Northampton Saints
Saints vs Wasps Preview (FG)
By St Jerome
September 18 2008
After a chastening defeat against Jonny Wliko last week, Saints return home to Franklin's Gardens to take on Wycombe Wasps who are also smarting having started their Guinness Premiership campaign with two losses. St Jerome takes a look ahead at Saturday's action...
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs WYCOMBE WASPS
GP: SATURDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER 2008
FRANKLIN’S GARDENS – 3pm
MATCH PREVIEW
Having
tasted defeat last week Saints to Newcastle, Piggy has received so very bad
news about this week . . .
Breaking News: The Gardens are in need of Pest Control. . .
Dear Sir, we have pests visiting our gardens and wonder what pest control
should we adopt . . .?
How do you control a Wasp? You take the attack to them...
Wasps are a puzzle to me. Having worked in Wycombe for nearly ten years, I
realise that few in Wycombe are passionate Wasps fans. Indeed seven years ago,
I met Connor O’Shea trying to flog Irish in the Town. People in High Wycombe like the club, but there is
nothing like the passion that you get in Northampton. Indeed, it is great to meet
passionate Wasps fans but they are likely to come from Watford or Barnet.
Visiting Wycombe for a game, you realise that no one has the commercial acumen
to get the extra out of you (unfortunately not true at FG) and they seem to pay
a lot to bus fans in. Therefore, the job their coaches and players have done is
truly incredible! They have lifted a small club with big debts to great
heights. The question for Saints is what can we learn? Well we learnt a lot
from our last meeting.
The last time we played the Wasps we lost. That was April 2007 and Saints have
only lost once since. Unfortunately, that loss was last week. However just a
little recap from the latter stages of that match in April 2007 (courtesy of
the Times):
“Any hope Northampton had of a comeback were effectively ended when Lewitt
crashed into Sackey after he had touched down, earning Wasps a penalty from
kick-off. Wasps kicked play right back into Saints territory and Lewsey put the
icing on the cake with Wasps' fourth try in the corner after a powerful drive
forward from Tom Rees.”
The word is power. If you look at that game the Wasps team then it is virtually
identical to the team that played last week, exceptions being Bracken for
Payne, Flutey for Waters and the lack of Day-glo. In comparison, Saints have
only seven of those players left in their Squad.
The two teams have journeyed in different directions since that meeting in
April 2007, only playing each other at “A” team level. The first of those
matches at Dry Leas was a reminder of what pace Wasps players can generate.
However, this victory was achieved by going to ground. We must wonder whether
the new directive is “Wasp Friendly”.
After the two matches, Northampton Saints meet a London Wasps team who have not
started the season looking like Champions. Indeed, we are sure to hear that
Wasps do not come out until spring, mirroring their insect namesakes.
Wasps are unlikely (I believe) to change their side substantially. The Gardens
might not see Betsen, or more importantly, Sharky, it is likely to see a
mixture of familiar names both young and old. So far, the rugby this year from
all Premiership teams has been full of unforced errors. This is also true of
the Saints: missed kicks, poor decisions (what was Dylan doing?) and lack of
linkages. Saints have had phases in which they have gained clear ascendency.
However questions remain.
The biggest question is selection. Having watched all the pre-season matches
except Cardiff I think Jim has given places to those who performed.
However, is this the time to look at Air Ben II? Should Jim look again at the
centre pairing, especially if JC is not fit? Could someone encourage Flash not
to kick, but to run!! I would also pick Shields we need a good lineout. So are
we going to come out on the attack? I hope so.
This is the middle game of the first crucial five fixtures and if we want to
find out where a new team is in their progress, what better than a match
against the reigning champions.
So who would I pick:
15 Bruce, Bruce
14 Ashton
13 Ansbro
12 Mordt
11 Lamont
10 Spencer
9 Foden
8 Wilson
7 Gray
6 Best
5 Day
4 Lobbe
3 Murray
2 Shields
1 Tonga’uiha
Prediction - pests controlled and a lot of lessons learnt.
pic courtesy Chris Hoddle
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StumbleuponWe may have lost the last time we played Wasps but we did win when we last played them at home. 9-8 I think it was. You might recall this scene in December 2006:
Think the outcome will be the same though
I am told by one who knows that Wasps are playing in EXACTLY the same way that they always have. No innovation or adjustment for ELVs or, more importantly, protocols (by which I mean the better-late-than-never instruction to referee the game according to laws that were already there)
Is this season going to be a tough examination of the real coaching talents of our favourite whippet keeper? Or is it the usual slow start, with Saints about to be on the end of a back-lash?
Well, that's the beauty of sport - we just don't know. My guess is that Wasps may just have actually lost the plot (for the moment at least) and Saints will return to a good performance following a good chewing by Jim and Dorian.
I have to admit to getting a little nervous about this one.
I will have my can of Waspeze at the ready though.
Nice one St Jerome
but alas i cannot mimic the sunny disposition of Mr Spokes and his annonymous tipster - I am very pessimistic about this one
this is because any other assessment would earn the instant approbium of Shaddo and others
18/09/2008 10:41
it's just that the nearest to a team playing in wasps' style whom we have played in recent times was in fact wasps, or rather wasps A team, in the home leg of the A league final last year.
that evening , smyler played a combination of a long and short kicking game, with a lot of dinked passes to inside runners, with the result that the wasps 13 spent the whole game in no-man's-land with nothing to hit and the game happening narrow of him or in behind him - and dave smith got 3 tries on the left wing.
We lost the first game because we were not up to the challenge. We just were not ready for the intensity of the game.
We obviously spent the time between the games well. We were not outmuscled by Wasps the following week. The transformation was amazing.
Let's hope that we are up for the physical challenge this week. Then we'll get to dictate the tactics
[lowrence.com]
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
I agree with OSB often.
The Oggie Wasps is a painful distraction.
I think that broonie may have something talking about a narrow gameplan. However it must be executed at pace.
Thanks enjoyed that - COMEONYOU SAINTS
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:09:18:15:34:50 by St Jerome.
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