NEWCASTLE FALCONS vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

GP – SUNDAY 14^TH SEPTEMBER, 2008 – 3PM

KINGSTON PARK

MATCH PREVIEW

Brothers and sisters,

Once again we are to meet on Sunday, the holiest of holy days, that upon which the Gods that are Saintsmen walk amongst us.  My sermon today shall be brief, as no words can accurately predict what will be done.  We must never forgo those that stand tall and proud for us, even though they may be far from home.  The sacrifices that are made on our behalf are made selflessly and we should accept them with the appropriate level of sanctity.  And when these mighty individuals that unite to become as one take to the field of play let us rejoice and sing our praise to them.

And so it is that we come to the second super Sunday and the next game of the roller coaster ride that is a season supporting Northampton Saints.  For those of us that worship at the altar of St James we face a trip oop north.  As good a place to start our travels as anywhere, our first away game is at Newcastle.  Kingston Park is our most distant ground in the GP at 444 miles round trip (according to the AA).  Not that far for those of us who travelled down to the darkest West Country last season to face the Pirates at Camborne (twice), racking up the miles at 578 per round trip. 

There are parallels to be drawn between our two sides; both are lead by successful ex Saxons coaches, both coaches (or DOR's) took over in the summer of 2007, both are looking to re-build their respective squads.  If the current comparison ends there then we can look at the state of the Falcons now alongside the Saints position of a couple of seasons ago, lack of strength in depth, unsupported DOR, seeming factions within the squad etc all lead to the Saints relegation.  Will the same fate befall the Falcons?  Well the bookies and most of the 'experts' seem to think so.  Coral have them at 13-8 to finish bottom of the league with Saints at 6-1.

The indications in pre season were also pretty ominous for our Northern brethren.  Losses against Western Force, who Saints beat convincingly, and newly relegated Leeds with the only win at French D2 outfit Racing Métro 92 Paris 10 - 37 Newcastle Falcons.  Seemingly looking for any silver lining, the supporters did seem to take heart that Saints old boy John 'Rhino' Rudd scored a try so early in the season against Leeds.  However, it is the loss of key Falcons players Toby Flood and Matthew Tait (as well as a pretty good scrum half) that hit the headlines and may well be the deciding factor in their season.  Amongst the congregation it seems that there is not too much confidence in the backs scoring many points this year or indeed getting much usable ball in attacking positions.  The poll on the Falcons SN site reveals that 45% of their fans thought that the wingers would score in the first game.  However, more interestingly, 18% thought they would not score a try all season!

The respective clubs first games of the season could not have been different.  With Saints looking to play the game at hyper-speed and getting the points against Wuss, Newcastle struggled against Sale.  Perhaps struggle is a bit kind compared with the remarks from their own message board bordering on the blasphemous…

          Comment by Pityacker

Clegg being praised by the coach as outstanding is ludicrous. He is a young and very promising player for the future but at this level today, sorry a no no especially in the position we are in as relegation fodder. When Jonny is away for half a season and he is the first choice it shows the short sightedness of the owner/coaches on lack of quality recruitment…After watching Northampton on Sky last night we could be in for a hard time next week but hope I am wrong.

Comment by DGNTR

"I thought Rory was outstanding at fly half"

That single statement has me convinced that Bates is the worst rugby coach on this planet, and completely out of sorts with what it takes to make a team capable of winning at KP. I will not be returning to KP in the near future, until this mess of a team is sorted out.

This time I've really had enough.

Today was an embarrassment against a poor Sale team.

The management at KP are a joke, until they are bulleted and a new owner is in place, we will be out of business by this time next year at the latest.

So to today's game. If recent history has shown us anything it is that the two sides are pretty evenly matched on the park.  In the 06 - 07 season the spoils were shared Saints 25 - Falcons 23 and Falcons 16 - Saints 7 as they were in the preceding 05 - 06 season with Saints 9 - Falcons 16 and Falcons 13 - Saints 32.  So no real advantage has been demonstrated over recent history and with our 15 month prolonged premiership pre season and the introduction of the ELVen nation to the GP it looks like it's all up for grabs.

Our team for the Wuss game demonstrated that Big Jim was going to be true to his word and pick on form.  Dickson did nothing wrong at scrum half and should keep his position, especially returning to Kingston Park.  Paul Shields had a pretty good game too but did Dylans impact score do enough to get him back as first choice?  The back row are pretty self selecting on last weeks showing and rightfully so.

My predictions for the Saintsmen to launch the crusade northwards is:

15 Bruce

14 Ashton

13 Clarke

12 Downey

11 Lamont

10 Spencer

9 Dickson

8 Wilson

7 Gray

6 Best

5 Day

4 Lobbe

3 Murray

2 Hartley

1 Tonga’uiha

The Falcons team is a little more difficult to pick as many of the faithful are hoping that Jonny the false messiah (there is only one Carlos) will be fit to take on the responsibilities of the number 10 shirt from the young pretender Rory Clegg.  I think they will risk it.  Their forwards performed reasonably well last week but when the ball did come out it was slow and then kicked away.  I reckon the forwards will stay mainly unchanged.

As with last week this is a must win game.  Both sides need the points to set their seasons off to the all important good start and we always seem to have pretty close games.  If Saints can maintain the momentum gained last week then I think we will be too strong for Falcons and come away with at least the four points, if not more.  If that is the case and the Falcons end up with nothing then it does not look good for the rest of their season!  However, if we don’t get anything from the game against the side widely seen as the weakest in the league then what does our season hold?

The congregation at Kingston Park last weekend was a lowly 5,224.  It seems that the sermons are not reaching out to the local parishioners in the way expected. 

So, brothers and sisters, let us prey, on those Falcons as they would prey upon us.  Our players that art in Green Black and Gold, hallowed be thy game.  Tries will be done, the win will come, in Newcastle as it is at the Gardens. Give us on Sunday our weekly fix, and forgive us our trespass as we forgive those who trespass on Piggy’s patch.  Lead us fans not into temptation of losing thoughts, but deliver us our victory.  For thine is the conquest, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. 

Amen!

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