Thoughts from the Chron

 A very happy New Year to all of you and as we head into 2009 an interesting period for the Saints over the next month. By the time we travel to the Stoop at the end of January things might have started to look a bit clearer on how the season is shaping up overall. In that time we play our final two European Challenge Cup group games against Montpellier and Toulon but probably more importantly a further two home Guinness Premiership games against Bristol and our old friends from down the road Tigers.

The game against Bristol at the Gardens on Saturday looks to be the most important of the bunch. Of course there is a long way to go in the season still but a glance at the Guinness table will tell you that a good win on Saturday will put the Saints over two five point games clear of basement club Bristol by Saturday evening and also put a bit of added pressure on the other clubs around us.

That cushion, should we prevail of course, will not only give us a bit of breathing space but given that Saturdays game is a halfway point in the league season and to date Bristol have just achieved a single win, albeit over Saints, it could be a long way towards GP safety and objective one of the season achieved.

Bristol of course should not be taken lightly, there are, as always it seems, fighting not only for their place in the Premiership but, should you believe rumours about their current financial plight, their very existence should they lose their seat at the top table. There seems to be a train of thought that we cannot lose at home but on the other hand cannot succeed on the road (more of which later), if only it were as simple as that. The truth is that we will have to fight every inch of the way as looking once more at the table a victory for the visitors will more than likely see them leapfrog above Newcastle and consign the Falcons to that bottom spot and therein might lie Bristols survival as a club.

Having said that I think overall we will have too much for them, complacency cannot play a part, and we will start 2009 looking upwards rather than down,

LOOKING BACK

Since the last column before Xmas the Saints played two Guinness Premiership games. The win over Harlequins at the Gardens in front of a packed Gardens with the crowd in a festive mood was the highlight.

The lads thoroughly deserved the win and the accolades but as predicted the papers were full of how current media darlings Quins lost the game because of ther heroic Heineken efforts in the previous two weeks rather than Saints winning it. Strange then that in the run up to the game Quins All Black flyhalf Nick Evans was talking up the game as a formality after the wins over Stade Francais, even going as far to suggest if his side lost to the likes of Northampton the two Stade wins would count for nothing. Some postings on online message boards from Quins supporters echoed that thought, two good wins against top class opposition and all of a sudden they were world beaters. Not so, and perhaps rather than tiredness being used an excuse complacency played its part too, a timely reminder for us before Saturdays game maybe?

The second game down at the Recreation Ground, Bath the day after Boxing Day things did not quite go as plan. Having been ‘robbed' of a victory, and a bonus point one at that, a matter of weeks ago against the table toppers the team travelled down to the West Country in hope of getting something out of the game. They more than held their own and dominated territory and possession for long periods but just could not convert that to points. As the game progressed the home side upped the ante and ran in tries to not only take themselves back to the top of the pile but also deny Saints the losing bonus point they probably deserved.

Afterwards Saints new South African signing Juandré Kruger, a late consolation try scorer himself, commented that the Saints problems on the road may be down to a mental issue. I really hope Juandr é has read this one wrong as we have been (pardon the pun) down that road before and it gradually ate away at the team. I remember a Corne Krige led side week after week failing with the whitewash at their mercy, even dominating games but losing. On one of these occasions at Saracens we seemed to spend most of the game in the Sarries twenty-two but endlessly shifted the ball across the pitch time after time without making progress forward. Indeed if the groundsmen had up sticks and put them along the touchline we would have won by a country mile, instead as we did oft times that season we allowed the opposition to break out and steal the game and only good fortune prevented us from dropping into Division One two years earlier.

Why do I mention this, well this time round I think we are looking at a completely different scenario though there is a danger we might start thinking here we go again, especially as some of those involved are still at the club, Back then it was a collective malaise now to me it looks like we dwell too much on singular errors away from home and for want of a better word we still at times lack a cutting edge in certain situations. We know this team can perform and in time it will happen away from the Gardens but lets not force it and not get hung up on the whole issue, and we supporters can play a big part in this by sometimes keeping our own consul too. I think as a work in progress, and we do have to remember that's what we are, we are on the right track. It would be sad to see any of the good progress made being eroded in anyway because what in the big scheme of things might only be a matter of adjustment and in some case sharpening up instead becomes a millstone across the squad. We perhaps need to take a step back at times and look where we were a year ago and look how far we have come and it may be a cliché but if success is a journey not a destination then we are still taking our first steps. It will happen, young Mr Kuger's quite right it is just grass and posts, we will succeed in time on the road as well as we do at the Gardens, have faith.

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