It’s top meets bottom at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday as Northampton entertain Pertemps Bees.  On bonfire weekend will Saints light the blue touch paper?  Or, will it be a Bonfire of the Vanities for the league leaders ?

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs. PERTEMPS BEES

NL1 – Saturday, 3^rd November 2007 – 2pm

MATCH PREVIEW

After a strong performance in the league last season the Bees finished in 8th place and were no doubt looking forward to more of the same this year.  Things did not go quite to plan in the closed season, as they lost coach Steve Williams to Ulster and several key players moved on to pastures new.  As a consequence it has been all up hill since September, with the Bees recording just a solitary win over the Cornish All Blacks.   Any Saints fan will identify with the feelings of frustration that the Bees fans must feel, seeing their club routed to the foot of the table.  A glance at their web site shows a club with a strong identity and a mission to establish themselves as the premier club in the West Midlands.  At the same time they remain a traditional rugby club, running mini and junior sections and developing links to the local community.  

With Saints overcoming every hurdle in their path there can only be one result …Which is the sentiment that Wasps must have had going into their Powergen Quarter Final game against Pertemp Bees at the Causeway stadium back in 2004.  The rest as they say, is history.  An under strength Wasps side were well and truly mugged, losing 24 to 28 to a Bees side featuring the talents of Doncaster’s star kicker Mark Woodrow and temporary Saint Terry Sidgley in the last giant killing exploit before the cup changed to it’s current Anglo Welsh format.

Jim Mallinder continues to keep us all guessing with his team selections and I expect there to be changes again this weekend.  It’s something of a novelty to be going into November with few injury worries, although the Wanderers game on Monday night did throw up a couple of problems.  With a almost a full squad to pick from and a potentially season defining trip to Exeter next weekend it may be a case of keeping some players fresh for the bigger test.  Mark Robinson and Dylan Harley will be keen for some more game time to get up to speed for next weekend, whilst Mark Hopley and Robbie Kydd came through 80 mins on Monday evening following their recent injuries.  Not so lucky were Will Harris, Damian Brown and Paul Shields who all picked up knocks.  Steve Myler , James Downey  and Paul Tupai may be due a break after some big games.  

Therefore my squad would be:

Backs
Anderson, Ashton, Clarke, Diggen, Kydd, Lamont, Reihana, Robinson, Spencer, Starling, Vass

Forwards:
Emms, Hartley, Hopley, Lawes, Lewitt, Lord, Murray, Rae, Rudzi, Shields, Short, Smith, Tonga’uiha

Finally the result, with all respect to Pertemps Bees I expect Saints to have recorded a perfect 10 and be sitting on 50 points by the time the fireworks fly on Saturday night.

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