Northampton Saints
News: HC-SF: Northampton Saints vs Perpignan - Match Preview
By Daventry Saint
April 28 2011
Northampton Saints are potentially just 80 minutes away from a place in the 2011 Heineken Cup Final. In their way stand Perpignan, who travel across La Manche this weekend intending to spoil Saints, and our, dreams. Daventry Saint looks forward to another hop down the road to stadiumMK...
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs. PERPIGNAN
HC-SF: Sunday, 1st May 2011. 3pm (Sky)
stadiumMK, MILTON KEYNES
MATCH PREVIEW
It has been a long, long time since the Northampton Saints have had a Heineken Cup semi-final to truly look forward to with such high expectations. In 2007 the Saints were one step away from a ridiculously unlikely showdown with Leicester Tigers, having gone to San Sebastian and beaten Biarritz 7-8. However on that occasion, the Saints fell to the power of a Lawrence Dallaglio led London Wasps outfit that went on to defeat the Tigers in the final. Since then, the Saints have been relegated, promoted, won the European Challenge Cup and the LV= Cup, as well as being the only English team left standing in the Heineken Cup for two successive seasons. That, to be fair to the club, was a rollercoaster 4 years by anyone’s stretch of the imagination. With that being said, Northampton are still yet to return to the summit of European rugby and achieve what the Saints side of the 1999/2000 season managed under the guidance of club legends such as Pat Lam and Tim Rodber.
This season provides the Saints with their best opportunity to reclaim the Heineken Cup crown since, and this Sunday is the next step towards achieving the dream. However, there is one teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy obstacle to overcome – the might of Union Sportive des Arlequins Perpignanais, more commonly known as the brutish French outfit: Perpignan.
Northampton Saints and Perpignan are relatively well acquainted, having faced each other in the group stages of the 2009/10 Heineken Cup. On the two occasions that the teams met, there were two distinctly different results. The Saints away fixture saw the English side thoroughly dominated by a far bulkier French pack coming out on the losing end of a 29-13 final score. The game is remembered by most due to one particular incident in which the massive Henry Tuilagi made a distinct impression on Ben Foden’s chest – still to this day one of the most crunching tackles I have witnessed. However, come the return fixture at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton turned the tide on the Catalan giants, dominating the fixture 34-0, securing a bonus-point victory in the final play of the match. The Saints might have wrapped up the full five points far earlier in the match, had it not been for the Northampton management’s eagerness to rest their most valuable stars, substituting a large bulk of players on the 64 minute mark. One would hope that Mr Mallinder and Mr West had learned their lesson from this escapade; however after observing a number of this season’s showings, it would appear not. Moving on from that slightly contentious point, if the games from last season taught us anything about Perpignan, it is that when on the front foot, they have one almighty marauding pack. If Northampton allow their French compatriots onto the front foot on Sunday, they will have one hell of a challenge to push them back off it.
Perpignan have had a mixed season, performing exceptionally well in the Heineken Cup, whilst falling short of a play-off place in the Top 14 – a source of major disappointment having won the competition last season. A warning for the Saints and the supporters though, underestimate them at your peril. Although they may not be in the best of form following their embarrassing tonking at the hands of Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon, Perpignan are still a formidable outfit. With the likes of Perry Freshwater and Nicolas Mas in the front row, coupled with the pace, power and guile of David Marty and Maxime Mermoz in the backs division, Perpignan pose threats all across the pitch. Ultimately though, their front row potentially poses the biggest challenge to the Saints. Thus far this season, there have been few who can cope with the might of a full-strength, first choice Saints front three. Saracens have been one of the few teams who have coped sufficiently with the Saints scrum, but that was lacking Saints first choice hooker. On that occasion, Carlos Nieto got the better of the Saints No.1, Soane Tonga’uhia. Nevertheless ,Tonga’uhia is still, for my money, the best loosehead prop in the Premiership. Couple him with England’s first choice hooker and Northampton club captain Dylan Hartley, and Nicolas Mas may not have it all his own way in the scrum. The competition between Freshwater and Premiership Player of the Year nominee Brian Mujati will be fascinating. Even at the wily old age of 37, Freshwater is still a class operator on the loosehead side of the scrum. What he lacks in dynamism and line-breaks in the loose he makes up for with power and grunt in the tight. Mujati has got the better of many props during his time with Northampton, however Freshwater may be his biggest challenge yet. Taking all of this into consideration, especially the 43-12 loss USAP suffered at the hands of Toulon last weekend, Sunday will be no walk in the park for Northampton. Rest assured, come 3pm this Sunday, Perpignan will be ready for a war.
