MATCH REPORT | Stade Francais 17-28 Saracens Men
Saracens Men continued their perfect start to the new Investec Champions Cup campaign after leaving Paris with an impressive 28-17 victory over Stade Francais.
The North Londoners trailed by 10 points early on but the game turned on its head when Sekou Macalou was sent off after just 20 minutes, and Sarries were ruthless from then onwards, scoring three tries in a bad-tempered clash at Stade Jean Bouin to make it two wins from two.
The hosts had early dominance from the first minute when Elliot Daly’s kick off receipt was charged down, and from there Fergus Burke was called in to action as he gathered a cross-field kick which would have ended in a certain try.
They didn’t have to wait much longer though, as Peniasi Dakuwaqa was the beneficiary of a three man overlap on the left wing as a looping pass found him in acres of space to score the first try of the match. Zack Henry’s conversion made it 7-0 with four minutes played.
Sarries almost got back in to it immediately as Theo McFarland rose highest to gather the restart, but it agonisingly fell out of his grasp and Sarries survived.
Stade had all the momentum and Tom Willis was called in to action with a brilliant last ditch tap tackle on Leo Barre who had already stepped past three defenders.
A scrum penalty then followed for the French side, and Henry pointed at the posts with an easy three points on offer to extend the lead to 10-0.
Sarries were looking for a way back in to proceedings and a kick out on the full gave them some much needed territory but some handling errors were letting Stade off the hook.
Liam Williams then thought he had marked his second debut with an incredibly try as Ben Earl and Ivan van Zyl combined off the back of a maul and then Welshman finished acrobatically in the corner but after a check with the Television Match Official his foot was in touch.
Sekou Macalou was then shown a red card for as dangerous tackle on van Zyl, giving Sarries the perfect platform to launch a comeback.
Nick Tompkins was then inches from scoring as the chances kept coming but he was held up over the line after stretching to reach from close range.
The try did arrive with 24 minutes gone after a spell of real dominance from the Londoners. Burke’s jinking run took play in to the 22, and then Daly’s sensational left handed pass found Williams on the wing who cut inside to finish in style. Burke converted to cut the deficit to just three points.
Stade were struggling with their discipline, and another high shot gave Burke a shot at goal which he made no mistake with to level the score at 10-10 with seven minutes until the break.
Rotimi Segun then got up brilliantly in the air to claim a box kick, and an overly eager Stade defence strayed offside to give Burke another chance from the tee which was successful again as Sarries went in front.
There was still time for one more chance just before the break as McFarland who was growing in influence by the minute charged in to the 22, and the referee gave Burke another chance from the tee but this time it went narrowly wide and Sarries headed down the tunnel with a 13-10 lead.
The hosts then went down to 13 men just four minutes after the restart as Tanginoa Halaifonua was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Segun, and they were made to pay straight away as Jamie George rumbled over from the rolling maul to give his side some breathing space as the lead grew to eight points.
Just as it looked like Sarries were in the ascendancy, Rhys Carre was sent to the sin-bin for a high shot when carrying in to contact to give the hosts a glimmer of hope.
Ben Earl thought he had put the result beyond doubt when he charged down a kick and then raced clear from 40 metres, but after a check with the TMO it was disallowed for a knock on.
The chances kept coming for Sarries, another break from the energetic Tompkins almost saw try number three arrive but the defence managed to scramble back and keep the hosts in the game.
A strong scrum then forced the referee to award Sarries another penalty, and Burke was successful to push the lead up to 11 points with 15 minutes remaining.
Brad Weber wasn’t giving up though, and thought he had brought Stade right back in to it with a sniping run but he was brilliantly held up by Theo Dan over the line.
They did get back in to it with 10 minutes remaining, sustained pressure in the 22 gave them the chance and Barre spotted a gap to race in behind from 10 metres out. He converted his own try to cut through gap to four points as we entered the closing stages.
Stade then got another yellow for collapsing a maul and eventually try number three came from Dan who latched on to the back of a maul to send the travelling contingent crazy. Burke’s excellent conversion reinstated their 11 point cushion.
They then expertly saw out the final minutes with a sequence of scrum penalties to register a win which will be remembered for a long time by all fans of the Men in Black.
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