By Mark H
April 22 2003

I confess that I'd had an idea what to put in the report before getting to Kingston Park - there was a lot of time to think about it on the coach. Unfortunately I had even more time to think on the way back, and going on what was laid before my and other Saintly eyes today. We are not the only ones who should be doing a lot of very hard thinking!!!

Firstly, apologies if anything in the report offends Newcastle supporters, but we saw a game today that should have been out of sight at half time in Saints favour be lost by yet another disappearance somewhere in the dressing rooms. I am still of the opinion, some six hours after the game ended, that Saints did their best to lose it, rather than Newcastle snatch it away. Too many chances were presented to the strugglers, and it was inevitable that one of the chances would be taken. Even more inevitable, I guess, that after the last gasp victories at Orrell and Bath, that we should be bitten back viciously.

Saints welcomed back the full compliment of England internationals after the midweek battering of Bristol, with the likes of Brooks and Reihana particularly unlucky to be only on the bench, Mark Tucker retained his place as a late replacement for John Leslie. On the Newcastle side, Joe Shaw was at full back, and Dave Walder was making his first bench appearance since his injury. There was also the battle of the two tens, the world's best fly half.....and Jonny Wilkinson!

Our referee, greeted with universal derision, was Steve Lander. We all hoped he would not have an effect on the result, especially in the absence of the TV cameras. Saints were playing into the strong wind in the first half.

An early exchange of penalties, firstly from Grayson, then Wilkinson, left the score at 3 all after five minutes, and then, after ten, came the first try. Grays managed to steal the ball , and following long pressure along the line, Matty D picked up from the base of a ruck, went on the blind side and in at the corner for a vital five points. Grays missed the conversion, but the score was going in the right direction.

Lander by this point had started to inflict his idiosyncratic style of refereeing on the game, and after 16 minutes, awarded a penalty for an apparent offside that no-one else saw. Inevitably when you are facing a kicking machine, the penalty was kicked to reduce the lead to 2. The main bright spot for Saints was that to this point, Newcastle had hardly seen the ball, and with their lineout appearing to be worse than ours, hope were high.

On 21 minutes, fine work almost put Jorgy in for a try, but with the ball continuing to be driven on, that man Dawson did exactly the same again, picking up from the base of the ruck and this time giving an easier conversion chance. They worship number nines in Newcastle, and on the form showed in the first half today, Matt was up there on the pantheon of the greats. Unfortunately, the conversion attempt was again missed to leave the score at 13-6, but it was still one way traffic to this point.

From now on, of course, came Planet Lander. From the kick off, Mark Connors was taken out in the air, crashing down flat onto his back. Not only did Lander not reach into his pocket, he hesitated before being guided to give the penalty by his touch judge. From the height Deso came down from, it wouldn't have been that difficult to see, surely? To further rub salt into the wound, from the penalty and resulting lineout, Daws again went through the channels and was away and clear, only to be called back for a penalty to Newcastle. As someone near me put it 'You can't penalise us if they can't defend against it'. Wilkinson kicked to the corner, and it took some great defending from that man Dawson again to keep them out a metre short, then as the ball was recycled more stout defence from Mark Connors forced a five metre scrum. This sounds like a scratched record, but Daws again kept them out from the scrum, and the combined force of the Saints defence forced the ball back for Saints to win a scrum and eventually clear their lines.

On 33 minutes, and almost to prove that he hates everyone, Lander blew up for a Newcastle penalty when if he's played advantage a try would have been scored in the corner. Unsurprisingly, it was kicked for 13-9. This was further reduced when after getting a mark that he didn't call for, Ben sliced a kick infield, it was ran back by Wilkinson and AB was penalised for being offside at the tackle. 13-12.

Amazingly though, Saints still had not given up on the scoring spree, forcing the ball into the Newcastle 22 through rolling mauls. Somehow (and I'm not ruling out a knock on, for that's what it looked like) the ball went back over the Newcastle try line, where Matt Lord was found to be outpacing Joe Shaw for the touchdown and the third try. Larry kicked the conversion this time, and we went into half time 20-12 up, one try away from the bonus point that Wayne Smith considered so vital.

The second half began, and it ended with us losing 22-20. Do I have to say any more? It was, without doubt, the most frustrating, disappointing, abject, brainless forty minutes of the season. Newcastle were, without doubt, up for the fight, but I still think that they are the worst team I have seen this season, and rely far too much on one player to be considered worthy of remaining in the Premiership for another season. However, one thing they do have are youngsters who are not battle-scarred by Grand Slam successes, Cup Final defeats, or European Cup exits, and feel that they have something to prove to their coach, their supporters, and most importantly themselves. That pride shown by the likes of Grindal, Noon, May and Stephenson, marshalled superbly by the experienced heads of Wilkinson and Mayerhofler, was sadly lacking in the Saints players, with one particular incident with twenty minutes to go being the clear turning point in the game.