For Northampton, this match is do or die. Having failed to secure a home semi-final in the Aviva Premiership, the Saints focus must now surely be on securing a Heineken Cup final place. Although the Premiership is not beyond them, a trip to Welford Road or Vicarage Road is not a particularly happy prospect. Neither of the two grounds have been particularly happy hunting-grounds for the Saints in recent years, and thus the Heineken Cup is likely to be a more realistic prospect. Once again, although the fixture must be played at a neutral ground in the home teams country, the Saints will be taking the match to the affectionately dubbed ‘MK Gardens’. Following their roaring success of the stadium during the Saints quarter-final victory over Ulster, the Northampton management have decided to stage the game in Milton Keynes once more. Although stadium:mk might not quite muster the atmosphere of a home fixture of this magnitude at the Gardens, the Saints seemingly lose no motivation through playing there. During the Ulster fixture, the crowd were as loud and enthusiastic as ever, and it seemed that the atmosphere suited the Saints perfectly. Compare the atmosphere at a full stadium:mk to that of a half-empty Ricoh Arena in Coventry, and you can see the benefits of playing a semi-final in Milton Keynes rather than Coventry.
Form has been a big issue for Jim Mallinder and his team over the course of the season, as well as confidence. First they had form and confidence, then just confidence (that was enough to win on some occasions, despite not playing particularly well). Following that the confidence evaporated, and it wasn’t until the English contingent of the Saints squad, as well as Courtney Lawes and Lee Dickson, returned to the team that both the confidence and the form returned. Heading into Sunday’s fixture, many of the Saints team are in prime form, Chris Ashton, Ben Foden, Jon Clarke, Courtney Lawes, Dylan Hartley and particularly Stephen Myler. Myler has come in for a lot of flak over the season (including from myself), however it looks as if Myler is currently in a vein of form that may be rich enough to steer Northampton into a Heineken Cup final. The consistency of his place kicking has been much improved, as well as his kicking from hand. Although he may not attack the line as much as some would like (Yes, I do mean myself!), there can be no doubt that Stephen is in fantastic form, and we can only hope that he carries this form into Sunday’s fixture.
So, with all of that being said, what are Northampton’s chances of turning over Perpignan and making a charge for a date at the Millennium Stadium in late May? Personally, I fully believe that the Saints are capable of beating Perpignan. The French are notoriously bad travellers, and that may well have a bearing on the result, even given the size of the occasion. If the front 5 ‘front up’ come scrum and ruck time, then there is no reason that the Saints backline cannot carve open some holes in the French defence. If Northampton play at a blistering tempo, whilst securing the ball and distributing effectively, then USAP should struggle to cope with the pace of the Northampton game. However, if the Saints are dragged into an arm-wrestle with the French champions, there is only going to be one winner, and they won’t be wearing any green…
Come on you Saints, you can do it!
Sun 1 Mar, 3.00pm: Perpignan
DaventrySaint’s Predicted
Team:
15 Ben Foden
14 Chris Ashton
13 Jon Clarke
12 James
Downey
11 Paul Diggin
10 Stephen Myler
9 Lee Dickson
1 Soane
Tonga’uhia
2 Dylan Hartley
3 Brian Mujati
4 Courtney Lawes
5
Christian Day
6 Calum Clark
7 Phil Dowson
8 Roger Wilson
Replacements:
16 Brett Sharman
17 Alex Waller
18 Tom
Mercey
19 Mark Sorenson
20 Mark Easter
21 Stuart Commins
22 Shane
Geraghty
23 Joe Ansbro
Saints by 8.
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Stumbleupon28/04/2011 23:37
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Great stuff, Dav!
Many thanks.
David L
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- Live wrong and preposterously
Ginger - The Colour of Sexual Rejection
P.S. Northampton's management didn't choose MK Gardens for this game, EERC did.
Roll on Sunday, I can't wait! It really can't come quick enough for this household!
I have to say that I think the winners will have yellow (or gold, or that kind of shade) on their jerseys.
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