News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
By Howlin'
December 14 2008
It's great to be back in the premiership. Back to playing top opposition week in week out. But I don't think many of us were expecting to play the same premiership club five times. Well at least we haven't played Bristol since............well last week actually.
December 14 2008
It's great to be back in the premiership. Back to playing top opposition week in week out. But I don't think many of us were expecting to play the same premiership club five times. Well at least we haven't played Bristol since............well last week actually.
ECC Round 4
Bristol Rugby v Northampton Saints
Memorial Ground Bristol
Sunday 14th December 2008 KO 3pm
It's great to be back in the premiership. Back to playing top opposition week in week out. But I don't think many of us were expecting to play the same premiership club five times. Well at least we haven't played Bristol since..........well last week actually. I wonder does familiarity breed contempt? Probably not but it must be difficult for the coaches to convince the squads that each game is a new challenge, posing new problems.
Well both teams' coaches decided to ring the changes in team selection for this latest encounter in their second meeting in the European Challenge Cup at the Memorial ground. But after last weeks sound thrashing of what many would have you believe was Bristol's reserve team, their motivation appeared to differ.
Richard Hill said:
"There's been a lot of work put in this week, particularly on our defence because we leaked a lot of points and were very disappointed to be defeated so heavily."
"We did field what some people might perceive to be an under strength team but we still didn't expect to get beaten by ten tries to nil so we've done a lot of soul searching."
"There have been two drivers behind the selection. The first, to ensure that we win at home and the second to prepare the players who haven't played for a couple of weeks for the next round of Guinness Premiership matches."
He named ten changes to the squad.
Luke Arscott; Tom Arscott, Neil Brew, Luke Eves, David Lemi; Ed Barnes, Shaun Perry; Mark Irish, David Blaney, Darren Crompton; Dave Attwood, Robert Sidoli; Matt Salter, Joe El Abd (capt), Dan Ward-Smith
Replacements:
Scott Linklater, Alex Clarke, Nathan Budgett, Alfie To'oala, Graeme Beveridge, Adrian Jarvis, Lee Robinson
Jim said:
The 22 who played last week set the standard for the rest of the season," he said. "We don't rotate just for the sake of it. We have confidence in all of the players in the squad and the six who come in know they have a high standard to match. Our focus has all been on putting in a good performance on Sunday and leaving Bristol with a good result. We are determined to play the best we can every week and to win every week."
He named six changes to the squad with many of the previously "ever presents" being rested. Also Ashton named at 15 for the first time.
15 Chris Ashton, 14 Paul Diggin, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 Chris Mayor, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Ben Foden, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 3 Barry Stewart, 4 Christian Day, 5 Alex Rae, 6 Mark Easter, 7 Scott Gray, 8 Mark Hopley
Replacements
16 Paul Shields, 17 Tom Smith, 18 Matt Lord, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Carlos Spencer
22 Neil Starling
So would Richard Hill's re-enforcements and home advantage turn around a 66-3 defeat from last week or would Jim Mallinder's squad rotation illustrate a new found strength in depth at Saints and continue the winning momentum away from Franklins Gardens? I settled down by the radio to find out.
Well the record books will show that Saints got the bonus point win (25-21) that they needed and are now in the quarter finals of the ECC. It now remains to push on and try to achieve a top two seeding which must surely be within their capability.
It would therefore be churlish to be negative over the performance. As the two muppets commentating were keen to point out in between their comments on the weather, Bristol were desperate to win today after last week and in preparation for the league game to come. It was also a Saints team bereft of its key leaders and at least two of our players of the season so far. Before the game I was expecting it to be tight and a win was by no means certain. So this is definitely job done.
As in true Saints fashion however they kept us on the edge of our seats until the very end. The match was won by what sounded a very competent first half performance. Sound defence kept Bristol at bay and every time they were awarded a scoring penalty Saints went on the attack and came away with a try. Following Myler's third minute penalty tries by Foden, Clarke and Mayor gave Saints a healthy 20-9 lead at half time.
There didn't seem to be too much to worry about. Saints attack with both Clarke and Lamont to the fore were clinical, the defence solid and even the referee trying to tackle Foden couldn't prevent his try under the posts. Too many penalties were being given away and Myler seemed a little off key with the boot but surely a bonus point win was on the cards.
The second half continued in the same vein and Bristol's woes were compounded when their captain Jo El Abd went off injured. Was Richard Hill muttering "I told you so" under his breath I wonder.
Ben Foden sealed a fine personal performance by scoring the bonus point try about 12 mins in. Again Clarke and Lamont had figured strongly in the build up as Saints turned defence into attack.
Myler missed again to leave the score 25-9. Game over ?
Well maybe the Saints believed it was. The scoreboard wasn't troubled again until both teams made a raft of changes with the benches being fully utilised.
The changes clearly benefited Bristol more as they mounted more attacks mainly through the forwards. Lee Robinson stormed over to bring the score back to 25-16 and the nerves started to jangle.
