By Mark H
May 18 2005

So, as worst kept secrets go, it's up there. Robbie Morris has joined Falcons from Northampton Saints on a three year deal to take the number of internationals joining the club in the summer to three, after Owen Finegan and Tino Paoletti.

It'll also be of no great shock to anyone to say that I've probably seen more of Robbie Morris than most, if not all, who read this site regularly or who are connected to Falcons, so - unfortunately - I suppose that I'm in the best position of anyone to comment on him.

Robbie made his debut for Saints on 18th November 2001 away at London Irish, and the wake up call came very, very early.  With then-coach John Steele desperately trying anything to pull Saints away from the bottom of the table, a debut for a 19 year old during the autumn internationals did seem a little...risky.  Those of us who'd seen him briefly in the Saints second XV, the Wanderers, knew that there was promise there at that level, and had been hoping that he's feature at some point during that season.  Saints then were rather like Saints have been for most of this season - struggling against the tide and needing some, any, inspiration to change things.  With the Saints pack in retreat for most of the match, (imagine a treadmill out of control), the 48-14 defeat was not the best of starts.

Within ten days, Steele had stood down and the recently replaced All Blacks coach Wayne Smith came in.  Smith's approach was completely different, and a run of wins not only saw Saints end up in Europe by finishing fifth in the league at the end of the season, but to a place in the Powergen Cup final.  It was in the semi-final that Morris first came to national attention, with coach Smith deciding that Robbie, along with hooker Dan Richmond, would start the game against Falcons and internationals Tom Smith and Steve Thompson would sit warming the bench.

The author and Robbie in the centre, flanked by Saints' Brett Sturgess and Damian Browne

Genius move by Smith?  Possibly - Saints came out in the first half firing, and ended the half by scoring twenty points in the last ten minutes to lead at the break 33-0.  Game over, and Saints eventually went to Twickenham 38-7.  Morris continued to feature for the rest of the season, either starting or coming off the bench, but wasn't able to pick up a cup winners medal as London Irish took away the cup - instead, he picked up a yellow card from referee Steve Lander within two minutes of coming on (yes, the same Steve Lander who moments earlier had missed Venter's forearm smash on Dawson).

The 2002/03 season saw Morris as a fully-fledged member of the Saints squad, and with the English props going down like ninepins, elevation to the England bench for the win over South Africa (53-3) followed.  Clive Woodward, when asked later about why he hadn't put Morris on for the closing minutes with the game won, commented that he wouldn't wish anyone to go into the battle that was carrying on to win a first cap.

It took, therefore, until the second game of the Six Nations for that first cap to come.  Jason Leonard had limped out of his 100th cap the week before against France, and Julian White had broken down in training, so Morris was called in to start the game in Cardiff against Wales, and he kept his place a fortnight later for the Italy game.  With Leonard declaring himself fit for the Scotland game, Morris dropped out of the squad completely, and despite being named in each of the last two Churchill Cup squads and various Barbarians games, hasn't featured in a full England team since.

The call up did not please everybody.  The reaction from certain areas at Northampton was one of that he was not yet ready, with props generally being acknowledged to be at their best in the latter half of their twenties.  Robbie was a day past his 21st birthday when he got the start against the Welsh, and although he did nothing wrong in either of the two games that he played, he didn't do anything that stood out either.

Wayne Smith continued to pick him throughout the rest of his reign at the club, as Morris due to the needs of the side regularly alternated between loose and tight head.  When Smith left last summer, things changed at Saints big style with the arrival of Alan Solomons.

This is not the place to discuss what I think went wrong during Solomons’ 142 day stay at Franklin's Gardens (although I could bore for England on it), but there were certain things that went on that did not help Robbie Morris' career at what was fast looking like it would be a pivotal season.  Firstly, Solomons brought in Robbie Kempson, a natural loosehead, to play week in week out - alongside Tom Smith, at his peak the best loosehead in Britain.  Rather than play a specialist tighthead, Kempson moved across, and stayed in the team until he got injured - the injury that would end his career.

Solomons, to my viewing eyes, had a XV in his mind from day one, and the only way any of them would be replaced was through injury.  A number of players (depending who you speak to, the number varies, but it's generally accepted that it was about 14) were told after the first two games that their contracts would not be renewed in the summer and that they were out, regardless of how they performed.  Included in this number were Ben Cohen (eventually re-signed), Shane Drahm (off to Worcester), Andrew Blowers (Saints best player over the last five years, off to Japan) - and Robbie Morris.

Solomons was sacked on 22nd November, and the Pountney/Grayson combination came in to steer Saints to safety (or three minutes of hell hoping that Quins wouldn't score, depending on your viewpoint).  By this point, it was an open secret that Robbie was on his way, especially as contracts were being renewed and his name consistently was missing.

And then to today, when he signed for Falcons for the next three years after 56 Premiership appearances.

So what are we to expect?

 

Well, if you’re after a really destructive tighthead, then Robbie is not your man.  That’s not to say that he won’t develop into one, but he’s not there yet.  If you’re after someone who will dominate the opposition, nope.  If you’re after a prop who’s excellent in the loose and a try-scorer, think again – Robbie’s one try came in a pre-season friendly back in August against Edinburgh when he cut possibly the best line of his career to go inside the full back and score under the posts from fifteen yards out.

 

What we are going to get is a twenty-three year old who, after an unhappy season at Saints (think about how you’d feel if you were told that you hadn’t got a job at the end of the year, and wouldn’t be allowed the chance to do anything about it), will be looking to prove more than a few people wrong, will be looking to get back to the full England squad, and who has his whole career in front of him.  Look at the destructive props in the Premiership; Julian White, Phil Vickery, Duncan Bell.  All have been at the top level for a while, and all are around the thirty mark.  He’s got time, if we’ve got the patience.

 

If I had one criticism of Robbie, it’s that he doesn’t do enough in the loose.  Whether that’s because of being junior partner to a senior prop like Tom Smith, whether it’s team orders, whether it’s a lack of confidence, I don’t know.  What I do know is that we’ve got ourselves a player who can improve, and with the right coaching, will improve.  My biggest memory of him at Saints?  Skinning Darragh O’Mahoney on the wing at Saracens in February 2004, charging down the wing, and just as it looked as if he was about to get munched, slipping the perfect inside pass for Bruce Reihana to score.

 

He can do it.  He will do it.  Give him time.