By Dr B (06/04/07)
April 6 2007

Easter Sunday April 8th 2007. Depending on your state of (dis)belief, the day when thoughts turn to resurrection and miracles can be said to occur. In that vein, we find ourselves entertaining the Saints from Northampton at Kingston Park hoping against hope that the Saints cannot achieve miracles (some might say they don’t really need to against the Falcons) and resurrect their season, languishing as they do at the foot of the Guinness Premiership table on a meagre 28 points, a full eight points behind the Falcons yet only a solitary point behind fellow strugglers, the Worcester Warriors.

Northampton have been sitting at the bottom of the league since the Warriors managed a dramatic victory over the Falcons at Sixways in March; a late Loki Crichton penalty miss at the death denying the Falcons a much-needed away win in an extremely tense, nailbiting and ultimately frustrating 23-21 loss for the men from the North-East. The Saints’ bottom-drawer status was further exacerbated by their inability to match the grunt of Bristol when the two teams met at the Memorial Ground on March 26th, the West Country men ploughing the Saints into a 31-19 defeat.

Instrumental to the Saints’ defeat at Bristol was the shambolic placekicking of their young league-convert flyhalf, Stephen Myler. A number of missed kicks cost the Saints valuable match points and a surge in the second half from the Bristolians saw the men from the Midlands go home without the comfort of a losing bonus point.

The current lethargy associated with the Saints’ kickers (both Reihana and Spencer had poorer kicking percentages than Myler going into the Bristol game) will no doubt please the Falcons forwards. It is oft quoted that a kicker’s job is to punish indiscipline from the opposing players, and with the Falcons’ squad containing the wildcat wildcard of Ben Woods - currently topping the Premiership ‘bad boy’ charts of defensive penalties (21) and yellow cards (4) – and the feisty plumber from Otley, Jason Oakes – joint second in terms of offensive fouls (5), there will no doubt be plenty of opportunities for the Saints’ kickers to go harvesting points from the Falcons’ generously-stocked orchard of indiscipline. Whether those kickers can convert the chances into points could well be the telling factor as to whether Easter Sunday is a bonny and blithe one for all fans of the black and white shirt.

We go into this home game on the back of two Premiership defeats to Worcester and Gloucester; the defeat at Sixways gave us all cause for concern as we squandered a healthy lead in an infamous (but all too predictable) second half collapse. The loss at Kingsholm was much different though: a fine backs display matched by good grunt from a powerful pack of forwards (albeit against a relatively poor Glos team on the night) saw Jamie Noon run in two fine tries upon his return from warming the England bench and Gloucester indiscipline around the setpiece towards the end almost saw the Falcons sneak a surprise win.

We should also take heart from our ECC QF defeat to the French second-place team, Clermont Auvergne, last Friday evening: a 24-19 defeat belies the fine interplay between our backs: Lee Dickson, Jamie Noon and Matt Burke all standing out in a pride-building performance.

Away losses forgotten, we go into this game with an excellent home record; undefeated at home since November 10th 2006, a 3-14 loss to a resurgent Harlequins handing the Falcons one of only two home Premiership defeats so far this season (the other being a 21-26 beating by London Irish back in September). Since those days of prehistory, the Falcons’ ranks have been swelled by the signings of Loki Crichton, Joe McDonnell, Mark Sorenson and Russell Winter; fine signings all and each playing some part in some excellent Falcons’ performances since joining our merry band of underachievers.

The previous meeting between Northampton and Newcastle came on the first game of this season at Franklins Gardens, a Reihana conversion being the only difference between the two teams in another edge-of-the-seat away loss. We came away with a solitary losing bonus point from the game, tries from Quinlan, Robinson and Cohen matched by Falcons tries from Elliott (remember him?), Wilkinson and Woods. Jonny and Toby Flood both had opportunities to win the game for the Falcons but missed a penalty and drop goal respectively. The game also marked Brent Wilson’s debut for the Newcastle team and also saw Phil Dowson return to the squad for the first time in just under a year, following a serious neck injury. By a perverse sense of irony, Sunday’s game will see Dowse’s return on the bench from the bicep injury that has had him sidelined since October.

One bright point from that defeat during the season opener was the try scored by Wilkinson: a great break from the dynamic Toby Flood saw the young centre charge up the midfield and almost find the whitewash himself. As it was, Jonny was there in support and a great offload from Flood saw Wilkinson claim a fine score. The Rugby Club pundits, the Fat Controller and Dopey Dewi agreed, awarding it Try of the Month for September.

In the past five years, we have had mixed fortunes against Northampton, recording seven defeats in total compared to four victories. Crucially, two of those defeats have occurred at home, in December 2001 and in the same fixture last season: in that particular game, the Saints ran rampant through flimsy Newcastle defence; Cohen, Spencer, Barnard, Clarke and Fox all running in tries to contribute to a humiliating 13-32 loss at home. The much-lamented Owen Finegan provided the only bonus for the Falcons with a simple run-in try. In his match review, our own Leipy called it “the worst performance since Peter Walton was promoted”, referring to the demolition job that the Saints pack did on our beleaguered forwards.