To fill you in on what had happened up to that point; Larry had a drop goal charged down with Lander giving advantage for all of about one second, the recovered ball then being fed out to Bealer who knocked on about five metres short, Foxy was binned on 48 minutes for not rolling away (much more dangerous than taking somebody down in a lineout, of course), Mattie Stewart replaced a struggling (and looking injured) Robbie Morris, some clever player from Wilko and Mayerhofler set up Noon but he couldn,t hold on to the ball, Air Brucie replaced the ineffectual Ripol, we had a replay of Bath when Bealer clearly knocked on but Lander, no more than 10 feet away, missed it and finally, when Saints finally had some pressure, Ben was held up over the line (not sure how, but great defensive work to do so).

From the resultant scrum came the turning point. With Fox still in the bin, Ben joined the scrum at flanker. AB picked up off the base, and when he was repelled, Wee Tam had a go but couldn't get there either. Daws worked the ball out, then slipped a reverse pass to Jorgy - he too was held up over the line. The fact that Lander missed FIVE Newcastle players in the line standing offside must be mentioned. Ben again joined the scrum, but this time the ball was worked along the line to Reihana, who on being tackled but not held, tried to scramble away in the tackle, but was penalised for not releasing the ball, to the great and very vocal relief of the locals. And that was that as an attacking force from Saints. Four minutes with the ball on the line, and no try, let alone thought of a drop goal attempt, and Newcastle had come out clean.

The belief of a great escape grew. It was hats on wheels playing headless chickens for the last 20 minutes, with Noon making a great break right through the midfield, and managing to feed the ball out stretching the defensive line, the ball eventually ending up with Hugh Vyvyan in the corner. All he had to do was catch and fall over, but instead he knocked on, to the complete disbelief of everyone in the ground. A penalty was still given for Saints being offside, which Wilkinson kicked for 20-15, and it was set for a thrilling (and painful) last 17 minutes of regulation.

Dave Walder at this point replaced Joe Shaw. Good to see him back, but the effect he had on the game was significant, mainly in that Newcastle now had a kicking full back to put Saints on the back foot whenever it was needed. Worryingly, every time Newcastle got the ball now and fed it wide, they were beating the triumverate of Tucker, Jorgensen and Cohen with ease, and on a number of occasions Michael Stephenson was galloping down the wing completely unchallenged.

On 69 Seely and Hunter replaced Connors (looking to be suffering after effects of his fall) and Fox (why????), with Robbie rejoining the fray for a bloodied Mattie Stewart on 73. The mistakes weren't now creeping into the Saints game, they were all over it like a rash. Mattie returned for a by now definitely injured Robbie just three minutes after the reverse replacement, and then the inevitable happened.

As I said, every time the ball went wide we looked in trouble. It was some surprise then that the Saints best player to this point was the one that made the crucial mistake that was to cost the game. From the base of a scrum in Saints 22, Daws tried to pass the ball out but was snagged by replacement Charlton. With Newcastle recovering the ball, the ball was fed both ways along the line before it eventually found itself in the hands of Hugh Vyvyan, and he wasn't going to knock on twice. 20 all, with the conversion to come, and a difficult one at that.

To everyone except Jonny Wilkinson.

As injury time started, a glimmer of a lifeline, with Saints being awarded a penalty 55 metres out, but right in front. There was an audible gasp as Larry decided to kick it. I wish I could say that it was silent as he lined it up, but I'd be lying. The ball soared, didn't look like it was going to carry, then it did.....and then it smacked back off the upper angle of post and bar into Newcastle hands. Despite one last attempt to run the ball in, that was that, and Saints had somehow contrived to lose a game that they had all but won.

It was the result Newcastle had prayed for, and should be enough to keep them up. They shouldn't have been in a position to get it. Smudger's avowed intent before the game was to get bonus points, which I've got no problem with, but win the game first. It was inexcusable that once again, Saints scored nothing in the second half (and even more that the players trooped off without looking at the fans, but that's another story). At half time, with Wasps losing, third place was up for grabs. At full time, we're sitting in sixth place, looking unlikely to get the European Cup spot that fourth place will now bring, and looking to rely on the Wildcard playoffs to get that spot.

As it stands at the moment, home and away matches against Leicester within four days of each other, followed by having to win at Twickenham. Games for big players. The big players, however (notable exception today being Daws, and you can just about throw Lordy and AB into that), are not doing it. Is it worth taking a risk, and playing the kids for three weeks to ensure that those players who need rest before the two legs from hell are ready for two matches that will be the most intense of this or any season? Do we try and get the fourth spot, hoping that Leeds (still with a trip to FG) and Leicester slip up? Or do we go for fifth and hope that Wasps (now looking a banker for the top three) win the Parker Pen, thus meaning that fifth place will get into Europe? Personally, I would go for the first option, but it is the highest risk.

Perhaps this is where we find out how big a gambler we have in charge.