We are back for a Friday night local derby v Ampthill. Blues had a disapposinting loss where they had the better of the game against Hartpury, but 2 lineouts and not quite being back to get over the line were ultimately their undoing.
Ampthill are always a tricky opponent but Blues should be strong enough at home and it will give us an opportunity to rotate a few players. I think this is a game where Lennon and Price should start and Hill deserves another go on the wing. Price in particular needs a game as he looked rusty in the few mins he was on and we need to think about getting game time into some of these players.
Forwards, the new young Saints 2nd row looked pretty decent and may be back on the bench if Ward is unfit and perhaps Heffernan could have a bit of a rest on the bench.
With Blues are 2 points ahead of Worcester but have now played 2 of the harder games home and away.
Friday night under the lights a local derby bound to attract a decent crowd, should be a cert five pointer, however as we know from the past, nothing is guaranteed in life.
Let's pray we avoid giving away penalties, watch out for Ampthill's extra long lineout throw!!!!
Hopefully the injury list will improve and with luck a couple of 'loners' would be helpful.
As I mentioned elsewhere 'turn up early find your seat (don't stand up) and bring your voices'
Pretty poor performance in the first half. Ampthill butchered some chances and probably should’ve been more ahead. Sorted ourselves out in the 2nd half, particular the 20 mins after half time. Game probably turned on the Rylands yellow card; we scored 14 points in the sin bin period.
Tui got POTM and had a good game, although I would’ve given it to Herman who I thought was outstanding and made amends for possibly costing us the game last week with his yellow card. Those 2 were definitely the stand outs. Joe Hill took his try well, but he does seem to have a tendency to drop the ball a bit too often.
Deano withdrew before the game. Hopefully just precautionary as injuries are mounting up and we will have very little access to Saints players for our next 3 games. Fish should be back next week but not sure about any of the others. Witheat is still on crutches, I thought I saw him without crutches at one point so not sure if he suffered a setback but I’m not sure if we’ll see him at all this season.
Next 3 games before the break are home to Scottish and away at Doncaster and Caldy. I think we need to win at least 2 of these, ideally all 3 to remain in pole position for 2nd. After the break, our fixture list looks easier on paper. We can write off Ealing away and the only other game we would not go into as favourites is away at Worcester, which I expect may end up the 2nd place decider.
Just watched the game again on Clubber having attended in the rain.
One team coped with the weather, the team didn’t.
Really nice impact from the bench, albeit against downhearted opponents.
Max points, no new injuries and some new faces.
I thought when we tightened up and played more direct that is when we scored the points in the 2nd half.
1st try was well worked 5m play using Herman, Tuilagi and Uru, 3 of arguably our best ball carriers.
Don't think the yellow from Herman cost us v Hartpury the overthrown lineout and their 5 m lineout won it for them.
I think the weather didn't help with Hill and also the lack of game time, he is young and I think he has potential. He is new at this level and the time he was used to, he still needs to adjust. Lots of others split the ball too.
I did think Uru was MOTM but Herman did also play well.
I think probably the best unsung hero is Worth, he covers so many positions, but not only does he cover them, he is more than capable in each of them and is good. I would not be surprised if he win s players player of the year.
I thought Ampthill defended well for long periods but didn’t really offer much of an attacking threat. This was a derby game in poor conditions that we might have lost a few seasons ago but now they have both the ball carriers and the nous to get the wins.
Agree with the previous comments about George Worth - an excellent addition to the squad.
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