As when Bristol scored previously Saints bounced back onto the attack but this time did not come away with a score. The attack broke down with Mayor dropping the ball. Brizz came back and Arscott went over for their second try as the Saints defence suddenly began to spring holes. The conversion was missed but the score was now 25-21 with ten minutes to go. Bristol were in the ascendency, the home crowd had found their voice and to add to Saints problems Carlos was now limping.
As before Saints managed to use the Bristol score as motivation to go back on the attack. But Carlos' injury appeared crucial as he missed the resultant penalty. Saints continued to attack but now a knock on and a forward pass brought try scoring chances to an abrupt end.
There was still time for Bristol to go back upfield courtesy of yet another penalty however Hopley won the lineout and the clock ticked down.
Overall I think the coaches are going to be pleased with this result. The bonus point win away 25-21 against a premiership (at least for now) team having fielded a weakened team including players fresh back from injury is quite an achievement. Throwing all the subs on almost at the same time led to some confusion and lack of concentration but they will all learn from this. The big guns will be back next week for what will be a very tough match against Quins. Hopefully the squad can bring the lessons learned from this competition into to the premiership and come away with a much needed win.
Well both teams' coaches decided to ring the changes in team selection for this latest encounter in their second meeting in the European Challenge Cup at the Memorial ground. But after last weeks sound thrashing of what many would have you believe was Bristol's reserve team, their motivation appeared to differ.
Richard Hill said:
"There's been a lot of work put in this week, particularly on our defence because we leaked a lot of points and were very disappointed to be defeated so heavily."
"We did field what some people might perceive to be an under strength team but we still didn't expect to get beaten by ten tries to nil so we've done a lot of soul searching."
"There have been two drivers behind the selection. The first, to ensure that we win at home and the second to prepare the players who haven't played for a couple of weeks for the next round of Guinness Premiership matches."
He named ten changes to the squad.
Luke Arscott; Tom Arscott, Neil Brew, Luke Eves, David Lemi; Ed Barnes, Shaun Perry; Mark Irish, David Blaney, Darren Crompton; Dave Attwood, Robert Sidoli; Matt Salter, Joe El Abd (capt), Dan Ward-Smith
Replacements:
Scott Linklater, Alex Clarke, Nathan Budgett, Alfie To'oala, Graeme Beveridge, Adrian Jarvis, Lee Robinson
Jim said:
The 22 who played last week set the standard for the rest of the season," he said. "We don't rotate just for the sake of it. We have confidence in all of the players in the squad and the six who come in know they have a high standard to match. Our focus has all been on putting in a good performance on Sunday and leaving Bristol with a good result. We are determined to play the best we can every week and to win every week."
He named six changes to the squad with many of the previously "ever presents" being rested. Also Ashton named at 15 for the first time.
15 Chris Ashton, 14 Paul Diggin, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 Chris Mayor, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Ben Foden, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 3 Barry Stewart, 4 Christian Day, 5 Alex Rae, 6 Mark Easter, 7 Scott Gray, 8 Mark Hopley
Replacements
16 Paul Shields, 17 Tom Smith, 18 Matt Lord, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Carlos Spencer
22 Neil Starling
So would Richard Hill's re-enforcements and home advantage turn around a 66-3 defeat from last week or would Jim Mallinder's squad rotation illustrate a new found strength in depth at Saints and continue the winning momentum away from Franklins Gardens? I settled down by the radio to find out.
Well the record books will show that Saints got the bonus point win (25-21) that they needed and are now in the quarter finals of the ECC. It now remains to push on and try to achieve a top two seeding which must surely be within their capability.
It would therefore be churlish to be negative over the performance. As the two muppets commentating were keen to point out in between their comments on the weather, Bristol were desperate to win today after last week and in preparation for the league game to come. It was also a Saints team bereft of its key leaders and at least two of our players of the season so far. Before the game I was expecting it to be tight and a win was by no means certain. So this is definitely job done.
As in true Saints fashion however they kept us on the edge of our seats until the very end. The match was won by what sounded a very competent first half performance. Sound defence kept Bristol at bay and every time they were awarded a scoring penalty Saints went on the attack and came away with a try. Following Myler's third minute penalty tries by Foden, Clarke and Mayor gave Saints a healthy 20-9 lead at half time.
There didn't seem to be too much to worry about. Saints attack with both Clarke and Lamont to the fore were clinical, the defence solid and even the referee trying to tackle Foden couldn't prevent his try under the posts. Too many penalties were being given away and Myler seemed a little off key with the boot but surely a bonus point win was on the cards.
The second half continued in the same vein and Bristol's woes were compounded when their captain Jo El Abd went off injured. Was Richard Hill muttering "I told you so" under his breath I wonder.
Ben Foden sealed a fine personal performance by scoring the bonus point try about 12 mins in. Again Clarke and Lamont had figured strongly in the build up as Saints turned defence into attack.
Myler missed again to leave the score 25-9. Game over ?
