Northampton Saints
News: COYSDC Match Report Moseley v Saints
By David Lowrence
December 30 2007
I picked up this gig courtesy of a Scottish Gentleman practising for Hogmanay, wearing nothing under his kilt, and picking up a dose of the flu. His hardiness would have been more sorely tested at Billesley Common yesterday, when he could have added hypothermia to his case-notes.
Moseley v Northampton Saints
National Division 1. Round 18. 29th December 2007
Moseley 18 – Saints 27
30th December 2007
Match Report
Those who know me are aware that I "don't do" match reports, so this is more of a travelogue than a report, as my knowledge of the finer points is nowhere near the level of other reporters.
double-decker bank of cabins behind one goal to house the hospitality and prawn
sandwich brigade, a sloping bank at the Southern end , and 2 Mobile seating
trucks offering some protection from the wind which blew unrelentingly from the
South West until half time, when it subsided to a small gale.
The clubhouse at Billesley was a delight, plenty of food available, a bar where you could actually get served without the need to take a book to read while waiting, and a great set of knowledgeable and passionate supporters, who made us all most welcome. In discussion with a number of supporters, I decided that in order to get the best view for this review, I would pay the additional £10 (normally £2) and sit in the stand, the better to manage a note book. The downside was that, because it was unreserved seating, I needed to be in place early to get a decent seat. In the 55 mins I sat and froze in the stand, my mind went back to grounds where I had frozen for the sake of watching a match. Borders, Nottingham, Old Deer Park, but this one came close to topping the Lions in Christchurch, where at half time sleet-covered British supporters huddled in the tunnels and cried. I had just begun to fall into the deathly doze which precedes hypothermia, when, thank goodness, the teams were warming up and the distant PA sprang into life to announce catering arrangements. Watching Jim and Doreen overseeing the warm up, gasps of astonishment were drawn from the crowd on seeing that Jim's shaven pate was bared to the elements, was the man mad? Was it a bet? Whatever it was, he was well covered by the time he came out again for the match!
And so to the game. ("At last!!" you cry, dear reader). The Saints ran onto the field looking like the well oiled, no-nonsense, Premiership machine they ought to be, their white away strip seeming to match the freezing conditions of the day. They were swiftly followed by the Moseley team, in their Dennis the Menace strip. (I'll swear one of their replacements had black spikey hair!).
Saints were determined not to
kick into the ferocious wind, and they ran the ball everywhere, inviting the ire
of "
Sir" who spotted a series of infringements that neither I, nor the one-eyed
Geordie Moseley supporter behind me could understand or see. Moseley
put in some heroic defending, but eventually Bruce Bruce Bruce Reihana was on
the end of a well worked movement which yielded him a try and Barry Everitt his
first conversion. 3-7 to the visitors.
The next phase of play was scrappy, fast and furious. It was however notable for an awesome run by Jon Clarke, who broke through, spun out of and disdainfully ignored six tackles before running out of support. The man is clearly returning to his old self after his appalling injury run.
Saints' lineout was performing well and from a steal, they marched towards the Moseley end, only to knock on at the line. 26 minutes gone and frustration beginning to build amongst the Saintly Support. From a monster Moseley clearance, Chris Ashton gathered and ran out of the 22, the resulting hack to touch offering Moseley a lineout, which they duly won and followed up with a fast, but soft try in the corner. Bereft of their specialist kicker (see above), Moseley failed to convert, but the score line at 8-7 did not look healthy for the visitors. The fill-in to half time was so scrappy, scrappy, scrappy, that it would not normally merit comment, except to note that Saints gifted another penalty to Moseley, which they duly accepted. By half time (11-7), the visiting supporters were beginning to voice their concerns, except for OSB who remained supremely confident.
Coming back from the club house
at half time, I was able to observe the teams coming back on; Saints looking
grim and determined, Moseley eager and keen to exploit their lead. At the kick
off it became clear how Saints would play the second half; OSB was right.
Pressure, Pressure, Pressure. With the
by now abated, but rain laden, wind at their backs they forced Moseley into
their own 22. It was an object lesson in how to spring a trap. For what seemed
an eternity, Moseley tried to pick and drive out 
of trouble. Saints forcing
tackles were hard and unrelenting. For almost a score of phases, Moseley were gradually
forced further back. (who said forward play
is dull? this was fascinating!) The inevitable result was the award of a
scrum which resulted in a try to Dylan
Hartley, duly converted by Barry Everitt. 11-14 - light at the end of the
tunnel, visiting supporters now starting to get behind the team.
