By Mark H
February 9 2004

Well, forget the pre-match talk of four tries and a hammering. By 4.45 on Saturday, we were all grateful of four points in a closer game than anyone could have predicted, and had Roth been awarded the late try that they had scored, then it could well have been a snatched draw or even a defeat. Some reactions post match were of anger, particularly aimed at a curious refereeing display from Steve Leyshon, but my over-riding sentiment at the end was one of frustration, as yet again in the face of a dogged defensive display Saints had come up of short what had been expected. Trouble was, this week the expectation was five points, rather than a mere victory.

Massive credit should be given to Rotherham; this was the third time that I’d seen them this season, and by far the sharpest performance by them, and certainly the first time of the three that they’ve fronted up to what’s in front of them. The South African influence has obviously been a major factor, but would it have kept them up had they had it at the start of the season? Well, no - unfortunately, for all of the huff and puff from the pack, the back line doesn’t possess the sort of cutting edge that’s needed to win games in the Premiership, and whilst they would have had a win by now, they wouldn’t have picked up enough to make a difference.

It is safe to say though that Roth deserved more than they got - you cannot fault their spurut.

On a heavy pitch, Rotherham started much the better and their pack produced fine multi-phase recycling to take the ball up the pitch and, to a certain extent, put the marker down for the afternoon and quieten the Gardens. With Saints penalised for offside, Jon Benson kicked the penalty and Roth had a sixth minute lead. With the wake up call sounded, Saints moved forwards at last and Air Shine kicked an equalising penalty three minutes later when Roth were deemed to have not rolled out of the tackle. Or at least we thought Saints had woken up…

At least Ben Cohen had. Coming from the back of a poor game by his standards against Llanelli, he prevented Roth going back in front when winger Michael Wood cut a huge hole in Saints’ defence, and looked for all the world like he was going to run half the length of the pitch to score. Until Ben came in with a flying tap tackle that brought Wood down, and saved the score. When he nearly scored again in the other corner a few minutes later, after chasing up a kick floated over Ben’s head as he came off his wing and being prevented only by Bruce picking up the ball and diving into touch, that should have been the alarm call.

The alarm had not been switched on. Saints lost the lineout just five metres out, and with Roth being held up just short of the line, scrum half Guy Easterby picked up from the base and dived over the line. Even though the conversion was missed, this was not good. The ground was quiet - too quiet - and the team did not appear capable of producing anything to lift the spirits.

Thankfully, Saints started to emerge from the trench that they had dug, and began to take control of the situation, even though they did look better when keeping the ball close to the rucks and making headway there, rather than throwing the ball out where there always seemed to be at least one Roth player taking off before the ball. Still, by the number of times that it happened, you’d have thought that Saints would have changed the gameplan, rather than being caught repeatedly in a ferocious dead end.

It was ironic, therefore, that the Saints try came from a combination of both. Daws made his best snipe of the game, either up to this point or from those yet to come, and fed Grant. He was held up agonisingly short of the line, but with Roth trying to get back and cover, the ball was fed out and Oriol went over in the corner for a try which probably means more to him than any other he’s scored for Saints, coming as it did against his old club. Shane then missed the conversion, so we were tied at 8.

For the remainder of the half, it was a question of when the next score would come, not if. That Saints were foiled, try-wise at least, owed a lot to great defence and some very strange refereeing decisions from Steve Leyshon. There’s not enough time to list them all here, but to mention generally an almost permanently offside Rotherham line, players repeatedly coming in from the side, and laying on the ball would sum up most of the misdemeanours. There was also one which will probably go down as the strangest decision against Saints this season, when Dan took a quick lineout to Ben, who was subsequently tackled before the ball arrived from an offside position. Referee’s decision - knock on Saints, Roth put in. As someone said at half time, what’s the touch judge for? As this was the guy (Stuart Terheege) whose eyesight was so good against Gloucester that he saw Sharky run thirty yards to punch McRae (when neither happened), then the close range (six metres at maximum) must have been too short for him. You really do wonder sometimes…

Saints went in to the break in front though, after Shane kicked a penalty from close range just before the break. We hoped it would get better. I wished I had bought £2 of tote tickets (the £100 winner was the next batch of tickets). You don’t always get what you hope and wish for. What we did get was much of the same - Saints trying to break loose, Roth not letting them, and very occasionally having their own moments in the sun. Chris Budgen replaced the labouring Tevita Taumoepeau at half time, and you wonder just how bad his knock was in Monday’s Wandies game.

Roth had the early pressure again, and could quite easily have gone in front had Mike Umaga not been prevented going over by some really desperate defending. Still, the line was not breached, and Saints started asserting themselves again. Brett McNamee came on for Rob Hunter to make his debut, and in the thirty five minutes or so that he was on the field, made enough of an impact to suggest that he will be in the first XV shake-up again.

Mr Leyshon eventually remembered that he had got a card in his pocket, after repeatedly warning the Roth players, and despatched Bloues Volschenk to the bin for not rolling away, but it had got to the stage that he was taking the rap for the team. Whilst he was off, Saints took advantage.

On a day of ironic tries - the scrum half snipe from the wrong scrum half and the ball being thrown wide when that wasn’t working - it seemed right that the third try, and the one that seemingly settled the game was also a strange one given the rest of the game. Roth were getting fast ball when they moved up the field, mainly through excellent offloading in the tackle, whilst Saints too often took the ball into contact and relied upon Daws to recycle it from the base of a ruck. So it was sweet when Tam created some space for himself through excellent work, and then offloaded in the tackle to a flying Ben Cohen to go through to score. It was a relief, and for a few minutes there was a hope of two more tries to get the extras. What Daws did to deserve being jabbed in the face on his way back to halfway, however, we can but speculate on.

Just a few minutes though. This Rotherham side is not the side that shipped hatfuls of tries earlier in the season, and they were denied another score when the pack rumbled again and allowed Olckers to go over from close range. Amazingly, it wasn’t allowed - well done to whoever got under it - but the cries of “cheat” from the Rotherham supporters were harsh, if understandable. If they started chanting “useless” instead, they might have had another ten thousand chanting with them.

Andy Vilk came on for Mark Tucker - too late, but not as a reflection on Tucker, more a reflection on the reluctance to try something different - and put too little kicks through, the first of which almost produced a try, the second being more forced, but again, he’ll be back. The game ended with a muted reception to an indifferent performance, but a winning one all the same.

There will be a huge need to improve on the visit to the House of Pain next Sunday. Taine Randell will be waiting for his ex-All Black coach, and we don’t want to be tormented by him - after all, it will be bad enough being tormented by the pizza adverts…




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