Thoughts from the Chron -  7th January 2010

Starring the man of the moment, Chris Ashton, who is perfecting the art of popping up in the right place at right time to grab victory from the jaws of defeat and doing a spot of juggling along the way to add to the dramatic tension. Then throw in the player who the opposition view as their current pantomime villain, Shane Geraghty, to twist the knife at the death with the coup de grace conversion and you have something that even Mrs. Shakespeare's boy Will would be proud of.

Joking apart you have to hand it to the team for never giving up the ghost. After Peter Hewat's breakaway interception try it looked like the visitors were going home with points gift-wrapped. But if we have learnt anything lately it is never to bet against Saints playing down the slope into the vocal cauldron however late in the day it may be.

Martin Bayfield, formerly of this parish, raised the point in ITV's roundup programme this week that the Saints of old would have folded under such pressure but this new breed just put their noses to the grindstone and fought their way back into contention. Messrs Ashton and Geraghty may well have got all the plaudits for orchestrating the last minute dramatic smash and grab but it was a victory built on the whole teams collective never say die resolve.

Despite some grumblings over that try at the death from the opposition it could not be denied that overall the better side on the day won and the victory moves Saints up to the giddy heights of second in the Guinness Premiership. We lie just a single point behind the now not so run away leaders Saracens. Whilst it might be a tad too early to write Sarries obituary there has been talk in certain quarters over the last week or so that they have in some respects been found out. A team that saw off all comers in the early part of the season have in a matter of weeks lost two and drawn one of their Premiership games.

As always when someone devises a ‘successful' new fangled way of playing the game that leaves everyone one else in their wake the opposition get to work to unlock the secret. It may take a season, it may take less - though I can remember when Saints were under the guidance of Alan Solomon's it taking three whole weeks before Dean Ryan, coach of Gloucester at the time, discovered the trick - but sooner or later it happens and everyone returns once more to the drawing board in search of the holy grail of rugby success.

Sometimes however that ‘trick' is found not to be sustainable over a long period of time, be that the playing personnel or the onset of winter and more testing conditions, in other words it runs out of steam and undoes itself. But whatever the reason you cannot help but think that indeed the game might be up at Sarries. Of course it could be a blip and they regroup to carry on the season in the same style but there would be few outside the club itself who would mourn their demise. Their brand of rugby has won few friends. Even some of their own support were not too enamoured by the fare on show despite victory after victory and I would guess now that reality has started to bite that voice might get louder. Waiting in the wings are the chasing pack, hopefully looking to take full advantage. Heading that pack are of course the Saints by dint of that single point.

In pre playoff days we might well have viewed ourselves as being the driving seat for the Championship. A team in the ascendancy just below - by the narrowest of margins - the one at the head of the table who may be perhaps on a downward slide.  Reaching that summit may be slightly tarnished nowadays given the playoffs but it would still be some achievement for the club to sit at the top of the pile, who knows that could be at the end of this weekend and then what price holding off all comers till season end?

Maybe no silverware nowadays for that achievement but home advantage at the Gardens for the semi finals and just as importantly in some eyes the fact that over the regular season we were indeed the best of the lot, a sure sign that we are indeed back as a top club.

And yes that is maybe an awful lot of chicken counting on my part with such a large chunk of the season still to be played out but it is certainly attainable given current form. No harm in us supporters dreaming and reaching for the stars but I am sure that Big Jim will have the lads feet firmly on the ground because one of the aspects of being a top club is that you are a big scalp that others will want to take. First up with the scissors is Bath down in the West Country on Saturday.

At the time of writing the game is in some doubt given the current freeze. As well as the possibility that the pitch may be frozen, though Bath are pulling out all the stops to thaw it, there is also the amount of snow already on the ground and even more forecast which may things tricky for travellers and spectators.

If the game does take place then, given their showing in the return game up here in Northampton, Bath might be looking to take that scalp. The former giants of the game came to the Gardens that day as distant also rans in most eyes. Virtually everyone, including their supporters, had written off their chances of getting anything out of the day. Yet they fought Saints every inch of the way and it took yet another inspired late show from Mr. Ashton at the death to see us home.

I would have expected Bath to kick on from the result but the reality is that last week they only escaped dropping to the bottom of the table by a narrow win at basement club Leeds. Then again, going back to Sarries above, perhaps just know the secret in playing us? It could, once again, be a close run thing but sitting here writing this with several inches of snow outside and more forecast over the coming days I think the weather might be the winner this weekend (indeed by the time you read this the game may well already be off) which may well suit us with two very big European games on the horizon. Now where did I put that sledge...?

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