Edinburgh were rewarded for a strong third quarter with a try on the hour mark to get themselves level. A string of penalties took them right up to the line, and then Kerr Yule broke away from the back of a maul to dot down. Scott’s conversion made it 26-26 with 20 minutes remaining.
Sarries then turned up the pressure as they looked for the crucial match-deciding score. Clark again went close but was held up over the line after hammering over the gainline, and then Johnson’s floating pass didn’t find Jackson who was in acres of space.
They did eventually get that score though with just three minutes remaining to secure the win in dramatic fashion. A penalty was kicked to the corner, and then with the maul powering over it was collapsed and the referee had no option but to go under the posts and award a penalty try.
Edinburgh did have one more chance as they looked to steal a draw, but once again the Storm defence held firm and ensured they would end triumphant.