Northampton also have the distinction of being the team to put the most tries past the Falcons in one game, demolishing the Falcons’ defence in a nine-try blitzkrieg back in 1999.

So, to the squads:

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

15 – Paul Diggin
14 – Sean Lamont
13 – Bruce Reihana
12 – Robbie Kydd
11 –Ben Cohen
10 – Carlos Spencer
9 – Mark Robinson

1 – Tom Smith
2 – Dylan Hartley
3 – Chris Budgen
4 – David Gerard
5 – Christian Short
6 – Paul Tupai
7 – Darren Fox
8 – Christian Labit

Replacements

16 – Matias Cortese
17 – John Brooks
18 – Damien Browne
19 – Mark Hopley
20 – Johnny Howard
21 – Stephen Myler
22 – Vaughan Going

Some very experienced and dangerous players in the Saints’ matchday 22, with Smith and Budgen providing good propping abilities to complement the youth of Dylan Hartley; the young hooker getting his chance at the big time due to the serious, and potentially career-ending, injury to erstwhile Saints man Steve Thompson. Gerard and Short provide good lineout ball for Mark Robinson who marks his hundredth game for the Saints when he runs out on the Kingston Park turf this afternoon. Tupai, the fearsome Southern Hemisphere behemonth, will threaten around the fringes of the ruck and maul all afternoon and Geoff Parling will have his work cut out keeping Tupai under some semblance of control. The French international Labit at number eight will also provide a wealth of power going forward. The wings are ably controlled by Scottish international (and the SRU Player of the Year) Sean Lamont and his right wing counterpart, English international Ben Cohen. All of this talent will be orchestrated by the charismatic and unpredictable ‘King’ Carlos Spencer, the Kiwi flyhalf with the mercurial talent. With the league convert Stephen Myler on the bench, kicking duties will presumably be handled by either Reihana (recovering from a knee injury) or Spencer, something which will cause the Saints fans some concerns given their records in the GP so far this season.

In terms of away form, Northampton have a record similar to that of the Falcons: winning at opposition grounds only twice thus far this season from ten games away. Therefore we should fancy our chances, assuming that we don’t allow the Saints’ forwards to dominate set-piece possession and we can provide a stable and consistent platform for our talented and capable backs. Having said that, the Saints recorded an unexpected win over Biarritz last weekend in their Heineken Cup QF, edging a lacklustre game through a Kydd try and Spencer conversion. No doubt the jubilation of gaining entry to the semis will have buoyed Saints’ otherwise-fragile morale and given them a little more pride in themselves.


NEWCASTLE FALCONS

15 – Matt Burke (captain)
14 – Tom May
13 – Mathew Tait
12 – Jamie Noon
11 – Toby Flood
10 – Jonny Wilkinson
9 – Lee Dickson

1 – Joe McDonnell
2 – Matt Thompson
3 – Micky Ward
4 – Mark Sorenson
5 – Andy Perry
6 – Geoff Parling
7 – Ben Woods
8 – Brent Wilson

Replacements

16 – Jon Golding
17 – Andy Long
18 – Andy Buist
19 – Phil Dowson
20 – John Rudd
21 – James Grindal
22 – Loki Crichton


Highlights include a well-deserved start for Lee Dickson, the return of Phil Dowson to first XV rugby after a string of bad luck with neck and bicep injuries and a set of backs that looks ready to do some damage to Northampton. Jason Oakes misses this week’s game with a quad injury so Touchy’s favourite, Andy Perry, gets a start after missing much of the season with a fractured eye socket. In total, Sunday’s team sees only four changes from the team that performed well against the French last Friday evening.

The squad as a whole looks full of potential: as ever, our attacking potential will be limited by the platform that the pack can give our talented backfield players. Starting Dicko over Grindal will doubtless offer us quicker ball from the base of the scrum and at the breakdown; something we saw in the ECC QF against Clermont, albeit only in the second half. John Rudd will no doubt feel slightly aggrieved that Tom May has been favoured for the number 14 shirt, Rudd having had a run of reasonable form recently and no doubt itching for a scrap with his former club.

The forwards now no longer leave our pack assuming the role of whipping boys, fronting up well to a number of much-vaunted and more experienced packs already this season, although Northampton’s forwards have had the edge in the GP since September, having a more enviable record at the set piece. The match up between Smith and Ward in the front row could well be an interesting one and an encounter that today’s match referee, Chris White, will have to be on top of to avoid some of the more dubious scrimmaging officiating that has gone on throughout the Premiership this season.

It’s going to be close; there will be moments of nailbiting tension and utter despair, but hopefully the Falcons will push that little bit harder and claim the points from Saints.

My mind keeps harking back to our home record thus far in the 2006-2007 campaign: the slowly-emerging concept of ‘Fortress KP’ will be aided this afternoon by vocal support from a large home crowd and the call of duty says that all fans should shout, scream, cheer, chant and roar until they can shout, scream, cheer, chant and roar no more. I know I’ll be there in the South Stand along with the other members of The Stranglers and my other vociferous companions behind the posts and will be giving my utmost support in any way I can to make sure that we go home with five points in the bag, the spectre of relegation put to bed once and for all this season.