By Rich on the spot
April 17 2003

After two weeks of high fun but ultimate disappointment it was great to get back to winning ways at Franklin's Gardens. Saints stole the show in the second half with awesome displays from youngsters Fox, Brooks and birthday boy Tucker. Reihana also had a storming night with a 23 point haul. Rugby is a game of two halves and what contrasting halves we had this evening. The first half won 13-7 by Bristol, failed to trouble the scorers for 23 minutes and it was all a bit 'pantalon sur des flotteurs de lait' . The second won by Saints 36-0 included four tries in 16 minutes.

Both teams made massive changes to their recent line ups. Saints after those two games had to rest a few people and it was no surprise to see an all change back line of Vass, Brooks, Leslie, Tucker, Ripol, Sleightholme and Reihana. Morris and Richmond made starts in the front row and the fantastic Mr. Fox came into the Saints back row. Bristol's position is so dire that they had to get RFU permission to recall Skuse to their front row.

Given all that's gone before,a good midweek crowd of over 8,000 turned out, including a liberal smattering of vociferous Bristolians. They were there to protest about a move to Oxford but to their credit they got behind their team from the off and kept it up to the death. The Saints fans were desperate for a big win to soothe the cup wounds of Twickenham and Toulouse, as Dorothy Gale said 'there's no place like home!'

The first ten minutes belonged to Saints but then Bristol pounded the Saints line and came up with a try through "Gardens favourite" Garath Archer on 23 minutes. This startled the home fans as many of them have never seen Archer notice the ball during a game before.

The Saints reply was quick and incisive as Oriol 'raspberry' Ripol flew into the corner from James Brooks long pass to score. Bruce Reihana, kicker for the night in the absence of both Grayson and Dawson converted superbly from out wide and the Saints were level.

 It didn't last though as Drahm kicked a penalty following the sin binning of replacement Rob Hunter on 39 minutes and then again on 40 minutes.

The other story of the half was the excessive handbags on display from both sides, no surprise really given the fractious history. The result of the shenanigans was that Saints seemed to have replaced their entire pack by the break. Half time: Saints 7 - Bristol 13

Oh to have been a fly on the wall in the home dressing room at half time, I'd imagine the paint was peeling off the ceiling as Smudger laid into the lacklustre Saints. Whatever was said had a massive effect.

Into the second half and you guessed it, the Saints started like 'chapeaux sur des roues'. Mattie Stewart was on to add some common sense to the front row. The shock of the evening came one minute into the second half as Archer was despatched to the bin. Saints cranked it up a notch and after persistent pressure Archie Brooks delivered Mark 'Kidger' Tucker a 23rd birthday present try. Reihana converted and suddenly it was 14-13. Were the floodgates to open? Erm...YES!

A minute later Kidger, having a fine night in the GB&G produced a powerful run holding his pass until the perfect moment before releasing Reihana on a run in. He converted his own try under the posts to make the score 21-13 after 47 minutes.

Reihana was having his best game so far for the Saints and his kicking seems to have returned to Super 12 form he added to his personal tally with a penalty on 53 minutes.

On 56 minutes the impressive Vass retired to make way for the shy and retiring Matt Dawson. I wouldn't say his impact was immediate because it was a tad quicker than that. Blowers picked up from the base and flicked to One-nine-in England and suddenly the Bristol fringes were more vulnerable than Austin Healey's hairdo. The main beneficiary was Sleightholme who scored a well received try which once again Reihana converted more importantly the try bonus was secured. 28-13.

Another impressive Saints break out saw Brooks kick ahead for Fox and Tucker to chase. More handbags saw Fox being shoved by Salter who shoved him back and then the Bristol man line up a punch straight to Fox's face. Fox is no angel and had indulged in a few off the ballers during the night but lining a player up and deliberately punching him in the face is a red card offence, not the cop out yellow which was produced.

Fox had the last laugh as the team powered forward for him to score on 61 minutes. Reihana converted and the Saints were out of sight at 38-13.

The last ten minutes descended into clown time as Saints introduced utility forward, erm I mean back....oh I don't know it was Ben Cohen and he went into the pack, I wonder if Clive Woodward's had a word in Smudger's ear?

Fox scored again this time from the powerful running of first Ripol and then replacement hooker for the night Steve Thompson. There is no doubting the force of Wally as he sucked defenders on to him like pins to a magnet, by the time the fantastic Mr. Fox received his scoring pass the visitors defence was no-where to be seen. In the last piece of comedy Reihana got fed up waiting for the kicking tee and decided to drop goal the conversion, his miss wasn't enough to spoil an other wise perfect night. Final score 43-13

JOB DON E