Northampton Saints v Leicester Tigers.

LV= Cup.  Round 4.  6 February 2010

Result: Northampton Saints 23, Leicester Tigers 11

By Jonathan Stockham from Franklins Gardens.

Which is what a surprisingly large crowd did at the Gardens to watch a funny old game from Saints. Good in parts, sloppy in others, requiring resolute defence to keep the Tigers at bay. Both teams had players absent on international duty which gave some of the second string a chance to step up, which is the whole idea of the competition anyway. Saints' strength in depth in most positions is commendable these days, with players like Mark Easter showing quality throughout and  Paul Diggin, Joe Ansbro and Alan Dickens getting rare starts.

And what a start it was! Despite playing the wrong way, down the hill in the first half, Saints soon had the scoreboard clicking over with a tremendous try from first phase ball. A cleanly taken line out on the Tigers 22 was shipped out to Steve Myler who popped an inside ball back to Digger steaming in from his left wing on an angled run. He scythed through a rather confuzzled Tigers midfield to score by the posts, easing the successful conversion for the fly half.

Having displayed a move of quality and brilliance, Saints then lost concentration and started doing average things badly. Poor box kicks from Dickens kept Saints pinned back in their own 22 or long periods and even though the home side managed a few turnovers, Tigers kept attacking, leading to a penalty for Billy Twelvetrees after 15 minutes.

Saints awoke at that point and got the ball down the right end of the paddock. A scrum in the Tigers' half was worked right, Roger Wilson drove off the base down the narrow side and the ball taken on by Chris Mayor and then Wilson again feeding  Dickens who scampered over for his first ever try for Saints! Myler added the extras and Saints looked well in control at 14-3 at the end of the first quarter.

The flow then went Tigers way, with the ball being robbed off Saints at a maul and Twelvetrees  darted through two missed tackles before being brought down short of the line by Nacho Lobbe. Then a Saints up and under deep into Tigers territory was fielded by Amorosino who should have been flattened by two chasers. Instead he darted out of the way on his own 22 and set off up field for 50 metres, passed to Twelvetrees who ran the brilliant counter attacking try in at the Shrubbery Corner. Tackling and defensive organisation may well feature large in Saints training programme this week!

Vesty missed the conversion from out wide but the gap had narrowed to 14-8. Saints continued to pile the pressure on themselves and when a risky quick line out was thrown by Chris Ashton in Saints 22, Bruce Reihana had his clearing kick charged down. Dickens went to tidy up the loose ball and took a knock to the head for his troubles.

Half time arrived with no change in the score but not before more poor concentration and tactical kicking coughed up possession to the visitors.

Lee Dickson replaced Dickens at half time and immediately hared upfield deep into the Tigers half, offloading to Bruce in the red zone whereupon Tigers were penalised at the tackle. Three more points for Myler and 17-8 after 5 minutes to relieve the pressure. Tigers own penalty attempt fell short soon after when Brian Mujati was pinged at a scrum.

Both sides continued to exchange penalty awards until Tigers annoyed Sir by dropping a maul as Saints drove from a line out 30 metres out. Another smooth kick and three points for Myler. 20-8 after 13 minutes.

The usual stream of substitutions started and most worryingly, Geordan Murphy arrived to replace the injured Amorosino. James Downey came on for Mayor and Jimmy Cannon for the indefatigable Nacho.

Much tooing and froing took place but Tigers looked threatening in the closing minutes as they launched an attack from a tap penalty and on through the hands down the left touchline. Fortunately, they ran out of space as the touchline was willed inwards by the terrace faithful.

The sides had exchanged a penalty apiece in the final quarter and the game ended at 23-11.

Although reasonably exciting, this was a game strewn with errors by both sides. Despite some defensive howlers, Saints protected their try line well overall and frustrated the visitors with their doggedness.

It wasn't a great spectacle to celebrate the 200^th cap of a Saints legend. Bruce Reihana led the Saints team out to mark this milestone, becoming only the fifth player in Saints history to achieve this feat. Bruce has signed a new contract to stay with Saints for at least another year and hopes to end his playing career with the club. A committed and courageous player, Bruce has also served the Saints well as captain, most memorably in his promise to reverse the relegation disappointment of 3 years ago with his heartfelt speech from the pitch. Although no longer captain in name, he still sets a fine example by his attitude and workrate on and off the pitch.

Such leadership and loyalty is rare in sport these days. We are lucky to have Bruce Reihana as a stalwart of our club.

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