Champions Cup Final - Saracens vs Racing 92, 14 May

 
Racing 92 v Saracens
14 May 2016
KO: 17:45 local (16:45 BST)
Grand Stade de Lyon

TV: FR2, beIN Sports, BT Sport, Sky Sports

Officials
Referee - Nigel Owens
Touch Judge 1 - George Clancy
Touch Judge 2 - Leighton Hodges
TMO - Simon McDowell
Citing Commissioner - Murray White

Form

07/05/16 Worcester 19 Saracens 43
01/05/16 Saracens 23 Newcastle 14
23/04/16 Saracens 24 Wasps 17
16/04/16 Saracens 22 Harlequins 12
09/04/16 Saracens 29 Northampton 20

07/05/16 Brive 33 Racing 27
01/05/16 Racing 26 Clermont 20
24/04/16 Leicester 16 Racing 19
17/04/16 Toulouse 14 Racing 3
10/04/16 Racing 19 Toulon 16


Teams

Racing 92 


15. Brice Dulin; 14. Joe Rokocoko, 13. Johannes Goosen, 12. Alexandre Dumoulin, 11. Juan Imhoff; 10. Dan Carter, 9. Maxime Machenaud; 1. Eddy Ben Arous, 2. Dimitri Szarzewski, 3. Ben Tameifuna, 4. Luke Charteris, 5. Francois van der Merwe, 6. Wenceslas Lauret, 7. Bernard Le Roux, 8. Chris Masoe
16. Virgile Lacombe, 17. Khatchik Vartanov, 18. Luc Ducalcon, 19. Manuel Carizza, 20. Antonie Claassen, 21. Mike Phillips, 22. Remi Tales, 23. Henry Chavancy

Saracens


15. Alex Goode; 14. Chris Ashton, 13. Duncan Taylor, 12. Brad Barritt, 11. Chris Wyles; 10. Owen Farrell, 9. Richard Wigglesworth; 1. Mako Vunipola, 2. Schalk Brits, 3. Petrus du Plessis, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. George Kruis, 6. Michael Rhodes, 7. Will Fraser, 8. Billy Vunipola
16. Jamie George, 17. Richard Barrington, 18. Juan Figallo, 19. Jim Hamilton, 20. Jackson Wray, 21. Ben Spencer, 22. Charlie Hodgson, 23. Marcelo Bosch

Is this being played on any particular day?

saturday 5pm i think

Don't know which team I want to win less tbh, the one who's spent unlimited resources on a squad of players that can beat anyone, or the other one who's spent unlimited resources on a squad to beat anyone.

I will plump for the team that has more self developed players in it, and spent less (probably)

lol. with 9 england players in the sarries matchday squad its clear who i will be supporting

Sarries likely to have 10 England Internationals in the starting XV, five products of their academy.

yeah, sarries actually doing a really good job with their academy now. the perception of sarries as overpaid saffer mercenaries is long out of date.

also saw that sarries had 4 players in englands rwc u20 squad, alongside leeds i think that also had 4. and the rest of the clubs 3 or fewer representatives.

OP udated with all officials. Ireland now have representatives, and assuming Taylor plays so will Scotland. Surprised an Italian Citing Commissioner was not appointed.

I'd quite like someone who is not in the running for European Player of the Year to have an absolute stormer, dragging his team to the title single-handed, if only to make a mockery of the process which sees such shortlists drawn up before a competition has actually ended.

Jesus, I love Lyon - what a great little city.
The food is absolutely amazing. 

Really wish that I was going to this.

Teams up. May be miscounting but looks like Sarries have 16 EQP players in their squad, half of whom came through their academy.

Hopefully Farrell Jr doesn't choke this time.

Jonny destroyed him in the HC final a couple of years ago. Struggled against Wasps in the semis.

Need a big performance from him, haven't had a good one since before the 6 nations, shame really as he was in great form before being shunted to 12 for England.

Saracens shouldn't focus on Carter as good as he is, most 10s need good clean ball. Will need to be sharp at the breakdown and lineout first and foremost.

It's the English forwards - Kruis,Itoje,Vunipola bros who I expect will be more influential.

Need to use the likes of Hodgson and George off the bench at the right time.

George Carlin wrote:Jesus, I love Lyon - what a great little city.
The food is absolutely amazing. 

Really wish that I was going to this.

Little city ?? tis like calling Birmingham a "town" .

Great food though. Specially if you like frog legs

Rugby Fan wrote:I'd quite like someone who is not in the running for European Player of the Year to have an absolute stormer, dragging his team to the title single-handed, if only to make a mockery of the process which sees such shortlists drawn up before a competition has actually ended.

I agree.  I would prefer the same.  For Saracens, I would like to see either Wyles or Hamilton.  Even more poetic would be Charlie Hodgson in his penultimate match.
But, if not them then Ashton, just to annoy everyone.

Ashton and Farrell combining to win the game would be amazing.

Would quite like Mako to have a big game as he gets over shadowed by his brother a lot recently.

I just hope for good game free of the gamesmanship and niggle that has spoiled a few games this season.

Should be a cracking game. I don't expect a ton of points. But that's the way with most of these big game.

I actually think Saracens could win this. Their eqp pack maro, mako, kruis, billy v and george could be the decided (he says hopefully)

Like watching racing too.

