National Division 1.  Round 13.  24th November  2007

 K.O. 2:00 pm

Report by Casual Saint - Photos courtesy Claire Jones & Simon Robinson

A glance at the team sheet before the match showed that JM had rung the changes, most notably Paul Shields starting at hooker and Carlos Spencer at flyhalf, with Dylan Hartley and the Boy Wonder starting from the bench.  On an overcast and chilly afternoon, with the floodlights on from the start, Saints started attacking towards the Sturtridge Pavilion.  It was a matter of minutes before they had their first line out, which, to a huge ironic cheer, was won cleanly, as was the second as Alex Rae soared like the proverbial salmon.  At this stage it was only handling errors and forward passes that were keeping Saints at bay as they dominated the opening exchanges.  It all came together on the eighth minute.  A Saints penalty was kicked to the corner, the line out was again tidy, play was taken to the left and when it was recycled there was the sort of empty grassland on the right that normally has Wildebeest wandering through it.  Los scampered into the gap, fed Chris Ashton who touched down in the Shrubbery corner.  Bruce Reihana just sliding the touchline conversion wide of the post.

Saints moved pretty smartly back into Coventry territory following the restart and if Chris Ashton had chosen to pass rather than take the tackle it could have been try time again.  Nevertheless the momentum was still with Saints as they were awarded a penalty for offside, which was sent between the sticks by Bruce.

The restart was again neatly claimed but a break out by Paul Diggin was brought to a halt by a knock on in the tackle, which presented Coventry with their first attacking position.  A succession of phases came to an end as Coventry fly half Myles Dorrian opted to kick and allow Bruce to claim the mark.  The action was soon down the other end of the pitch as Saints dominated possession but were unable to score as they opted to pass directly to touch rather to a player.  At this stage I have to reinforce all the stereotypes of middle class rugby fans.  My reporting was interrupted by a phone call from Mrs Casual Saint who was out buying skis for the forthcoming winter sports holiday.  Nevertheless I did manage to return to my seat to see Carlos put John Clarke into space who touched down in approximately the same place as Chris Ashton had 12 minutes earlier.  This time Bruce nailed the touchline conversion.

A scrappy restart presented Coventry with the ball in an inviting position.  Unfortunately they were again guilty of going through the phases without making too much headway, before choosing to kick the ball away.

After 23 minutes Robbie Kydd had to be helped off with a leg injury and was replaced by Stephen Myler who slotted into the inside centre position.  A mere 3 minutes later it was his turn to touch down in the shrubbery corner following breaks from Bruce and Chris Ashton.  Bruce kept the kicking duties and stroked home the touch line conversion. 

Another scrappy restart and a penalty in front of the sticks gave Coventry a chance to get the score board moving , which was taken by full back Ben Russell.  The restart was well recovered by Saints and such was their dominance that it only took a couple of phases before Chris Ashton was dotting down for his second in the shrubbery corner.   30 minutes and the bonus point was in the bag.  Bruce was not able to make it 3 in a row from the touchline.

As ever the restart was the time when Coventry could put some pressure on Saints.  Mark Robinson was pinged for not releasing and the ball was kicked to the corner.  Coventry got a well organised maul going but eventually the ball popped out of the maul and landed in Barry Stewarts hands and eventually to touch.  Laurie McGlone, the Coventry no 8 took the ball on from the line out but knocked on in the tackle and the attacking opportunity was lost.

A few minutes later Saints showed how it should be done. Gathering the ball from a line out and mauling it 20 yards up to and over the line. Mark Easter appearing with the ball and Bruce sending it between the posts for the extra points.  With half time looming there was a huge exodus for chips and coffee and to be honest the chip buyers did not miss too much and after a few more phases it was halftime with the scoreboard reading 34 / 3.

As I was towards the back of the chip queue I missed the next piece of action as Saints again mauled the ball up to the line, Paul Tupai this time emerging with the ball.  The less said about the conversion the better, sufficient to say that despite the progress made on Bruce's kicking, the old Bruce style is still lurking underneath.

Coventry again attacked from the restart, but were only rewarded with 10 minutes in the bin for their loose head Dai Maddocks.  By this stage Carlos was starting to open his bag of tricks, with chip kicks, blindside darts and no look passes, and the pressure was again on the Coventry line.  A penalty was kicked to the corner, quick ball from the line out, fast hands and Chris Ashton was in for his hat trick in Diggers corner.  The touchline conversion was again nailed by Bruce who was looking more than comfortable with the kicking duties.

52 minutes gone and it was time to change the playing personnel.  Dylan Hartley and Phil Hoy on for Paul Shields and Christian Short.  Young Mr Hartley would have been only too aware of the quality of

57 minutes gone and more changes, Euan Murray, Mark Hopley and Neil Starling on, Barry Stewart, Darren Fox and Paul Diggin off.  The changes seemed to take some of the focus from the Saints' game, finally allowing Coventry some possession, no doubt helped by the amount of Saints' line out ball which was now going into Coventry hands.  62 minutes gone and the final change was made, Ian Vass on for Mark Robinson.   Coventry set up a number of attacking positions but a combination of good Saints defence and Coventry handling errors prevented them from scoring.

On 76 minutes Saints showed how easy it is if you win your line out, clean ball, a bit of a maul, some quick hands and Neil Starling was dancing through some tiered Coventry tackles to touch down near to the sticks.   Bruce slotting the extras.

At this stage every wanted to play like Carlos, as they put together some exhibition rugby , with trick passes, off loads and dancing steps, all very pretty but not very successful.  So an afternoon of champagne rugby was brought to an end by the big boys driving the ball over the line from a 5 yard scrum, Paul Tupai claiming his second of the afternoon.  The action being brought to an end by Bruce's successful conversion.

 So what did we learn from the afternoon ? Bruce's kicking has certainly come on from last season, Stephen Myler looked comfortable at inside centre and given the right situation Carlos can still be the magician at fly half.  In the pack, Paul Shields has the edge when it comes to line out throwing and we have great potential in our young locks.  And by the end of the game we had 10 English players on the pitch !
                       

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