I imagine that it’s only because there isn’t a beach within 70 miles of Northampton for him to practice on that Stephen Myler struggled so much with the penalties we gave Saints in the first half. Anyway, that succession of misses was enough to keep the game deadlocked at 0-0 until almost half time. Saints dominated possession and, on occasion, strung together phase after phase, camping in our 22 and putting us under extreme pressure. But, although we couldn’t break out, thanks to errors, Saints couldn’t quite crack our committed defence either. Our first real chance came on 25 minutes when Saints were penalised for offside, returning a Charlie kick downfield, but Charlie missed the kick. I cheerfully forgive him though, because he’d put in a couple of big tackles just a few minutes previously, one to stop a crash ball move, and the other to put a Saints player into touch just short of the try line. Lee Thomas sent a long range attempt wide a few minutes later.

Finally though, after we’d held out for almost the entire first half, Charlie missed touch with a penalty kick and Saints ran it back. They gained ground steadily, then slid a grubber kick through the stretched defence and Paul Diggin scored on the left. Bruce Reihana converted and, although we responded with good pressure in the final minute of the half, that attack petered out with a knock on.

We started the second half in the same style, gaining possession from the kick off and using Briggsy and Deano to try and batter a way through, before knocking on. A few minutes of evenly-matched struggle followed, but then Saints mashed a Sale scrum, drove on and worked the ball left. Some slick handling sent Chris Ashton over, but Reihana missed the conversion.

At 12-0 down, we needed a try to get us back into the game, and we exerted some good pressure on Saints, with Briggsy burrowing through, Eifion and Deano battering at the defence and Charlie almost sliding through a gap. But almost isn’t good enough and we came away empty handed. After a shapeless passage of play, Saints were awarded a penalty which Shane Geraghty, on for Stephen Myler, converted for 15-0 with 65 minutes gone.

 We continued to try and play with some adventure, knocking on just short of the try line. As the clock ticked down, we lost a scrum against the head, but worked the Saints’ attempted clearance to Vakacegu who made good ground on the right before the ball was switched left and Ben Cohen scored. The conversion was just good, off the post. In a last fling, we gained possession from the restart and drove down the field from deep in our own half to win a penalty on the Saints 10 metre line. But this time, luck was against us, the kick came back off the post and Saints emerged with the ball. Game over.

What do I think? Much better than two weeks ago. Courage, commitment and a real effort to play with the ball in hand were all evident, but were also always unlikely to be enough against a strong and confident Saints team that always had the upper hand. Were we unlucky not to sneak a losing bonus? Yes, but we were also lucky still to be in the game at half time- Saints could have been out of sight by that point. So on balance, probably a fair result, if one which is difficult to swallow. Personally, I always felt this was going to be a difficult game for us and so it proved. However, courage and commitment as we saw today will win us games before the end of the season. Keep the faith!

Oh and miracle of miracles, I won the Shirt off Your Back draw. My thanks to Eifion for his shirt, and for being such a gentleman in the presence of a burbling idiot.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon