THE grim prospect of relegation remains a distinct possibility for Saracens who remain a side in freefall after they were beaten for the seventh successive time at home to London Irish on Sunday.

The nerve-jangling 14-12 defeat, sealed by a 91st minute penalty from Irish fly-half Barry Everitt, edged Sarries, having played as many as two games more than their rivals, closer to the relegation trap door despite mustering a bonus point which moved them up one place to eighth.

This was unquestionably the nadir of Buck Shelford's embryonic reign at Saracens as the Men in Black produced a performance that rarely raised above the level of lacklustre. Their power-puff pack, badly missing the brain and brawn of the injured Richard Hill and Kris Chesney, spent much of the afternoon on the retreat and failed to provide an adequate platform for Sarries much-vaunted, but unimaginative, backs to flourish.

On this evidence, the portents for the remainder of another season of underachievement are disturbing. The defeat was the first time ever they had lost three in a row at Vicarage Road where they also failed to cross the line for the first time this season and, more importantly, left them without a league win since the December 29.

The first and only try of a largely mediocre match between two mediocre sides arrived after just two minutes. A wild attempt at a drop goal from 45 metres from Castaignede skewed horribly across the pitch from left to right and into the hands of his opposite number Michael Horak.

The England A full-back collected the ball some 70 yards out, sliced through some weak tackles from Nicky Little, Tom Shanklin and the hapless Castaignede on half-way before scorching to the line for a try of the season contender.

Saracens, and the out of sorts Castaignede in particular, never really regained their composure from this early set-back and the frantic nature of their attacking play forced them to rely heavily on the boot of fly-half Nicky Little.

Had they displayed a semblance of conviction, particularly in the set-piece, they could well have been home and dry at the end of the opening 40 minutes in which they enjoyed the territorial advantage.

Three times they wasted set-pieces two scrums and a line-out within five-metres of the try-line and their frustration eventually manifested itself in the sin-binning of hooker Matt Cairns on 34 minutes for throwing a punch.

Fortunately, Little kept his cool to slot three first-half penalties, to Everitt's one, to give Sarries a 9-8 lead at the break.

It was Irish's turn in the second-half to waste a plethora of threatening opportunities that went begging through an alarming number of handling errors and they only had a Everitt drop goal to show for a wealth of possession.

However, the visitors were dealt a cruel blow when their wing Justin Bishop left the field on a stretcher after dislocating his left-ankle, forcing a ten-minute hold-up in play which merely added to the drama.

Nerves were beginning to show and even the normally unflappable Little received an attack of the jitters when he dragged a 75th minute penalty wide of the left-hand upright from 35 metres.

However, the Fijian fly-half looked to have atoned for his error with what appeared to be a match-winning penalty five minutes into injury time.

But, in a final twist, it was the boot of another Saracen that decided the outcome of this match in the visitors favour. Having seen his team penalised for offside just inside the Irish half, Russell, the Scotland hooker, compounded the error by inexplicably kicking the ball away right under the nose of referee Ashley Rowden.

The subsequent ten-metre advancement of the penalty proved priceless for the deadly goalkicker Everitt who, with the goalposts now in range, showed nerves of steel to slot over a match-clinching penalty.

Irish saw out the remaining 90 seconds to seal a priceless win that lifts them off the foot of the table, while Sarries have just three games, home to Bristol, away to Newcastle and home to Sale, to prevent them sliding out of the top-flight.

April 7, 2003 17:30