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14-man Saracens claim famous victory despite controversial red
Saracens dug deep to overcome prop Rhys Carre’s early red card and keep alive their Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final hopes by beating Ospreys 22-15.
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Wales international Carre was sent off in the fifth minute for a high, shoulder-led challenge on Ospreys full-back Dan Evans at the Liberty Stadium.
It appeared a harsh call by French referee Alexandre Ruiz, who also sin-binned flanker Calum Clark before half-time, briefly reducing Saracens to 13 men.
But despite rugby director Mark McCall resting a host of international stars, resilient Saracens delivered a victory that means they are likely to reach the tournament’s last-eight for a ninth successive season if they beat Racing 92 next weekend.
Fly-half Manu Vunipola, the 19-year-old cousin of Billy and Mako Vunipola, kicked 17 points and wing Alex Lewington claimed a 50th-minute try to send Saracens second in Pool Four.
Evans scored two tries while Clark was off, with fly-half Luke Price adding a penalty and conversion, but the Ospreys ultimately suffered a fifth successive European defeat this season.
Saracens arrived in Swansea after a week when lawyer Neil Golding was appointed as non-executive chairman, succeeding Nigel Wray, while it also emerged that players are set to be trimmed from a star-studded squad in order to comply with salary cap regulations.
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Saracens were docked 35 Gallagher Premiership points and fined £5.36million after being found to have exceeded the £7million salary cap limit for the past three seasons.
But they showed commendable character to collect four priceless points and keep themselves in the shake-up for a knockout place.
Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones made his first Ospreys appearance since the World Cup, while his Test team-mate George North lined up at outside centre, but flanker Justin Tipuric was sidelined with an ankle problem.
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McCall, as with previous European away fixtures in November and December, rotated his squad and did not include the likes of England players Owen Farrell, Jamie George, Maro Itoje and Billy Vunipola, with Elliott Obatoyinbo making his tournament debut at full-back.
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Wales head coach Wayne Pivac, who announces his Six Nations squad next week, was among the crowd, along with his assistants Stephen Jones and Byron Hayward.
Ospreys, though, were immediately on the back foot, and Vunipola opened the scoring with a third-minute penalty after strong runs by number eight Jackson Wray and Carre.
But Saracens were soon in all kinds of strife when Carre – a certainty for Pivac’s squad – was dismissed.
The former Cardiff Blues forward was adjudged by the referee to have led with his shoulder into Evans’ head, and a red card followed.
It forced Saracens into a major reshuffle, with prop Richard Barrington going on and Obatoyinbo departing, his Champions Cup bow having lasted just 10 minutes.
Price and Vunipola then exchanged successful penalties in quick succession before the Saracens number 10 completed a hat-trick and extended his team’s lead to 9-3.
Another Vunipola penalty put daylight between the teams, but Ospreys hit back through a well-worked Evans try that Price converted after Clark was sin-binned for a technical offence.
But Saracens prevented the Ospreys making any further inroads by half-time as they took a two-point advantage into the break.
Evans added a second try with Clark still off, yet Saracens responded impressively when outstanding scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth’s kick was gathered by Lewington, who outjumped Ospreys number nine Shaun Venter to score, with Vunipola converting.
A fifth Vunipola penalty then eased the pressure, and Saracens held on for a famous victory that will rank among their finest European wins.
The matches in images:
Comments on RugbyPass
The rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
76 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to comments