Was this performance as bad as that at ‘Quins earlier in the season?  Objectively, yes; but given the positive elements from previous weeks' efforts this was deeply disappointing.  Opinion on the supporters' coach was universally negative, and I thought about not writing this up, and waiting until the morning (instead I wrote up ‘til half time when I was getting too irritated, stopped, and finished in the morning).  Actually, I think that first impressions are important and my first impression is that we were very poor.  The actual word used was somewhat stronger than this, but I'm sure you can insert your own preferred term.

The forwards performed adequately and the lineout is vastly improved over last season's shambles, but both in attack and, frequently, in defence the back line appeared woefully short of inspiration, coordination and basic skills.  I reiterate my opinion that captaincy has a detrimental effect on Perry.  Frankly his performance today calls into question his position in the side; although who else we would play is a difficult question.  Barnes was made to look distinctly ordinary, but I would ask about the quality of communication between nine and ten.  One commentator in the bar afterwards said it looked as if they were texting each other.

Bristol started tentatively and it was Northampton who looked, to some extent, the sharper in the earlier exchanges.  Indeed, they had a penalty chance with just a few minutes on the clock.  Surprisingly, Myler was off target with his effort from straight in front of the posts.  We were virtually into the second quarter of play before Bristol made it into the Saints half.  The award of a penalty saw Ed Barnes have an extreme long range effort that was shockingly wide, unless he was actually aiming at the corner flag, in which case he was in fact very accurate.

Shortly thereafter, poor kicking, not for the first or last time, handed possession back to Northampton who kicked their penalty for a 3 - 0 lead with half an hour past.  The lead was quickly increased when Bristol coughed up the ball in midfield.  Foden, coming into the line from fullback, made a break into the Bristol defence and he fed Diggin who went in under the posts for a converted try and a 10 - 0 lead.  Shaun Perry was then penalised for a deliberate knock on.  From my angle I wasn't sure that it was deliberate, but, to be fair the referee was a lot closer and was much more inclined to us than last week's official.  This meant that Bristol went into half time 13 - 0 down.

 The hope on the terrace was that we would see a stronger second half.  There were signs of this with a couple of promising breaks with David Lemi and Lee Robinson combining well to set up good field position from which the pack came close to going over.  Northampton infringed and Barnes was able to narrow the gap with a far easier effort to 10 - 3.  The best opportunity for a Bristol try then followed when Bristol forced a turnover, the forwards attempted to make ground but the ball was flipped rather clumsily (but more quickly than is usual) out to replacement Nathan Brew.  He showed good pace, strength and balance to avoid the initial tackle to make the break and came up inches short of the line with three defenders on his back.  He had earlier made another half break and was unlucky to pick up an injury later on.  In any event, as forwards from both sides piled in Bristol gave away a penalty for hands in the ruck.  Truthfully, either team could have been pinged, but on my side Darren Crompton was the most obvious culprit and who knows on the referee's side.

For a short while the scoreboard showed us as having eight points but sadly it wasn't true and that was about it from Bristol other than dogged defence that began to look very tired as the game wore on.  Saints removed any realistic Bristol hope of a losing bonus point seven minutes from the end when the excellent Foden took a pretty aimless Luke Arscott kick on the halfway line.  He sprinted and wove past a host of despairing tacklers, including two who collided and virtually knocked each other out. Once into open space he romped over for a converted try and a 23 - 3 lead.  Clarke then forced his way over very late on for a third and final Northampton try.  The conversion made it 30 - 3.  The last scoring action, almost inevitably, saw Lemi speed down the left touchline, chase his own kick over the defenders and touch down out wide.  The Saints fans were outraged at the decision, as was their mascot standing in the in goal area.  I couldn't see the actual grounding from my angle and the ball certainly went forward after the point at which it would have occurred.  Maybe we'll all be able to see on the highlights.  It didn't matter anyway as the match ended with the scoreboard correctly showing 8 points for Bristol to 30 for Northampton.

What is wrong with Bristol?  There was a sad lack of ambition combined with the inability to carry out even limited objectives.  The kicking game is terrible and simply hands possession back to the opposition.  The chase is poor, and on one occasion in the second half we saw Alfie To'oala as the sole Bristol player anywhere near an unusually good kick.  When I take over as kicking coach my instruction is to kick nothing from the hand.  This, unfortunately, exposes us to another weak point in our game which is the pitiable quality of our support play; with the ball carrier too often isolated and lacking options.  Which brings us neatly to the problem around communication and planning which sees planned moves carried out despite the necessary players not being in position, two players going for the same ball with neither taking responsibility and others attempting to get their heads to occupy the same space when tackling.  What we get at the moment is a dogged defence that has, unsurprisingly, the occasional lapse.  Having conceded points we lack a coordinated way to redeem this position, instead relying on individual efforts from players like Lemi, Robinson and Ward-Smith.  Curiously this isn't how we played against Worcester.  It also means that, having handed the ball to the opposition and consequently defended for much of the game, the team is tired and leaks tries towards the end of the game.

Leeds nearly escaped relegation by playing inventive and adventurous rugby too late in the season.  We seem determined to go the opposite way by playing conservative and timid rugby.  Things must change and I hope that we will stun Saracens next weekend.  As the supporters coach left we passed the players in theirs.  Many were smiling and laughing.  Richard Hill was not.  And neither were we. 

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