7 tries and not a kick screwed! Toulon beaten

By Dominic Newbould
January 24 2009
Euan Murray is hewn from Scots granite, clearly designed to impose irresistible force on opposition front rowers. But when you have seen Saints' tight head prop at a Burns' Night Supper, wearing the Kilt and an ill-fitting tam o'shanter, vainly trying to extract music from bagpipes but contriving only a faint, anguished moan - well, something dies in his image: so much effort, so little reward.

7 tries and not a kick screwed...
Saints 52 - Toulon 11
ECC Round 6
By Saint Dom
24 January 2009

Thankfully, he played his full part in Saints "pushover win" against the resplendent rouge et noir of les Toulonnais. Now - I am idle by nature, so it seems churlish, not to say gratuitous, to ignore the wonderful account of the game given by les Toulonnais themselves. Here it is, in its entirety (no apologies if you can't understand French - you can guess most of it...):

«Toulon dépassé par Northampton en seconde période.
« Malmené en mêlée, le Rugby Club Toulonnais tient le score à Northampton puisqu'ils ne sont menés que 8 à 10 avec un essai partout.

« Northampton a dégainé en premier via l'ouvreur Miller [sic!] qui réussit une pénalité dès la 2e minute. 20 minutes plus tard, c'est Damien Vidal qui ramène les 2 Equipes à égalité sur une pénalité. Mais à la 28e, alors que Matt Henjak est exclu sur carton jaune, le n°8 Easter est propulsé dans l'en-but. Miller transforme et les Saints mènent 10 à 3.

« Toulon réagit bien en marquant par l'intermédiaire de Mafiléo Kefu à la 32e. Damien Vidal ne peut réussir la transformation pas plus qu'une pénalité (certes lointaine) et le référé siffle la mi-temps sur ce score de 10 à 8 en faveur des Northampton Saints.

«La 2nde période est à sens unique puisque les Saints inscrivent 6 essais... »

Basically, it says: this was a game of two halves - Toulonnais only 2 points down at half time but it was one-way traffic in the second half when Northampton ran in 6 tries!!

Well, that's one way of putting it... and I can live with the description. The least said about the first half, the better: too many errors, notably by Ashton on the half hour when he knocked on a high ball to concede possession on his own 22, which led to Toulon's only try. Earlier, Easter had scored for Saints after a scrum pushover.

A rather selective Welsh referee (Tim Hayes) used only one yellow card (to banish the Toulon scrum-half, imitating a glaucous red slug draped over the ball after the tackle). There might have been six

sin-bins and a couple of penalty tries as well. He pinged both front rows repeatedly for engaging too soon or packing obliquely (best quote overheard during the first half was Paul Shields' plaintive "I'm trying to go straight Sir..."). Perhaps the arbitrator knew that the floodgates would open in the « seconde period » ...

The half-time talk changed things. Toulon came out a full 5 minutes before Saints reappeared, but when Reihana's men took the field their impact was immediate.

At this point, my mind dwells on Saints exiled in Russia, Congo, Florida and points further afield. You expatriates should know that Franklin's Gardens has been transformed into a fortress this season. The game against Leicester, to take one notable example, was marked by a wonderfully partisan atmosphere and the stadium full to capacity. This game, against Toulon, was regarded as almost a dead and meaningless match, with only a single point needed to finish top of the group. Recipe for uninspiring rugby...

But was it meaningless? Rugby is never meaningless. It meant something to Ashton, who might have rebuilt his confidence with two smart tries, Easter, who was immense and scored a try in each half, Tonga'uiha, also credited with two tries and, near the end, a fine opportunistic try by Myler who - let it be shouted from the top of the Northampton Lighthouse - had a hundred percent kicking record in this match. Foden, especially after reverting to fullback for the last 20 minutes, had an outstanding game.

Moments to savour included several dynamic, ground gobbling

advances by the ever improving Courtney Lawes, ditto from Easter and a couple of trademark breakouts from Reihana - and a sharp all-round game by our England fly-half. Perhaps the finest passages of play were generated by electric running

by Foden, often accompanied by Ashton, which fragmented the fragile Toulon defence as the game wore on.

The afternoon drew to a close with uncontested scrums, Toulon losing their winger for more slug-like ball-killing, and fumbles on both sides. However, a week of heavy rain, endless speculation about Carlos Spencer's unexplained absence and dramatic revelations of "recreational drugs" at Bath's Recreation Ground, could not spoil a fine afternoon under January sunshine which will keep us warm until the next home game against Saracens on Saint Valentine's Day...

Scorers:
Saints - Tries: Easter (2), Tonga'uiha (2), Ashton (2), Myler; Cons: Myler (5), Everitt (2); Pens: Myler
Toulon - Try: Kefu; Pens: Vidal (2)
Yellow Cards:
Henjak (23 mins), Andreu (54 mins)

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

7 tries and not a kick screwed! Toulon beaten

Posted by: ComeOnYouSaints.com (IP Logged)

Date: 24/01/2009 23:49

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009:01:30:09:05:29 by Phil..

Options: Reply To This Message•Quote This Message•Report This Message