By Chris Gleadell
January 16 2009

Well what a weekend? It does not come much better than that. A packed to the rafters Franklin's Gardens with those both on and off the field on song to send our nearest and dearest back over the border to Leicestershire with their tails between their legs.

LEICESTER

Well what a weekend? It does not come much better than that. A packed to the rafters Franklins Gardens with those both on and off the field on song to send our nearest and dearest back over the border to Leicestershire with their tails between their legs.

I predicted in last weeks column that the game against the Tigers was going to be a close run thing but despite what it said on the scoreboard at the end I could not have been more wrong. Had flyhalf Stephen Myler not left his kicking boots at home our score would have been in the 30’s and well clear of Leicester rather than the four point cushion that secured the game. Luckily though young Smyler has no such problems with his hands and he was instrumental in keeping the Tigers on the back foot for the majority of the game.

We scored three tries of real class as again and again, especially in the first period, the lads took the game to the Tigers at a pace they had trouble containing. And it was not just our up and coming flyhalf who caught the eye.

The talk may have all been about Bed Foden, and in some respects quite rightly so, but some other players are quietly making a name themselves in the gold, black and green too.

I don’t know what they have been putting in Paul Diggin’s tea lately but Digger – or the ‘aggressive little pepperpot’ as Dewi Morris has dubbed him - has gone from a fringe squad player to an almost first wing choice in a matter of weeks. In the centre Jon Clarke is certainly getting back to his best and must be alerting the England selectors once more while alongside him Irishman James Downey looks more solid every week and is potentially the real find of the season. The two look like they are coming to an understanding and should Saints progress further up the ladder in years to come this paring may well be the key.

As for the mercurial Mr Foden, well if he does play long term at fullback, and on current form it would be madness not to play him there, then we have an equally gifted scrumhalf in Lee Dickson who on Saturdays showing could make the number nine shirt his own anyway.

In the pack Mark Easter and Mark Hopley have grabbed the opportunity given to them with both hands. Both were at the very centre of what was happening on Saturday. A few weeks back you would have looked no further than the two Ulstermen, Neil Best and Roger Wilson, as your nailed on starters in the backrow alongside Scott Gray but with both currently serving bans the two Marks have stepped up to the plate and made the most of their time on the pitch, giving both the Irishman a battle to get their shirts back.

However the player that really caught the eye for me on Saturday was young South African signing Juandre Kruger. He may have only played a couple of games for the club but alongside the wily old warhorse Nacho Lobbe he put in an assured confident and mature display that looked like he had been here for years. We may well have missed out on his former Bulls team mate Victor Matfield but in time to come on Saturdays showing we might just have about the next best thing and the sooner we convince him he is English all the better.

When you look at those mentioned above and then factor in the likes of Dylan Hartley and Soane Tonga’uiha amongst others then look at their age range you will find the majority are mid twenties at most and are surely the nucleus of a squad that a successful future can be built around. To quote Dewi Morris again, he said on Saturday to watch out for the Saints in years to come as they are starting to build something very special at Franklins Gardens. It might be the euphoria of the East Midlands derby win and the bragging rights regained but little by little this season I am starting to think he might just be right.We might not be the finished article yet but we are certainly heading there slowly and surely

The win pulled us up to eighth in the table and we now sit points wise as close to Gloucester in second spon that we do to Bristol hovering above the trapdoor in 12th. So there is still a lot to play for especially in the next two Guinness Premiership games when we play the two sides directly above us in the table, Harlequins and Saracens. Results against those two would really pull us up into the Heineken Cup qualification reckoning. Exciting times ahead.

MONTPELLIER

By the time you read this I along with a few hundred other lucky souls will be in - or in transit to – Montpellier for the European Challenge Cup group game on Thursday night at the Stade Yves du Manoir.  Whilst we might gradually be climbing the domestic league we should not forget the rewards available in this competition either. With four maximum point wins out of four we are current second seeds behind London Irish and preserving this place gives us that home advantage not only in the quarter finals but the semi too should we prevail.  Therefore with Saracens as third seeds snapping at our heels victory in Montpellier is a must.

Montpellier have been having a hard time of it over the last couple of weeks suffering heavy defeats to both Toulouse and Clermont and in those 160 minutes of rugby just managing to score a single penalty. Will they use Thursday’s game to try and lift them themselves out the doldrums, well time will tell but just like us long term they have their sights set much higher.

With a rumoured war chest of around €14million next season and a flurry of big name signings in the offing they aim to be French champions within three years though it might be harder than you think to break into the top four first.

We may not, given the constraints of the wage cap, be able to compete with that budget but I certainly think we can more than compete with them on the field and I an confident we are going to come away with the spoils before we wrap things up next week in the final group game against Toulon at the Gardens. Just like in the GP it’s still all there to play for.

Now please excuse me while I go and have another pastis!