I think Sarries will walk this if I may be honest. Their pack is much better than Racing's and I think they will starve Carter of good ball. Sarries by two scores.

Hoping for a Racing win but can't really see it. The only reason we haven't been talking about how poor they were in the semi final is because Tigers were much worse. In truth Racing consistently gave away the ball under very little pressure and, opening try aside, didn't really threaten a defensive unit that has been poor all year.

Saracens won't (or at least shouldn't) give Racing anywhere near as much free possession so unless they improve significantly from the semi I expect Saracens to squeeze them for 60ish minutes before opening up.

Fortunately for R92 fans my predictions are wrong almost all of the time.

I have to say I don't want Sarries to win - the games I have seen them play ( I think it was them) have been too full of niggle and gamesmanship for my liking. Mind you I don't like the Racing approach of trying to buy success either

WhoCares - you're a man of the world (and the Top14). 


What does the French press make of Racing's chances? Are they so blinded by the light from Carter's halo that they can only see one outcome? And more importantly, which side do you think will win?

Watching the build up, I find Wilkinson continues to have some good insights.

It's harder to do it the longer you are retired (as Paul Ackford soon discovered, and Will Greenwood is finding now) but I never had Wilkinson down as someone who would be able to communicate his experiences as a player.

George Carlin wrote:WhoCares - you're a man of the world (and the Top14). 


What does the French press make of Racing's chances? Are they so blinded by the light from Carter's halo that they can only see one outcome? And more importantly, which side do you think will win?

Common sense prevails and Saracens are slight favourite but as it has been in recent encounters it should be a tight game anyway. Some magic from Carter and a performance from Masoe could give Racing the edge.

TJ wrote:I have to say I don't want Sarries to win - the games I have seen them play ( I think it was them) have been too full of niggle and gamesmanship for my liking.  Mind you I don't like the Racing approach of trying to buy success either

So you've seen some games with some niggle and gamesmanship, not 100% sure who it was, so you're going to blame sarries?

Deliberate slap into touch? He flapped at it with one hand...

Saracens against Racing, lots of rain, lots of errors... well, isn't this going to be a spectacle? 

Sarries scrum looks a lot better now that George is on.

Knackeredknees wrote:

TJ wrote:I have to say I don't want Sarries to win - the games I have seen them play ( I think it was them) have been too full of niggle and gamesmanship for my liking.  Mind you I don't like the Racing approach of trying to buy success either

So you've seen some games with some niggle and gamesmanship, not 100% sure who it was, so you're going to blame sarries?

I am pretty sure it was Sarries in an earlier round. Certainly I do not like the way sarries often play.

Awful rain!

George pressing Hartley hard with the scrum impact he made since Brits went off.

Was always goiing to be a tight game. When the ball is so greasy, impacts are going to squirt it loose, especially between these big fellas lol

Awful rain!

George pressing Hartley hard with the scrum impact he made since Brits went off.

Was always goiing to be a tight game. When the ball is so greasy, impacts are going to squirt it loose, especially between these big fellas lol

Farrell and dulin impressing so far

I'm going to play UC4, I mean it's an okay game and all but....

TJ wrote:

Knackeredknees wrote:

TJ wrote:I have to say I don't want Sarries to win - the games I have seen them play ( I think it was them) have been too full of niggle and gamesmanship for my liking.  Mind you I don't like the Racing approach of trying to buy success either

So you've seen some games with some niggle and gamesmanship, not 100% sure who it was, so you're going to blame sarries?

I am pretty sure it was Sarries in an earlier round.  Certainly I do not like the way sarries often play.

Having said that apart from having to be told off by Owens for trying to ref the game there has been nothing so far - so good for them.

Not the most exciting game ever - should be being played in Scotland - its a beautiful sunny day here

Not a great game so far but that has more to do with the conditions. Think Farrell has been very solid which is a good sign and Ashton's chasing of kicks has been excellent.

Shame about the weather.
Racing might regret playing Carter when he's clearly not fit.

Love Scott quinnell

Farrell doing well so far, couple of very good kick from hand which led to the first score, and slotted his kicks very well, including two tricky ones.

Not a great game, but the conditions are dictating that. As TJ says, should really be playing in Scotland, where it's been gloriously sunny all week

It seems Carter received a few cheap shots today, some quite subtle but others off the ball. Did anyone else notice this?

I didn't see any. Nothing that was worthy of a pen anyway

Farrell..

That's a good tackle. Wrong decision. His hand is masoe elbow. Hard done by. Paying for previous...

mikey_dragon wrote:It seems Carter received a few cheap shots today, some quite subtle but others off the ball. Did anyone else notice this?

One late hit that I saw and that was marginal. Nowt else

quinsforever wrote:That's a good tackle. Wrong decision. His hand is masoe elbow. Hard done by. Paying for previous...

Eh? You could clearly see his arm around the neck. clear high tackle, accidental and not dangerous. Pen the correct decision

Why is Farrell kicking attacking ball away all the time?

Sarries game plan, keep the ball in their half

Have to say, sarries really need to get a new 9

Thank god for beer. Only reason to watch this. Such a dull game. But as expected I suppose

Awful kick from goode