Saracens held at Sixways

Saracens remained undefeated, but were held to a stalemate on Friday night at the Sixways Stadium – drawing 12-all with Worcester with both sides landing four penalties.

Brendan Venter’s men have been unstoppable so far this season but Friday night saw them drop their first points against a determined Warriors side.

Unbelievably almost it is Worcester’s second straight 12-12 draw after Mike Ruddock’s men played ouit to exactly the same result against Bath last weekend.

All the points came from the two teams kickers. Willie Walker (Worcester) and Derick Hougaard (Saracens) each landed four successful kicks at goal on the night.

It was the hosts who took a 9-3 lead into the break but in truth it was not a great 40 minutes of rugby action. With neither team really ‘clicking’ it was clear early on that it was set to go down to the wire and that the two kickers would both be very important.

The Warriors looked strong immediately after the break, with Chris Latham coming into the game, but they were unable to make it count.

Finding their own rhythm, the Premiership’s log leaders soon started to claw themselves back into the match and started to force more and more penalties out of the home side.

With an hour gone Sarries found themselves in a 12-9 lead thanks to Hougaard. The match could still have gone either way however.

Walker leveled the scores in the final 10 minutes and, despite a late surge from Saracens, that would be how it would finish.

The scorers:

For Worcester:
Pen: Walker 4

For Saracens:
Pen: Hougaard 4

Worcester: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Marcel Garvey, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Willie Walker, 9 Ryan Powell, 8 Kai Horstmann, 7 Pat Sanderson (captain), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Craig Gillies, 4 Greg Rawlinson, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 2 Aleki Lutui, 1 Callum Black.
Replacements: 16 Adam Black, 17 Chris Fortey, 18 Olivier Sourgens, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 James Collins, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Calum MacRae, 23 Rico Gear.

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Richard Haughton, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Justin Marshall, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Wikus van Heerden, 5 Tom Ryder, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Rhys Gill.
Replacements: 16 Ethienne Reynecke, 17 Kasiano Lealamanua, 18 Richard Skuse, 19 Hugh Vyvyan, 20 Don Barrell, 21 Moses Rauluni, 22 Adam Powell, 23 Rodd Penney.

Referee: Martin Fox