Moseley, after the restart, realised that they needed to reacquaint themselves with the Saints' end, and put some pressure on our three-quarter line. This resulted in the weekly COYSDC Ltd "Britney" award. "Oops I did it again" - this week it was the turn of Barry Everitt to gift a lobbed pass to the opposition for Sharples (Ena's grandson?) gently intercept and run in under the posts to unwrap a gifted seven points from the Saints. This in spite of happening right in front of the stand in which a phalanx of Saintly Supporters we screaming at Barry "NNNOOOO!! DON'T DO IT!" . I am sure his reward was donated by his peers post match.
Saints took some time to regain
their equilibrium, and the supporters their voices, but eventually a reasserting
of the "press attack strategy" had Moseley once again on the back foot, and
conceding
a try to Hartley again. This time unconverted. 18-19 and nerves
beginning to affect the supporters. Jim decided to send reinforcements in the
form of Sharkey, (who IMHO should have been on since half time - this match was
made for him), Tonga'uiha and Lewitt. This was the final straw for Moseley,
they had no answer to the superior fitness, and Saints started to take advantage
by - golly gosh! - using their backs. (This
all came a bit late for Digger, who was
begging for soup to be provided in the Lucozade bottles, but to no avail. They
had to chip him off the wing where he had frozen solid due to inactivity.)
Cometh the opportunity, cometh
the record holder. After several good surging runs from the replacements,
Ashton did what he does, and screamed over for his 18th try of the
season. 18-24, breathing a little
easier, in injury time, Barry Everitt was offered and accepted his only penalty
of the Match . 18-27 and a bonus point.
So what do we take away? Moseley are a good ND1 outfit, although struggling, and if they had had the courage to use their good set of backs I think the game may very well have been different, with Saints struggling far more in the 2nd half. Why wait so long to bring Robinson on? This game (well the 2nd half) was made for him. Saints appear to have a long way to go, but I am sure we are not seeing what is really going on. The plan seems to be - "Just do what you need to do, it's a long season". Clearly we are desperately missing Damo in the time of year when he would come into his own, and the return of other injured players cannot happen quickly enough.
So I returned to the clubhouse for some more banter with gloriously one-eyed Moseley supporters, and left at 6pm after what turned into, eventually an enjoyable day.
Scoring
Moseley Tries: Sharples (2) Conversions :MacDonald Penalties: Stenhouse, MacDonald.
Saints - Tries: Reihana, Hartley (2), Ashton Conversions: Everitt (2) Penalties: Everitt.
Yellow card: Sigley (71mins)
Referee: Dale Newitt
Pictures Courtesy Simon Robinson and Richard Slater
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Stumbleupondid wonder what was going on in the second end at the "PS boxes". I wonder if Broonie enjoyed his view from there?
I couldn't make this game, but this drew a much better picture than the other match reports I've read.
Oh and it was Birtney that came up with that song title not Madonna. She thought of it one night when we were in bed.
Saint til I die
Many thanks for enlightening me on what happened at the far end in second half.
Cheers mate and thanks to Moseley - good beer, good food and good company - have they retrieved roof to temporarary refreshment tent behind "Main Stand" or is it now somewhere in the Bull Ring.?
Bridesmaids no more.
Quote:Howlin
Oh and it was Birtney that came up with that song title
Correct Malcolm - my fault- half asleep this morning - "Oops I did it again!"
I'm sure even the most enthusisatic supporter would have realised that this would have resulted in negative rather than positive meters!!!
Loved watching JC getting back on form. How is it that he is so difficult to tackle. There were a number of times when his momentum had been stopped only for him to pop out and keep running.
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
I took the view that it was worth more than four points.
Had we not had our now customary lapse and given away an interception try, my view of 25 to 30 points would not have been far from the outcome.
Aside: how many interception tries have we conceded this season?
I suppose that it was because of my confidence in the eventual outcome that I was disappointed with Moseley's performance rather than ours. Catching a ball on one's own 22 and mauling it to death only to cough up possession for a ten metre loss was a poor game plan.
When they were 'defending' a lead it was naive.
When they were defending a bonus point it was incredibly naive.
When they were defending nothing it was bizarre.
At some stage towards the end we saw some adventure from their backs. Lo and behold, they still lost the ball but for a 30+ metre gain. Get Dylan Hartley over from there!
[lowrence.com]
Was incredibly dull rugby and I am glad I don't have to watch it all week.
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
Tetleys Block F E143
Wonderful phrase... I call that class play and even more top-class reporting.
Much enjoyted reading your report from my armchair!
You lot should come when its snowing !
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