Tomorrow, Mark Thompson joins us once again to discuss challenges and opportunities, on a show that also contains FIVE of the Fezcast panel, a review of the first home match, plus a chat with hot prospect scrum half Tori Sellors!

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I knew I’d get a use out of this tag eventually! It’ll be interesting to see who gets game time with the guys on loan to Ampthill. From the picture Louie Johnson it seems.

Saracens 45 Sale 26

Not a bad start for a transition season! 10 points out of 10 with a particularly pleasing second half here. Again plenty to work on but Sale are a big, niggly team and it was great to see the reaction after a frankly dour second half. Of course aided by an early injury to Ford (hope it’s ok for England!) and Jean Luc du Preez but you play what’s in front of you. A bit frustrating that Sale were allowed to constantly slow the game down by huddling before each lineout, not blaming them but I’m still salty about us being pinged for it last season and it never being called when teams visit.

First half was pretty dire all round I thought, especially the first 20 for us. A lovely break by Elliott was the highlight with Loz’s boot keeping us in touch. A gaping hole for Rob du Preez to run into with only Carré there to stop him led to Sale’s try despite an excellent covering tackles from Willis and Segun.

Second half we flicked a switch and the first try came from a lovely pass by Burke off his left to put Loz through a gap and the ball made its way to Elliott who once again finished superbly, how can you not be excited by young Tobias?! Second try came from a bit of magic from the old dog Alex Goode, great step and grubber through for Daly to finish nicely. Then a nice mail try for George although sadly his try song “I am a mole and I’m digging a hole” has been changed. Unfortunately as I’m am desperately trying to make my way to Medway for 7pm I missed the bonus point try by Daly, last I saw was us opting for the scrum after Dugdale was sent off. Which reminds me- a scrum pen against the head in their 22! Riccioni take a bow! Also for making it through the whole match.

Hopefully Maro is ok and he was taken off as a precaution but looked like he had an ice pack on his knee.

Player of the match is a tough one for me, I didn’t think there were too many standouts but Earl was everywhere and always a willing runner alongside T Willis who is just so hard to put down, he must be a nightmare to play against. I’m not sure who he sat down (maybe O’Flaherty?) after chasing back a kick but it was glorious.

Next up, Chiefs at home 😤

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2024/09/27/england-saracens-phil-morrow-replace-aled-walters-coach/

Not sure how I'd feel about this... want the man to succeed and progress in his career... don't really want to have to replace him...

Am I going mad or can you now not buy standing tickets?

They are showing up as a place to get tickets but are sold out for every match.

Looking to get tickets for the tigers games.

Tia

Gloucester 26 Saracens 35

What a great start to the season! Always fun beating Gloucester away, I always forget how good it feels to silence that crowd and silent it mostly was apart from some unsavoury booing of an injured Riccioni. Some lovely first half tries, Daly’s assist for Segun was brilliant, Van Zyl with the intercept and Elliott with an absolutely class finish for the third.

Second half Christie picked up two tries with a couple of cute lineout moves, the second in particular was a great move from 40m out. The game started breaking up and Glaws came alive as we perhaps understandably switched off in the last 10.

Lots of positives- scrum held up (thank you Rob Webber!), lineout was great both attack and defence. The rush defence is back and a welcome return! Itcaused Gloucester a lot of issues, Segun was particularly good at rushing up and then covering back. It was perfect though, plenty of room for improvement shown by four tries conceded. There also seem to be an effort to keep the ball in hand a lot more.

Big performances across the team particularly the pack. Willis worked his nuts off and carried really well, I think I may have a slight man crush. Maro was everywhere, proper captains performance. Tizard carried hard and made a brilliant try scoring tackle. Loz seems to have taken over from Faz as chippy fucker in the backs. Carre looked really good too, adds that size and carrying the pack needs. Jamie with a cracking cameo ball in hand off the bench too. Andy Onyeama-Christie deserved man of the match though, two tries and great work throughout!

Next up the Sale at the StoneX, let’s write some wrong from last season.

Same old Sarries always….

This is a reminder for those of you who are playing Superbru's Fantasy Premiership Rugby to get your teams sorted out for the weekend! Also, join our r/saracens league!

Join r/saracens, a Fantasy Premiership Rugby league on Superbru! You can find the pool here:

https://www.superbru.com/premiershiprugbyfantasy/pool.php?p=12880144

or by downloading the Superbru Rugby app from https://www.superbru.com/get-superbru-rugby and searching for the league with code:

gothergs

My Saracens stash arrived today and thought I would share some thoughts. First, I have to say, it arrived really quickly which was a nice surprise. Ordered in the evening, sent out next day, arrived on the following day. I ordered the home shirt, away shirt, a polo, and a cap. I am happy with all of the gear I received.

