Northampton Saints
Thoughts from the Chron 5th November
By Chris Gleadell
November 6 2009
So near and yet so very, very far on Saturday up at Welford Road. The game itself was a bit of a conumdrum. If the old adage were true about forwards winning games and backs deciding by how many were true then a couple of questions were raised. Just how could a team stay in it till when they were constantly taken apart at scrum time
Thoughts from the Chron 5th November 2009
and perhaps even more telling how could a team so dominant in that set piece not score a hatful through their own invention?
It's true we did creak,
especially in the front row. But then as much as Leicester had lost players
left, right and centre they were still able to field Castrogiovanni and Ayerza,
two very wily international warhorses at prop. Saints on the other hand having
their first three choice tightheads, all internationals, out of action had to
switch their most effective loosehead, Soane Tonga'uiha, over to the other side
of the scrum, not ideal.Even more so with Dylan Hartley away on international
duty too. Fair play however to the two lads that came in. Reggie Dreyer and
Brett Sharman are certainly ones for future. Despite the Tigers pack being the
dominant force they stuck at it all night, never gave up the ghost, and
probably learnt as much in an hour out on the Welford Road pitch than they did
in a month out on the training paddock.
However Tigers did pick up penalty after penalty in this area and as predicted
last week the metronome boot of Jeremy Staunton did the damage. At the end of
the day though the difference was just 14 points, two converted tries and given
that the home side were ‘gifted' two scores by the Saints perhaps things were
not quite so bad as some would have you believe. Yes in simple terms the
scoreboard is the only yardstick that counts on the night but outside of that
domination at the scrum, and to some extent the rolling maul, the home side had
very little to offer. Perhaps that was not all down to players missing.
The creation was all on the Saints side even to the extent that, as some wag
said afterwards, not content with creating our own chances we created a couple
for Leicester too. Get parity in that scrum, and that will happen when the
likes of Euan Murray, Brian Mujati and Santi Bonorino are available and others
gain more experience, then not only does that penalty count drop alarmingly but
you are giving our backs good ball too.
Now I know that anyone reading this on the other side of bandit country
in darkest Leicestershire will point out they were missing a few in their back
division too but there is no escaping the fact that as a unit Saints looked
much more the danger with ball in hand. And that is even without two of their
most influential attacking forces in Shane Geraghty and Ben Foden. All things
being equal you could see why Tigers are having trouble, outside of Saints
helping them, scoring tries this season. Perhaps whatever your personnel out on
the pitch its all down to a collective mindset throughout the club.
Whilst on that collective mindset much was made of Barry Everitt's wayward pass
that was picked off by Anthony Allen in the closing stages. There were moans of
a bonus point lost and that maybe so but at a time when people are moaning
about the lack of adventure and quality in the Guinness Premiership it shows
that Saints at least are still going hell for leather to get more out of the
game up to the final whistle.
In summing up the game, yes maybe a loss but going forward I think there was a
lot to take out of the game for the Saints. Despite the return game again being
on a Six Nations weekend at the end of February it is certainly one to look
forward too.
PYTHONESQUE
And now for something completely different. A few years back the Monty Python
team wrote a sketch about a headmaster addressing a class, it went as follows.
"Now, before I begin the lesson, will those of you who are playing
in the match this afternoon move your clothes down onto the lower peg
immediately after lunch, before you write your letter home, if you're not
getting your hair cut, unless you've got a younger brother who is going out
this weekend as the guest of another boy, in which case, collect his note
before lunch, put it in your letter after you've had your hair cut, and make
sure he moves your clothes down onto the lower peg for you."
Yes total confusion and I can hear you asking yourselves what the hell has that
got to do with rugby? Well I am pretty sure the powers that be have got Messrs
Cleese, Palin, Jones & Idle out of retirement to design the structure of
the new Anglo-Welsh cup, (sponsored by LV=), along those lines.
Here goes, and no I have not made any of this up.
Listen up Northampton, you are playing in the LV= Cup against Tigers, Sale,
Sarries & Ospreys. However you are not competing in a group with these
teams. You are in a group with Leeds, Dragons and Bath who you are not playing
against. In simple terms you are competing with teams you are not competing
against. You can qualify for the LV= Cup semi finals by heading the group of
teams you are not competing against. However in the beauty of this system this
does not mean you actually have to win a game at all. Given the structure you
could in theory have a group where no team wins a single game at all. The
team that loses by the least amount would be declared the ‘winners'. These
‘winners' would, again in theory, leapfrog a team that has won every single
game but was pipped to the post by a team that had also won on every occasion
but by more points. There, simple.
Clear as mud isn't it? I guess the idea was to make the whole thing more
exciting with it being downgraded slightly as it is to be played over
international weekends. In its old format some clubs paid scant regard to it
anyway and I suspect we will see that happen even more. The Welsh regions,
through no fault of their own, will be severely affected by international callups.
Saints first opponents, Ospreys, have ten of their 1st XV away with Wales and
along with other players unavailable through injury etc is almost three times
that number. With twelve teams in the Guinness Premiership that load is more
evenly spread but again teams may take the opportunity to rest players after
the strains of GP and European rugby. On the other hand teams that supply no or
few players to the national side like Worcester, Sarries and Wasps might see
this as a tangible shot at silverware and be all out to progress.
For Saints well I am not a mind reader and am not sure how Big Jim will be
viewing this one. Do you view it as a development competition or go for glory?
Team selection, unavailable as I write this, will tell us that but given
Osprey's shortages an away win down at the Liberty Stadium may well be on the
cards.
With the game on a Thursday night there seems little interest in it over the
border, indeed whoever runs the Ospreys official website even forgot to list
it. I suspect that as always a few hardy souls will be heading west for the
game, I know at the very least the intrepid bunch from the Saints Supporters
Club are running a coach. For most of us it will be the radio or online
updates.
However if you do go and we win, don't forget to move your clothes to the lower
peg...
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No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
Tetleys Block F E143
Excellent thoughts Chris!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:11:06:07:08:57 by Wee Jim.
Saint Tim, don't know whether you are critical or supportive of the regional set-up in Wales. Although the set up initially had many opponents in Wales (from supporters of the individual clubs who had to combine with the 'enemy'), it is gradually settling down. You must admit though that it has the enormous advantage that age-group, semi-pro and full pro rugby are all part of the same pyramid. Aberavon were one of the very anti clubs and were left without any influence on the Ospreys but last night it showed that they have come round to the extent that one of their players, King, was on the bench (he is also part of the Ospreys age-group set up). Its through the age-group rugby that attitudes in Wales have changed, as kids go through from clubs to regions. Its this kind of thing that Fran Cotton was trying to influence in England but, fortunately or unfortunately depending on your view, the clubs were too strong and ingrained. Leeds can be used as a good example of the difficulties in England, Yorkshire have a strong rugby union tradition but their level 1 club find it very difficult to stay in the top division, hence their best players tend to move on.
Perhaps we're not poker players, more 'twisting' Blackjack ones?
06/11/2009 17:16
One wonders are these players professional or amateur players?
Both system have their merits and demerits. On the whole I prefer the English system with relegation etc but it definitely needs work to ensure game time for good young players which works as you point out in Wales.
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
Tetleys Block F E143
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