By Mark H
February 6 2004

So, after the heartache, will Saintly hearts be warmed by the visit of the bottom side and relegation certainties Rotherham, or will it really be a case of remember the Titans? European glory may be gone, but Saints can still salvage something out of this ZP season. They can start with attempting to get the bonus point victory which many observers have taken as read.

And that’s exactly the attitude that will end up losing this match. Roth may be bottom with a single, solitary point obtained from London Irish’s visit to Millmoor on the day we nilled Leicester (see, even Roth managed to get a point that day!), but they are a considerably tighter unit than that which went down 42-13 at home earlier in the season.

The arrival of coach Steph Nel has seen him bring some of his countrymen to firm up the defence, particularly in the pack, where flanker Brad McLeod-Henderson in particular has showed a quality that Roth were lacking earlier in the season. When I saw them go down to their heaviest defeat so far, 56-10 at Newcastle, they looked particularly weak around the fringes of rucks and mauls, enabling the Falcons pack, big but not the most mobile in the world, to take multi phase ball and commit defenders to the ruck before sending the ball out wide at pace for the speedsters to take advantage. I’ve no doubt that with a South African in charge, this will have improved beyond recognition, but it is worth noting that the back line that struggled with the pace of Stephenson, Noon and May is largely unchanged.

So the Roth team is:-

15 Bernardo Stortoni
14 Anthony Elliott
13 Jon Pritchard
12 Phil Jones
11 Michael Wood
10 Jon Benson
9 Guy Easterby
1 Nick Lloyd
2 Chris Johnson
3 Colin Noon
4 Bloues Volschenk
5 Luke Gross
6 Leon Greeff
7 Brad Macleod-Henderson
8 Geraint Lewis.

16 Riaan Olckers
17 Andy Long
18 Des Tuavii
19 Ryno van der Merwe
20 Charlie Harrison
21 Mike Umaga
22 Giscard Pieters

It’s a warm welcome back for Chris Johnson, who’ll be hoping to repeat his try-scoring feats in last season’s Mobbs Match, but there’s no place for Peter Jorgensen, so the nightmare situation for many Saints supporters of Jorgy scoring the winning try is removed.

Someone who has seen both Rotherham and Worcester at very close quarters recently commented to me that even now, Roth are still thirty points better off than Wuss, so you wonder whether it would be a good idea for them to be relegated at the end of the season, as surely they’re just going to continually swap places with Worcester for the next few seasons. With strong rumours up north of no relegation this season, but Worcester and Orrell coming up to make a 14 team Premiership next season, it will be very interesting to see how the Titans approach this game. If they really believe that they can win, then they may be able to take advantage of any hangover from last Sunday and get close, just as they did at home to Bath recently. If they don’t, then it could be a comfortable beating. I would hope that the believing Rotherham come down the M1 - their supporters deserve that much.

Unsurprisingly, there’s a few changes in the Saints 22, some enforced, some tactical. The side as announced on Wednesday afternoon is:-

15 Bruce Reihana (co-captain)
14 Oriol Ripol
13 Chris Hyndman
12 Mark Tucker
11 Ben Cohen
10 Shane Drahm
9 Matt Dawson
1 Tom Smith
2 Dan Richmond
3 Tevita Taumoepeau
4 Matt Lord
5 Mark Connors
6 Andrew Blowers (co-captain)
7 Darren Fox
8 Grant Seely

16 Steve Thompson or Matt Miles
17 Chris Budgen
18 Rob Hunter
19 Brett McNamee
20 Mark Robinson
21 Andy Vilk
22 Paul Grayson

So, JL and Robbie drop out of the squad completely, whilst the back line reshuffles to give Daws only a second appearance since the World Cup final, as well as returns for Air Shine and former Roth try machine Oriol Ripol. In the pack, Dan and Big Trev come into the front row for the two injury victims, but it is on the bench, just for a change, where there is the most interest.

Rob Hunter returns for the first time since London Irish five weeks ago, whilst last week’s half back pairing drop down, Sharky for a welcome breather, Grays just a week before what could be an England start in Rome.

And then there’s Brett McNamee and Andy Vilk. Now, if you haven’t seen the Wanderers games this season, then you could be in for a treat. Brett McNamee is a local lad, a nineteen year old number eight who has provided some oomph to the pack that has remained unbeaten in the Zurich A league so far.

Andy Vilk is a 22 year old former Loughborough student who has scored fourteen tries in his last eleven games, including a hat-trick in Monday night’s Wandies win over Newcastle. Usually playing inside centre, he has pace and an excellent rugby brain, with some of the lines that he has been taking a breath of fresh air for those of us who appreciate John Leslie but wish that he had that bit extra of a cutting edge. I believe that he could go a very long way in this game, and hope that he gets between twenty minutes and half an hour to not only test himself in what is essentially the real stuff, but also show to a bigger audience just what he can do. And if he manages to cross the whitewash, expect to find someone in D Block smiling quietly and thinking that it’ll be the first of many.

To both Brett and Andy - you’re on the verge. You’re good enough to wear the shirt. Go and make the most of it, we’re behind you all the way.

Referee for this week (and coincidentally for next as well) is Steve Leyshon. Prediction - it’ll be harder than we think, but Saints will get the win and should score the fourth try by about the 72nd minute. And a wish - tries for Daws and Vilky, the legend and the future of this great club.


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