Saracens In The City

The Honourable Artillery Company, or HAC as it is known, is nestled deep in the heart of London’s financial district and is the home of the oldest serving regiment in the British Army. As an active Territorial Army regiment, members of the HAC serve with the regular army in Afghanistan and provide ceremonial honour guards at major London events. Its rugby pitch is one of the most valuable in the world due to cost in real estate terms of the land that it sits on. Tomorrow, Thursday 21st August, Saracens will borrow this stunning venue for another of their ‘Saracens In The City’ fixtures, this time taking on the Ospreys. Mark McCall’s men have a great track record at The HAC having recorded wins over Gloucester Rugby, Cornish Pirates and Stade Francais to name but a few.

Saracens are deep into their pre-season preparations, like all of their Aviva Premiership rivals they have endured weeks of gruelling conditioning and now they are finally allowed to face an opposition. Last Friday Night they hosted London Scottish at Allianz Park and in spite of scoring six tries it wasn’t a perfect performance. The major positive was the fact that it gave some key men game time including newcomer Jim Hamilton, their young talents Maro Itoje and Nathan Earle and a fit again flanker Will Fraser who played his first sixty minutes of rugby since December 2013.

This match against Ospreys will be a step up again, whilst we are waiting for the team news with talent like Dan Biggar, Josh Matavesi, Alun Wyn Jones and Justin Tipuric in their squad you know that the Welsh will bring bundles of physicality and flair with them to The HAC. For Saracens it is time to unleash a number of their ‘big guns’ and test some of their new moves because the London Double Header is just over two weeks away and now is the time to get serious.

The HAC, Moorgate is quite unlike any other city venue, it is a stunning location and Thursday night’s match is the perfect excuse to clock off work early and enjoy a spot of fast paced and competitive rugby.

Important Details; Tickets; http://www.saracens.com/hac/ Gates Open 4.15pm, Teams Warm Up 5pm and Kick Off 6.15pm 

Saracens; 15. Alex Goode; 14. Chris Wyles, 13. Tim Streather, 12. Brad Barritt, 11. David Strettle; 10. Charlie Hodgson, 9. Richard Wigglesworth; 1. Richard Barrington, 2. Jamie George, 3. Kieran Longbottom, 4. Alistair Hargreaves (Capt), 5. George Kruis, 6. Kelly Brown, 7. Will Fraser, 8. Billy Vunipola. Replacements; 16. Scott Spurling, 17. Rhys Gill, 18. Petrus Du Plessis, 19. Jim Hamilton, 20. Hayden Smith, 21. Matt Hankin, 22. Maro Itoje, 23. Jackson Wray, 24. Ben Spencer, 25 Nils Mordt, 26. Duncan Taylor, 27. Nick Tompkins, 28. Jack Wilson, 29. Aaron Morris, 30. Ben Ransom.

Ospreys; 15 Richard Fussell; 14 Eli Walker, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Jeff Hassler; 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb; 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Scott Baldwin, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 4 Lloyd Peers (Capt), 5 Rynier Bernardo, 6 Tyler Ardron, 7 Sam Lewis, 8 Morgan Allen Replacements; 16 Sam Parry, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Cai Griffiths, 19 James King, 20 Dan Baker, 21 Tom Habberfield, 22 Dan Evans, 23 Jonathan Spratt, 24 Tom Grabham