By From the Archives
December 5 2002

In a last visit to an all too brief Saints v Cardiff archive this week its back to the Gardens earlier this year and the Heineken Cup game where the Saints had nothing but pride to play for but Cardiff were still in the hunt for that elusive quarter final place. Saints come up trumps to trounce Taffs

By Rich on the Spot
Date: 14/1/2002

There is a definite touch of All Black in the Saints revival, the naivety, hesitation and basic errors being replaced by streetwise tactics, confidence and higher standards. It's not perfect, Saints are not ready to whoop the world quite yet, but things are definitely moving forward at pace.

Under the reign of Wayne 'Smudger' Smith the Saints have played six games and won five, as a matter of interest, during the same time our East Midlands neighbours and fierce rivals, have the exact same record.

Saints were playing for pride only but Cardiff had an outside chance of qualifying for the last eight with a win and at least two tries. A large contingent of away fans travelled from the principality with high expectations and ambitions to drink the bar dry.

They added greatly to the match atmosphere and it was perhaps a bit cheeky when a section of the Gordon Terrace piped up with their traditional chant of 'one word no song.'(And I wonder who tha


Cardiff also had to rely on Llanelli losing to our friends from up the road butScarlets beat the Tigers at Stradey Park in a passionate affair. The latter result was icing on the cake for Saints fans.

It couldn't have started any worse for Cardiff. Saints won the ball from their own kick off and were roared forward by the majority of the 9,700 Gardens crowd. A sweeping attack saw Larry (Grayson) produce a well-weighted cross-field kick that Ben Cohen unusually dropped.

Cardiff cleared their line only for the Saints to be back a minute later with a well-worked backs move. Grayson looped round to deliver quick ball to Beal, he held his line to release Cohen on the overlap who raced in for a score.

Grayson converted from out wide, 7-0 Saints after only 3 minutes. The rest of the half was a penalty shoot out between Larry and Iestyn Harris. The former league star won that battle 4-2, to leave the half time score at 13-12 to the Saints.

Those are the facts of the half but the real story was of personal performances, great defence, tactical maturity and ball killing.
Joubert the Cardiff coach has accused the Saints of cynical play and slowing the ball down at every opportunity.

To be fair that's true but it also smacks of hypocrisy. At every breakdown there was a Cardiff player on the wrong side slowing the release and 9 times out of 10 it was Rob Appleyard the Cardiff blind side flanker.

How he escaped a yellow card is yet another mystery of modern refereeing? All things being even, some of the home team could have kept him company.

Of tactical maturity and personal performances Larry Grayson and James 'Archie' Brooks stood out. Brooks in his first game at nine for Saints, kept things simple, passed accurately and harried Howley his more illustrious opposite number to good effect.

Grayson appears rejuvenated by the Smudger effect and if Harris is on a learning curve he had a good lesson in stand off play from the former England player.

Another highlight was the lineout, where Steve 'Wally' Thompson's throwing combined with Jon Phillips and Rob Hunter's work rate produced vastly improved results.

The team's resident bad boys Mattie Stewart and Craig Quinnell were involved in a few handbag moments throughout the half. Wally did well not to overreact when held down in a neck lock by Quinnell. It wasn't a violent match though and there is no need to dwell on these incidents at this point.

The only area of concern was the scrum that creaked at times. However, not many have got change from a Cardiff front row that can leave the likes of Welsh International Peter Rogers on the bench.

Into the second half and Cardiff needed tries quickly to preserve their record of qualifying for the quarter finals every year since the competition began (apart from the rebel season.)

What happened was quite the opposite. Following a penalty, Larry kicked deep into the corner. Lineout possession was again secured. Good driving play and then good hands in the backs looked to secure another Saints try.

However Jorgenson, who is in inspired form and looks a different player just lately took a high hit. The referees gave a penalty try, probably because during the same attack Cardiff pulled down the maul, had hands in the ruck, and were persistently offside and then they committed the more obvious offence. Grayson chipped over a conversion that was nothing more than a gimme to take the score to 20-12.

Cardiff tried in vain to get back into the game; they came close at times knocking on in the 22. Sullivan twice took Cohen on for pace and the Kingsthorpe boy shepparded him into touch on both occasions.

Grayson and Harris swapped penalties to take the score to 23-15 going into the final quarter.
Cardiff had a sustained period of pressure, which bore no points but saw Blowers sin binned for killing the ball in the 73rd minute. This period also saw Brotherstone enter the fray to give Wally a well-earned rest.

He left the field to a standing ovation and is fast becoming the terrace favourite. Brotherstones first action was to throw very long at a defensive lineout. Budge cleaned up out the back and drove the saints to safety. This is another All Black ploy used recently against Argentina.

As the game wore on into injury time Saints took the play down to the Cardiff 22. More infringing by Cardiff's forwards at the breakdown saw Mattie Stewart take the law into his own hands. He was red carded for stamping on a Cardiff player much to the crowds confusion and annoyance.

The referee made his decision, not for the first time, when he was clearly unsighted. No further action will be taken as an independent commissioner has already ruled the sending off to be sufficient punishment for the offence. John Steele's reaction was that 9 times out of ten it wouldn't be a sending off, so you have to wonder if Mattie's reputation now goes before him.

With the Saints down to 13 men Cardiff had the opportunity to nick the game in injury time. Not a bit of it. Budgen was an enforced substitution for Soden and the Saints scrum held it's ground. Cohen was forced over but the Ref this time decided not to give a decision when unsighted. Cohen was clearly incensed as he was sure he had scored.

Soon after this Quinnell dived over the ball from an offside position and then clung on for dear life. A still upset Cohen wrestled with him for the ball, which left the Cardiff player on the floor apparently hurt.

The cynical fan would say that he was playing for sympathy. If this was the case it didn't work as he received a yellow card and Saints were awarded the penalty. Quinnell promptly fell over after this decision, giving his team time to reorganise.
The last meaningful act of the match saw a good scrum provide time for Larry to slot a drop goal.

The final whistle sent the Gardens potty and once again the players showed their appreciation.
So another victory for Wayne Smith's inspired team. The former All Black coach had asked for a good performance to gain momentum for next weeks cup 1/4 final with Saracens at Vicarage road. What Saints need to carry forward is their newfound confidence and a more accurate, less complicated and patient style of play. As Lardy and the Florist said "it aint pretty," but who cares!

Finally, to my man of the match. Bernie! He was hilarious, nicking peoples pints, pulling at Cardiff fan's kilt and generally interacting with the crowd.

Once again - Job done!