Two games yesterday attracting my interest, both of rather poor quality but both, eventually, yielding results very much to my satisfaction. Just as Scotland seem to have gone through a paradigm shift in upping their game (it couldn't get much lower mind) Saints seem to have regressed and allowed a combination of a somewhat cynical Bees team to spoil their possession and flow, often unchecked by referee Rowan Kitt who, on yesterday's performance, might have struggled to officiate a game of ping pong between the Flower Pot Men.

I normally give ref's the benefit of the doubt but Mr Kitt's unwillingness to punish Bees infringements at the breakdown, even after warnings and one earlier yellow card, was bewildering and, when he and his touch judges missed a blatant take-out of the jumper at a Saints line out, Bees realised they could get away with all sorts of nonsense unchecked.

The Saints game style which has been evolving over recent weeks is such that they don't need to get bogged down in the mire of slow, negative rugby and prefer a faster game which Bees set out to disrupt. That they were able to get away with doing that illegally is not necessarily their fault but very much a black mark against the officials.

Having said all that, Saints were far from their recent excellent form against the side lying bottom of ND1 and some of the players will have to have a long, hard look at the video analysis this week. Too much ill discipline gave away penalties and thus points or field position to the home side The half back pairing of Vass and Everitt was new but unsuccessful and only when Carlos reverted to fly half from full back later in the game did matters improve. Johnny Howard also continued the sharp service of recent games once he came on as a replacement for Vass and it must have been very frustrating for a rather forlorn Sharky Robinson, sitting with the supporters far away from the bench, to have seen the Saints struggling through the first half and into the second.

Bees opened the scoring early on after Saints had been pinged for offside and, from a 5 metre line out, the Bees pack, always a committed outfit in the loose, muscled over.  Saints launched counter attacks and went through the phases but were penalised again when Dylan was adjudged not to have released the ball in the tackle, yet had barely bounced on the ground as he was brought down!

The visitors had some success minutes later when Bees were penalised for coming in from the side close to their line and Saints opted to use their better scrummaging power instead of the kick. Mark Easter picked up from the base of the scrum and fed Ian Vass who drove over for the opening Saints try. Barry Everitt missed the conversion however and after 25 minutes Saints were still behind at 7-5.

They slipped further behind after Bees hit straight back and, when Saints unusually missed a couple of tackles, the home team went over in the left hand corner, adding the conversion from out wide to go further ahead at 14-5.

Easter led the fight back and charged upfield and Everitt put a booming touch finder to within 5 metres of the Bees line. They cleared the ball upfield but straight to Paul Diggin who launched another attack which saw Saints nearly score. However, the ref had seen an earlier spoiling infringement by Bees and sent flanker Will Matthews to the sinbin. Despite taking the ensuing 5 metre line out cleanly, the Saints forwards were muscled into touch and possession was lost.

As the first half wore down, Saints attacked but were not looking after the ball. Bees were penalised again for coming in from the side (Yellow card ref? No? Why?) but Saints squandered more possession in attacking positions.

They managed to do things rather better shortly after when Bees knocked on near their line. A powerful Saints scrum drove forward, keeping the Bees back row bound on for a change. Easter controlled the ball at his feet until the scrum stopped and Vass whipped the ball out to Everitt who made the first break through the Bees midfield before popping a pass up the Bruce Reihana who thundered through despairing tackles to score at the posts. Everitt added the extras to put Saints back in range at 14-12 at half time.

Saints had the benefit of the breeze in the second half but whatever the coaches said to them at half time didn't seem to have sunk in. John Clarke knocked on and mistakes were still too plentiful. Bees escaped with only a warning when Vass was spear tackled after the ball had long gone but Everitt took the 3 points on offer to move Saints into the lead for the first time in the game at 14-15.

Bees sent the restart kick upfield. Saints won a scrum from a knock on but Everitt sent his clearance kick too long and Bees had a scrum on the Saints 22 metre line. Saints won a scrum back after Bees knocked on but then won a penalty as Bees came in from the side again. Ref?.....No don't ask!

First Vass and then Everitt were replaced by 16 minutes into the half after Saints have given away more possession and Bees had attacked through the 10 channel, winning a scrum and driving forward, from where Barry Stewart was yellow carded for hands in the ruck. Bees took the kick from right in front of the posts and retook the lead at 17-15 after 22 minutes.

The Saints supporters, again outnumbering their local rivals, were starting to get nervous and even the first defeat of the season was a distinct possibility. The officials still weren't helping and in one passage of play alone missed a high tackle on Ben Lewitt, as well as clear offside by the Bees midfield and all Saints got was a scrum for a Bees knock on.

Eventually the Bees indiscretions were too obvious for the ref to ignore and penalty after penalty was awarded to Saints, but still no further yellow cards despite the repeated infringements. Bruce missed the goal from one of the kicks and with less than 10 minutes to go, the score from Saints point of view looked gloomy.

Then, with 33 minutes played, Soane Tonga'uhia led a charge up field only for Howard to knock on in the tackle. Saints won the scrum back 10 metres from the Bees line after wheeling it through 90 degrees and from there were nearly over but made sure when Easter kept the ball at his feet as the next scrum was driven over the Bees line and made sure of the third Saints try which went unconverted by Reihana.

17-20 with 5 minutes left.

The ref hadn't finished his nonsense yet though as Bees kicked off, Lewitt went for the catch but was shoved aside before touching the ball and what did Mr Kitt award? A knock on by Saints!! The home side then executed an illegal crossing movement so slowly that even the ref couldn't miss this one.

Saints kicked for touch upfield from the penalty, threw short and accurately to Matt Lord as front jumper, the pack drove on to make some good yardage and the ball was moved to midfield where Digger arrived at speed to burst through several tackles and go roaring in under the posts for the bonus point which had looked so unlikely for most of the game. Bruce added the conversion and, despite one late Bees flurry, which was robbed and made safe by Darren Fox, the game ended with a victory for Saints by 17- 27.

Match analysis and training this week ahead of the Cup semi-final against Plymouth should be interesting and probably not for the faint hearted. The team allowed the limited Bees game plan to get the better of them and stopped playing to their strengths. A poor referee is said to be equally bad for both teams but when one of those teams sets out to illegally spoil rather than play positive rugby and finds that the ref allows that style of play, a poor game will be the result. Bees will probably be delighted to have been in contention through much of this match but Saints will need to rethink their tactics in case of similar circumstances in the future.

However, a win is a win and the gap between Saints and second placed Exeter remains wide but not quite wide enough for Saints to start relaxing.

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