By Chris Gleadell
November 3 2006

So just as predicted the Saints secured the bonus point win over the Borders on Saturday to keep their Heineken Cup quarter final quest well and truly on track. There may have been some half time jitters as yet again this season we dominated the opening forty minutes yet still went in at the break with a slender lead for the lad’s efforts.

In the second half though the forwards well and truly got the bit between their teeth and in the end the Saints ran out comfortable winners and now look forward to a trip to Italy the second week in December to take on Overmach Parma.

Due mainly to injuries we are still not truly firing in the backs and with the pre-Xmas internationals stripping us of further players we may well have to rely more on that forward power the next few weeks than the backs running them in from all over the park. The pack are really starting to perform as a unit and the criticism fired at us from the media and opposition supporters over recent seasons that ‘Northampton are not strong enough up front’ looks like it may be a thing of the past and once we do get back up to speed with the return of the likes of Bruce and Jon Clarke in the backs we should have a potent combination.

One back who did catch the eye on Saturday was Rhodri Davies who despite playing his first game after ten months on the sidelines with a groin injury looked sharp and once full fitness returns will be pushing hard for a first team spot. More often than not he beat defenders with ball in hand and continues to look the good prospect he was when he made his debut last term.

On Saturdays showing he could well be the surprise package of the season and whilst others around him succumb to injury he could well make the most of his chances.

Meanwhile for the present it could well be noses to the grindstone as wins are ground out on that forward platform and with the weather due to deteriorate from this point in that can be no a bad thing to have a Plan B to fall back on should the going get tough.

Central to the packs play this year is a feeling that they will not take anything lying down.
We may have been accused on being ‘too nice’ in the past but with the addition of the likes of Paul Tupai we now have an edge that you could argue we have been missing the last few years.
Toops i'm sure is a nice guy off the pitch but on it his no nonsense abrasive approach has quickly made him a crowd favourite at the Gardens.

The message is simple, the pack are not for bullying and will fight fire with fire if needed, all within the laws of the game of course. It wasn’t lost on a lot of people that when we played Bath one of the main pantomime villains in recent years for Saints fans, Danny Grewcock looked more concerned about where our ‘enforcer’ was than getting on with his own game. In seasons past Grewcock, and quite a few like him smattered around other clubs, would be his old belligerent self niggling away for 80 minutes and getting involved in all and sundry both on and off the ball, who can forget him ripping Mark Connors scrumcap to shreds in a fit of pique? Now maybe with him and his ilk looking over their shoulders when they play Saints a little bit of the battle has already been won. Long may it continue, though it’s a shame Toops never got to meet Dean Ryan in all his pomp...

STOOPING TO CONQUER?

As the Heineken takes a rest for a few weeks it is back to the Guinness Premiership this weekend for the Saints and a trip down to the Stoop to play Harlequins. Quins are finding life back in the GP a little tougher than they expected and currently sit near to the bottom of the table without a win. However a couple of wins in the European Challenge Cup has boosted their confidence somewhat and they cannot be taken lightly and with our old adversary Dean Richards they will be looking to open their account. I am not too sure they have the firepower up front though and I’m taking the lads to carry on from last weeks second half performance and to edge it for the Saints. At the time of writing there are only a handful of tickets left and the weather looks set fair if a little on a chilly side, looks like it could be a good one.

STONES AND GLASS HOUSES

One player definitely missing on Saturday is Ben Cohen who starts for England over the road from the Stoop at Twickenham on Sunday against the All Blacks. England , like the Saints, are going through somewhat of an injury crisis and their patched up team are going to struggle against a New Zealand team at its peak. To be honest no one is giving them much of a chance of victory so it did make me smile when I read All Black hooker Anton Oliver’s comments about the English fans and media as "ignorant and arrogant" and that “almost blind faith and expectation in England's dominance”.

I don’t know where he has got that impression from, maybe it’s a bit of the old siege mentality but its a clear case of turning a blind eye to what happens back home. It might be news to Mr Oliver but there’s some pretty strong blind faith back home in his teams prowess and has been for some time and arrongance of fans isn’t limited to the English. After the second Lions test in Wellington last year not only did we witness the arrogance of a small section of the New Zealand support on victory, luckily a very small minority but it happens all the same but we were greeted the next morning with headlines proclaiming “Who will stop us winning the World Cup now?”.

Strange that eh?