The home shirt is pretty great. A good fit and I love the way it looks. Even the lack of red on the badge doesn't bother me as much now. Worth noting that, for some reason, it is missing the small 'StoneX' near the neckline (as shown in the online shop pictures) but I am not bothered about that. The size feels on the bigger side but I am actually pretty pleased about that as I like to put a chunky vest on underneath when going to matches in the colder months. I also just prefer a baggy shirt. The away shirt has grown on me. I still think it looks like a pack of cigarettes though. Again, it is missing the StoneX near the neckline.

I think the shirts are a bit more comfortable than in previous years since Castore took over. There is a bit more give in them and they feel a bit less chunky. Just a nicer feel to them. Oh, and something important to me is that they both have embroidered badges. On the website it says they have sublimated crests but they are definitely embroidered badges, which I much prefer.

The polo shirt I ordered is the black one. It is smart and looks good imo. On the negative side, it doesn't have an embroidered badge as the polo shirts did in previous seasons. A real shame. I love a proper embroidered badge. Wouldn't bother getting it had I known, to be honest.

The cap is fairly plain. It is a bit different to the one shown on the website though. There is red on the brim and also a red Castore logo on the back of it. Nothing special really but I always like to have a fresh cap for a new season.

The main thing I am missing now is a new beanie for the winter months. Last year's grey one was actually really comfortable. No sign of one on the online shop just yet. Also will look to get a few bits for my kids in the future.

How has everyone else got on with buying their Sarries merch for the new season? Any opinions on your new gear?

On the eve of competitive rugby, a bumper show this week!
⚫️Saracens in the USA?
🔴Outgoing and incoming SSA sponsored players
⚪️Internationals, PWR Up and Pre-Season reviews
⚫️Barry previews Gloucester away with Ed from the Cherry Jam Podcast

linktr.ee/fezcastssa tomorrow!

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I have created a league for r/saracens members. See below.

Join r/saracens, a Fantasy Premiership Rugby league on Superbru! You can find the pool here:

https://www.superbru.com/premiershiprugbyfantasy/pool.php?p=12880144

or by downloading the Superbru Rugby app from https://www.superbru.com/get-superbru-rugby and searching for the league with code:

gothergs

Original post below.

Is anyone here playing Superbru's Fantasy Premiership Rugby?

https://www.superbru.com/premiershiprugbyfantasy/

Should we have a r/saracens league? I would love to embarrass myself by finishing bottom so you guys can realise that I know nothing about rugby. The main problem I have is being too biased towards Sarries players.

Just a bit of fun. A Reddit Sarries league could be good. Maybe there is already one and I haven't realised!

Saracens 40 Scarlets 21

I arrived a little late and struggled a bit to find seats in a packed East stand, the only one open but good turn out considering it was a friendly. As I sat down we were camped on their 5m and packing down. After a decent shove and Carre seemingly getting the better of his counterpart we got the pen advantage. Unfortunately one of the scarlets front row went down injured and presumably they had no suitable replacements because that was it for contested scrums. Pretty frustrating as we all know that we desperately need practice in that department and that’s it before Gloucester.

A frustrating first half in general, nothing surprising there in a preseason friendly we looked disconnected in both attack and defence. Still we went in 21-14 ahead at half time- two tries from tap and goes, one Dan going over directly and one Willis powering over after a few phases. The third try by Christie featured some lovely offloads from Carre and Riccioni. Towards the end of the half it looked like a certain try for Scarlets but somehow Willis got back after Daly was left for dust and tackled the Scarlets player and held the ball up. Quick word for Willis here, sensational engine on him, he worked his arse off today, really excited to see him as first choice.

Second half was a lot more controlled by us, we spent a lot of time in their half bar a few good breaks from offloads, something we’ll need to work on. The next try by us was lovely, started by a sumptuous one handed pick up by Tizard (again looked great tonight, looking forward to seeing him this season) then Daly at first receiver to Burke who ghosted through the defence (a bit Alex Goode-esque to my mind) and scored his first try for Sarries! Good to see that connection getting going. The next try came from dominant maul with Adejimi passed the ball and carried 2/3 Scarlets over the line. He’s got a lot of potential. The final try came from a strong finish Andy Christie with Brandon Jackson putting him in at the corner. Player of the match performance by Christie, not just for his great work on the field but also his new try scoring music, the classic “Sexy Boy” by Shawn Michaels.

A few observations- interesting to see Knight taking the Earl role of carrying in the centre off lineouts. If Earl is limited in time for us then he looks like a great backup stylistically. Tompkins went off at half time, hopefully not another centre injured as that’ll be all our crash ball centres injured for the start of the season. Wilson at lock did well but looks very short for that position at prem level, no sign of Isiekwe or Maro due to rest needed and Theo away with Samoa. Sodeke looked good when he came on, carried and hit hard but can definitely put a bit of mass on, which is scary because he’s a big lad already. On a more general point the lineout and maul was very good all match.

Overall a good evening out and just loved being back at the StoneX. Bring on the prem season!

Tomorrow on the show:

• An intro to our newest Fezcast recruit James
• The major points of the new Professional Game Partnership
• The new Saracens Kit
• A review of our first run out against Bedford

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