Well maybe the Saints believed it was. The scoreboard wasn't troubled again until both teams made a raft of changes with the benches being fully utilised.
The changes clearly benefited Bristol more as they mounted more attacks mainly through the forwards. Lee Robinson stormed over to bring the score back to 25-16 and the nerves started to jangle.
As when Bristol scored previously Saints bounced back onto the attack but this time did not come away with a score. The attack broke down with Mayor dropping the ball. Brizz came back and Arscott went over for their second try as the Saints defence suddenly began to spring holes. The conversion was missed but the score was now 25-21 with ten minutes to go. Bristol were in the ascendency, the home crowd had found their voice and to add to Saints problems Carlos was now limping.
As before Saints managed to use the Bristol score as motivation to go back on the attack. But Carlos' injury appeared crucial as he missed the resultant penalty. Saints continued to attack but now a knock on and a forward pass brought try scoring chances to an abrupt end.
There was still time for Bristol to go back upfield courtesy of yet another penalty however Hopley won the lineout and the clock ticked down.
Overall I think the coaches are going to be pleased with this result. The bonus point win away 25-21 against a premiership (at least for now) team having fielded a weakened team including players fresh back from injury is quite an achievement. Throwing all the subs on almost at the same time led to some confusion and lack of concentration but they will all learn from this. The big guns will be back next week for what will be a very tough match against Quins. Hopefully the squad can bring the lessons learned from this competition into to the premiership and come away with a much needed win.
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News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: ComeOnYouSaints.com (IP Logged)
Date: 14/12/2008 17:38
News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: St Marlowe (IP Logged)
Date: 14/12/2008 17:42
Thanks Howlin'
Good reporting and even more timely than Smurf's Swindle!
Good reporting and even more timely than Smurf's Swindle!
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: oddshapedballs (IP Logged)
Date: 14/12/2008 17:56
A brilliant report given the quality of the raw material with which Howlin was working
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: St.Rich Joe, Niamh and Sam's Dad (IP Logged)
Date: 14/12/2008 20:07
Nice one Howlin, I agree with your summary and would add all the psychological side effects are to our advantage. They threw in their big guns at home against a less experienced Saints unit and still lost. Now...I can't wait for Saturday!
Come join my Six Nations prediction game on SportGuru! It's free and loads of fun. Just click here:
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Pool code: tunabane
Come join my Six Nations prediction game on SportGuru! It's free and loads of fun. Just click here:
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Pool code: tunabane
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: Ian Spokes (IP Logged)
Date: 14/12/2008 22:48
It seems almost as if you were there. I wasn't even listening on the radio, so thanks Malcolm.
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: ChrisG (IP Logged)
Date: 15/12/2008 07:28
And here I was I expecting beer fuelled rantings after a lunchtime in the Shovel.
Good stuff Sir!
Good stuff Sir!
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: Wee Jim (IP Logged)
Date: 15/12/2008 08:23
Godd stuff indeed - missed the radio too so the report ins much appreciated!
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: Saint Dom (IP Logged)
Date: 15/12/2008 13:29
Very impressive - I may be in a minority in thinking the two James weren't too bad. Their commentary on the weather was quite evocative and they do manage to put across the flavour of the game, even if they miss out on some of the detail.
Having been a radio commentator in a previous incarnation, I guess I know how hard it is and how easy to lose concentration.
Having been a radio commentator in a previous incarnation, I guess I know how hard it is and how easy to lose concentration.
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: eb13saint (IP Logged)
Date: 15/12/2008 16:11
I didn't notice that there was any weather to comment on!
Good stuff Howlin - I was there and this is still most illuminating.
Good stuff Howlin - I was there and this is still most illuminating.
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: Phil. (IP Logged)
Date: 15/12/2008 16:13
A good read, H!
I'm with you Dom, I don't mind the two James's.
I'm with you Dom, I don't mind the two James's.
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: Saint Dom (IP Logged)
Date: 15/12/2008 16:40
According to James Burridge, the sky was blue and it was a perfect winter sunset - I know, because he said it twice!
You wouldn't have noticed, Emma - watching the rugby like a hawk ...
You wouldn't have noticed, Emma - watching the rugby like a hawk ...
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: eb13saint (IP Logged)
Date: 15/12/2008 16:45
Ahh - thought I'd missed a tornado or something!
I don't like one of the Jameses - the young blond one - I let him ten euros in Toulon and he still hasn't given it back!
I don't like one of the Jameses - the young blond one - I let him ten euros in Toulon and he still hasn't given it back!
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: Saint Dom (IP Logged)
Date: 15/12/2008 17:32
Let's round up a posse and go after him - Emma must be repaid, with interest...
Should be able to find him in the Press Room at FG Saturday!
Should be able to find him in the Press Room at FG Saturday!
Re: News:ECC - Saints qualify after Bristol fightback
Posted by: ChrisG (IP Logged)
Date: 15/12/2008 18:31
Look on the bright side Emma, those Euros will be worth so much more when you get your hands on them.
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