By Chris Gleadell
April 26 2002

Well after all the anticipation its finally upon us. The biggest game for two years for the Saints as they take on London Irish in the final of the Powergen Cup at Twickenham. Excited or what???

Well boys and girls, the big day arrives. Its Saints v Irish at Twickenham in the very first Powergen Cup Final. The Saints will be hoping its third time lucky after losing to Quins in 1991 and Wasps in 2000. The Exiles has taken part and lost in one final to the unspoken ones in the 80s.
The Saints have on their way scraped past Birmingham & Solihull, outscored Sarries and absolutely destroyed Newcastle Falcons. The Irish have taken both Bath and Quins out along the way to HQ.
The Saints start as slight favourites on current but nowhere near the favourites that Conor O'Shea and Doctor Venter are building themselves up to in a very poor attempt at kidology. Mr O'Shea even says only a freak of nature will allow his team to win. Pull the other one Conor, you're not second in the league for nothing!
Whatever happens on the pitch, and lets face it going on our last visit to Twickers in 2000 against Munster anything can, its going to be a lively colourful day off it with the two best sets of supporters in the land all intending to give it their all for that big party atmosphere.
See you there!

SAINTS PREVIOUS FINALS

Pilkington Cup 1991 by Rich
Pilkington Cup 1991 by Stockers
Tetley Bitter Cup 2000 by Chris
Oh, go on then.............


TEAM NEWS

Coach Smudger of t he Saints names possibly the strongest starting lineup with 14 full internationals starting in the blocks.
Johan 'Actionman' Ackerman returns from injury to partner Ollie Brouzet in a rather robust second row while Craig Moir comes in for young livewire James Brooks on the wing.

Paul Grayson, hot from the birth of twin boys to Mrs Larry on Monday takes his place in a halfback partnership that could dominate the game given half a chance. Both Larry and Matt Dawson are back to their best and could well orchestrate things behind a pack that threatens to take all the action to the heart of the Exiles defence.

With the forwards punching holes, Daws will be looking to exploit these gaps either himself or by bringing strike runners such as Ben Cohen, Nick Beal and Craig Moir who on Saturday proved he is still the master of the half sidestep. In midfield Peter Jorgensen and John Leslie gives the attack other options. Jorgy can pop up everywhere and his game gets bigger and bigger by the week.

Having scored in his last four games Jorgy could well be THE big Saints player on Saturday. John Leslie has adapted his game since the arrival of Smudger and now, using his size, appears to be more of a target man of the midfield. When things need cleaning up Big John is the man to hold things in and stay on his feet and let the back row of Andy Blowers, Budge Pountney and Grant Seeley take things on or for those strike runners to hit him at pace.

The Saints start with the trio of Tom Smith, Steve 'Wally' Thompson and Mattie Stewart in the front row. Tom and Wally are ball handlers supreme and just like Jorgy can pop up anywhere to take play on to the opposition. Both are also very capable try scorers and having seen that between the legs pass from Tommy boy for Nick Beals score last week you can expect the unexpected. Mattie is the workhorse of the frontrow and no less important than the other two internationals in the Saints first three, the one thats willing to stick it out in thick and thin and add a bit of direction and power when things need cleaning up.

Overall its a well rounded team but should Saints encounter problems just look at the bench! Dan Richmond and Robbie Morris, the two youngsters who kept Messrs Thompson and Smith out of the front row a few weeks back will be chomping to get on as will Archie Brooks who could be a thorn in any teams side given the chance.

The replacements are completed by Andy Rennick, Jon Phillips, Dom Malone and Mark Tucker, all able players on their day.

They could just pull this off!!!


Northampton Saints

15 Nick Beal
14 Craig Moir
13 Peter Jorgensen
12 John Leslie
11 Ben Cohen
10 Paul Grayson
9 Matt Dawson
1 Tom Smith
2 Steve Thompson
3 Matt Stewart
4 Johan Ackermann
5 Olivier Brouzet
6 Andrew Blowers
7 Budge Pountney (capt)
8 Grant Seely

Replacements:
16 Dan Richmond
17 Robbie Morris
18 Jon Phillips
19 Andy Rennick
20 Dom Malone
21 Mark Tucker
22 James Brooks

Travelling reserves:
23 Joe Shaw
24 Mark Soden

The Irish name the following team:

London Irish: 15 Michael Horak, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Geoff Appleford, 12 Brendan Venter, 11 Justin Bishop, 10 Barry Everitt, 9 Hentie Martens, 8 Chris Sheasby, 7 Declan Danaher, 6 Eddie Halvey, 5 Steve Williams, 4 Ryan Strudwick (captain), 3 Rob Hardwick, 2 Naka Drotske, 1 Mike Worsley.
Replacements: Darren Edwards, James Brown, Rob Hoadley, James Cockle, Richard Kirke, Glenn Delaney, Simon Halford.





If you're not going to the game.....
What am I talking about? Of course you're going! But don't forget the club in conjunction with the BBC are supplying live commentary to ALL Saints games this season on the net. Alternatively you can check out our 'Chat Room' to chew the cud with fellow Saints. Or of course you can do both!

Check out the link below for commentaries.....

Saints Games Live On The Net

EARLIER THIS SEASON

We don't really want to dwell on this too long do we?

See links below for the reports:

Irish 48 Saints12
Tinman Interview
In Defence of John Steele
Annes Irish Stats
Joes Post Match Reaction
MOTM Result
The Irish View

But we will dwell on this.....

Saints 24 Irish 15
LAST SEASON

One apiece with a couple of home wins in last years encounters.

See links below for the reports:

Home
Saints 27 Irish 10

Away
Saints 10 Irish 13

This week in the build up to the final we have been looking at other games in the archive.
Check the links:

Saints 24 Irish 17
Saints 6 Irish 21
Saints 8 Irish 32 Saint
Saints 33 Irish 18
Irish 10 Saints 26
Iirish 10 Saints 51
Sa




HISTORY

The clubs first met in the 1904-1905 season a 25-0 win for the Saints. The Irish won their first game between the clubs in the 1951-52 season a 9-3 victory.The club have met over fifty times with the Saints well and truly in the driving seat statistically.
In recent years the Saints have still held sway (see Annes stats below) but there were two victories for the Exiles at the Gardens three seasons ago which put to an end both Saints cup and league dreams. The season after though the Saints got revenge over their hosts with a treble including a semi final cup win over the Irish at their future home the 'Madstad'.
But this of course is the big one!