By Louisa
April 13 2007

Well, that "lady" appears to be gargleing and we don't see a frog in her throat. Will this weekend see Saints drop out of the Guiness Premiership? Louisa looks forward to the trip to Wasps..

 

Despite the recent blazing sunshine, dark clouds are hanging over Franklins Gardens. With only two league games to go, the men in green, black and gold find themselves at rock bottom of the Guinness Premiership with a very big task on their hands. What with Northampton’s miserable run of form and Worcester, their closest rivals for relegation, experiencing a Lazarusesque revival under the leadership of John Brain, few expect the Saints to survive.

 

LONDON WASPS vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

 

GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP

 

SUNDAY, 15th APRIL 2007 - 12.15 pm

 

MATCH PREVIEW (live on SkySports)

 

“So what’s in store for this weekend?” I hear you ask. Well, more misery by the looks of things. Playing a London Wasps side on their home turf has never been the easiest of matches, even when a team is on top of their game. On their day, Ian McGeechan’s side can prove a match for anyone and this weekend should prove to be no different. Despite an initial poor run of away form, the men from Acton now find themselves within reach of 4th place and with it, a place in the playoffs, having not lost a home match since November of 2006. The Saints on the other hand, find themselves in a very different situation at this late stage in the season. Paul Grayson’s team of Saintsmen haven’t won a home game all year and have struggled massively with their away form as well, only beating 2 English teams away all season.

 

So all in all, it’s fair to say that the Saints look to be in serious trouble. If the bookmakers and pundits are anything to go by, we’re dead and buried already. But this race is far from over.

 

Whilst National Division One rugby may seem an inevitability for next season, the Saints have a funny habit of pulling a surprise performance out of the bag when you least expect it. And come to think of it, they don’t have a bad record at ending impressive home winning spells either. Whilst the Northampton men seem to struggle against the Newcastles and Harlequins of this world, they never fail to surprise when hailed as the underdog. After all, few people expected them to beat Leicester back in February, and not even the most optimistic of Saints supporters could have predicted last month’s famous victory against the 2006 Heineken Cup finalists, Biarritz.

 

This weekend will see (one hopes), a Northampton team scrapping for their lives. At this stage in the relegation battle, we can no longer take the liberty of expecting to pick up points elsewhere and hoping that results go our way. It’s not just the result that’s at stake anymore – reputations and careers are on the line.

 

The management at Franklins Gardens have recently developed a habit of announcing their team at the last minute, so I’m afraid you folks are going to have to make do with the notoriously bad Loveluck prediction skills (have you seen my Lottery score??) for the time being! The team that I expect to take to the pitch on Sunday are…

 

15. Bruce Reihana

14. Paul Diggin

13. Stephen Myler

12. Robbie Kydd

11. Ben Cohen

10. Carlos Spencer

9. Mark Robinson

8. Christian Labit

7. Ben Lewitt

6. Paul Tupai

5. David Gerard

4. Christian Short

3. Chris Budgen

2. Dylan Hartley

1. Tom Smith

 

16. Mathieus Cortese

17. John Brooks

18. Damien Browne

19. Darren Fox

20. Johnny Howard

21. Vaughn Going

22. Jon Clarke

 

However, word on the street is that Digger may be facing a race against time to be fit for this weekend’s clash at Adam’s Park and consequently, will face a late fitness test on Friday or Saturday. Should the Northampton born fullback fail to meet the coach’s fitness requirements (which are seemingly more flexible with some players than with others), I predict that we would see Reihana moving to inside centre with Vaughn Going at fullback and Mathieu Bourret on the right wing. Or, who knows, we may even see Jon Clarke thrown right back in at the deep end…

 

At the time of writing, there was no news on the Wasps team for this weekend, although the line-up is expected to be similar to that which faced Saracens last weekend.

 

Prediction: Now, I’ve written quite a few profiles during my time on COYSDC and I have never yet predicted the outcome of a game correctly. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been close. So this time, I’m going to go for a Wasps win and hope that my run of form continues.

 

Wasps by 10.