By Chris Gleadell
November 12 2009

The Saints got off to winning ways in their first "Love" Cup group game last week just edging the Ospreys by a couple of points down at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea on Thursday night. At the time of writing last week the team selection was yet to be announced and I pondered whether Saints were to be one of the teams that took the LV= seriously.

Thoughts from the Chron

12th November 2009

As ever Big Jim selected a side that said, ‘we’re in it so we are going to try to win it’. Should I ever have doubted him?
 
Given the international call ups, injuries and suspensions, plus the opportunity to give a couple of people a well earned rest, a team that was a blend of youth and experience was selected to travel west.
 
After a couple of early penalty misses for the Ospreys the Saints took a grip on the game and led 13-0 going into the closing stages of the first period through a converted try by young James Cannon and eight points off the boot of Steve Myler. However a late Hibbard try just before the break gave the home side hope which bar another Smyler penalty in the second period they built upon to finally edge into the lead in the last quarter.
 
All credit to Saints though, we’ve seen many a Northampton team in the past buckle in such circumstances. A healthy lead built up, gradually edged back then once the opposition took the lead we would fold. Not so on Thursday night, the lads stuck to the task in hand and with ten minutes left on the clock a final Smyler penalty put the Saints back into a narrow lead, which despite a few late jitters, they held onto till the end.
 
So played one won one but given the oddity of the qualification criteria that only puts us third in our group of four. Indeed, as described last week, we do have the current scenario of a team in a qualifying place for the semis who have yet to record a win and the team we beat, Ospreys, standing higher in their table than we are in ours.
 
Someone pointed out this week that the format is designed to give an extra game to everyone. In a ‘normal’ competition a four team group it would be just three (or six in the Heineken) games total. By playing another complete group you get four which it seems dovetails nicely into the season. However it looks like the only plus to me and a tenuous one at that. Confusion still reigns.
 
SARRIES
 
So it is back to the Gardens this week and the visit of Saracens for the second Love Cup game. Saracens have been going great guns this season under the tutelage of one of our favourite pantomime villains Brendan Venter. They may not have been winning many friends this season with their brand of rugby, even some of their own supporters have been questioning its entertainment value, but fair play to them, with almost a third of the Guinness Premiership gone they sit undefeated at the top of the table.
 
Some of those victories have been close though, perhaps none more so than our clash with the Fezheaded ones down at Wembley at the start of the season. As two sets of supporters we could argue till the cows come home whether Soane Tonga'uiha’s try that was disallowed by the video ref was good but I suspect there would not have been too many complaints had it been given. So perhaps we have revenge in our eyes and the righting of a wrong, then again Sarries might view the loss in last years’ European Challenge Cup semi final up here in the same manner.
 
Much like us Sarries selected a team of youth and experience in their LV= opener last week, a victory over Bath. However with a very big game coming up next Tuesday against South Africa at Wembley it certainly looks like it is a time for Doc Venter to juggle his resources. Given that the money men at Saracens look on these Wembley games as critical to building their fanbase going forward he might be caught between a rock and a hard place should he opt to put out a second string for this showcase game.
 
Luckily we do not have such distractions nor those selection headaches and Big Jim may well pick in a similar vein to last week.  Perhaps with match fitness in mind we might see some absentees returning with half an eye on the following weeks Guinness Premiership game against Quins but by and large it may well be youth and experience once more.
 
Given what Sarries have on their plate at present I think we might have too much for them on the day and I can see us keeping that 100% record in the competition as it goes into mothballs till the end of February.
 
ENGLAND
 
The game on Saturday is an early, 1:00pm kick off to allow everyone time to watch England’s game with Argentina.
 
Last weeks game against Australia was a bit of a mixed bag as far as the Saints contingent returned. Dylan must surely have done enough in his time on the field last week to warrant a start against the Pumas.
 
Courtney, was well Courtney. Although not given that much game time, as always, he took the opportunity and I am surprised a lot wasn’t said of him stealing the ball from the back of a Wallaby maul early on. Lad of twenty, on the field a couple of minutes in his first game then he’s virtually ripping the ball off a host of season internationals from the wrong side then darting off downfield? I do wish the media would give credit where it is due but then they were too busy looking for scapegoats.
 
Which brings us to Shane. Yes maybe not the best of games in some areas but nothing that warranted the likes of the Telegraphs Paul Ackford giving a rating of 3/10. If anything I think Shane was guilty of trying too hard. Yes he was attempting to create a few things that did not come off but at least he was creating.
 
Now I know Jonny Wilkinson (Ackford’s score 9/10) had a good all round rugby game on Saturday but I would question whether its was truely in the flyhalf role. At halftime the broadcaster showed a brief clip of JW’s first half highlights.  A dropgoal, a couple of penalties and half a dozen tackles and that was it. The only time from memory a winger got the ball in that first half was a cross field kick. Surely the games not come to that or does the win at all costs mentality nullify everything of flair nowadays? If it has then for once Warren Gatland might be on to something about the paucity of play in England, even though Wilkinson plys his trade in France.
 
I was starting to think it must be a pre-arranged gameplan surely but in the second half the two players swapped position. Bingo! I may be biased but in my eyes we finally came to life with Shane at 10 and looked threatening with ball in hand in attack rather than long punts downwind for field position. Other players were brought into the game. Yes it did not come off at times but then it doesn’t always when you are trying to unlock a defence to win a game that looked all but lost so dire were England in attack up till then.  In that last quarter we looked more than a handful than we had in that hour before, surely something to build on.
 
I do hope that Martin Johnson sticks with Shane, who knows he might be brave and start with him at 10 against Argentina with Wilkinson at inside centre. On the other hand, knowing Johnson, he might just pick Andy Goode. It would not surprise me…