Gumshield
Was today the start of this to come or, just backlash from 20/04/02.
Larry and co where good, but the forwards must take most of the credit for the win.
Steve 393
You know what they say, 2 steps forward & 1 step back? Well this week was another step in the right direction, not perfect but it got us back on track in fair style.

Good to see that although the crowd was a bit down on usual, everyone present was in good voice, & Smudger was given good support after last week.

One last point. Was Sarries first try off a blatant forward pass? I sit behind the posts so it's often hard to judge, but this one looked miles in front. Anyone confirm?
Ballagher
Congratulations to the squad. Lots of pluses today:

1) the way the team picked themselves up from ... well you know.

2) The pack in the loose especially.

3) Brouzet - a monster performance if ever there was one.

4) Tommy Boy’s best scrummaging performance to date and superb in the loose.

5) Soden's tackling.

6) Grayson was typically excellent.

7) Jorgy and Leslie looking like a centre unit to envy.

8) Beale (I wasn't that impressed with his Glos MotM award but I'll happily say he was very good today.

Off the field (well almost):

1) West Midlands Ben leading the side out (I doubt the photos I took will be any good Mark but I'll let you know).

2) Good Sarries crowd (who displayed a lot of the spirit I remember from the year we went down).

3) Good noise from behind D block (with Mark in the south stand there were worries the players would think the atmosphere had dropped but Jamie more than made up for him).

4) Good to see Thomas (an encouraging return for le petit twinkle toes).

5) Buying £10 on saints at 16. (It was looking even better at 47-13 but a £90 win can't be bad.)

Only down side would have to be the small (but embarrassingly loud) group of prepubescent morons stood directly behind us. OK I was, I admit, in a funny mood for reasons I'd rather not explain. Maybe normally I'd rise above it. The problem?
1) Raucous support of the team? - No, good on ya in fact.
2) Football style baying of opposition players? - Bad form, especially when we're winning.
3) Inane and continual chitchat throughout (including the Sarries attempts at goal)? Well I suppose it cleared a space where we were standing as they drove sane people away.
4) Increasingly banal - no, down right rude babble when a player was clearly badly hurt. By the way, if you're reading this (unlikely given the verb in the sentence) the player was Grant Seeley and not "Ian (sic) Beale".

So if you or your mates dress as a banana and give all the impression that it was the first time you'd had a drink stronger than a bitter shandy - you know who you are. Please go and stand somewhere else in future - Plymouth perhaps.
Carl
Just what the doctor ordered.
Dan Cooper
WELL DONE BOYS!!
Good performance. Good crowd. Good atmos.
Bruiser and Wee Tam had great games and Wally had a nice turn of pace when he came on.
I thought Dan Richmond got loads of hard yards and should be in for the opening berth in the game at Waspies.
Got the tickets for Waspies, a bargain at a tenner and free travel an' all!!
Lets give the boys some noise next week!!

COME ON YOU SAINTS!!!
Ben Dover
Sorries seemed to up their game as soon a TC stepped onto the pitch; I know it coincided with a few substitutes of our own. But their forwards were being absolutely hammered for most of the game, yet when he turned up they seemed to find an extra gear.
Fly Half
Yes and how he lifted the last 15 mins real class a treat to see such a player return. The dropped goal conversion to save time was a sign of his quick thinking
Saint Ian
Yeah...obviously a bit of a talisman. My concern about how we play now is that in the bad old days, we used to get going in the last ten minutes when the game was beyond reach; now we leak tries in the last quarter whilst being ahead (Dykes, Glaws and Sorries being recent examples)...one of these days we will get beaten in the 86th minute as a consequence of a leaky defence and an anti-Saints (selectively myopic) ref (and boy, are there a few of those around).
Well Saint
Saints - Sarries: Just what we needed, last week seems to be out of the system after that performance. Thought Grayson had a great game with his kicking - my vote for MotM for sure.

View from the Experts
Michael Austin – The Times
Wayne Smith, the head coach, admitted that his team must retain possession for longer periods and eliminate fumbles under pressure. “When we can do that, we shall be much more difficult to play against,” he said.
Ian Malin – The Guardian
The Saints pushed all the right switches in a bravura display to knock up their second half-century in a row here.
Barry Newcombe – The Sunday Times
THE old line about treating triumph and disaster in equal measure applied to the letter to Northampton
Alistair McLeod – The Observer
Thomas Castaignede's 18-month injury lay-off finally came to an end yesterday. But he was unable to inspire relegation-haunted Saracens as Northampton bounced back from last Saturday's Powergen Cup disappointment
David Llewellyn – Independent
It was slaughter. Gone were the blushes of last week's cup final humiliation; in their place were a bristling Saints side intent on marching into Europe.
Caroline Hayden – On the Offy Site
What a difference a week makes!
Wayne Smith
"Today wasn't flawless and we made some fundamental errors but the heart was beating proud and strong and that is what we wanted. I am just proud of the players.