Northampton Saints
News: Saints Power Play Punishes Cardiff
By Jonathan Stockham
December 12 2010
Proper game of rugby. Two quality sides going hell for leather for the win and valuable Cup points. Two top notch fly halves demonstrating excellence in kicking, both from hand and the tee. Two packs giving no quarter in the battle up front. Proper mass brawl at the end, no handbags or snoods in evidence.
Heineken European Cup
Pool 1, Round 3, Franklins Gardens. 11 December 2010.
Northampton Saints 25, Cardiff Blues 15
However, one pack, Saints’, got the better of the other, despite quality throughout the visitor’s 8 and one defence, Saints’, held firm in the face of strong running by Cardiff centre Casey Laulala and Tom James on the wing. Saints try line was never breached whereas both Chris Ashton and Paul Diggin scored fine tries for the home side and Ashton could have had another from an inch perfect cross kick from Steven Myler if the England winger hadn’t dropped it!
Nice evening for a match. Not cold, very little breeze, good playing surface and a full house of passionate supporters, including a fair few visiting Cardiff fans.
The Saints pack continued its season long dominance in the set scrum, despite attempts in the run up to the game by Cardiff coach Dai Young to point out to ref Romain Poite that it was all illegal. And for the first two scrums, we thought he had been persuaded by the spin, as Saints conceded free kicks for engaging just before the “E.” Having looked at the game on TV subsequently, the difference between the packs engaging was infinitesimal. Maybe “Sir” was just setting his stall out early.
But Saints powerpack got to grips with the lineout as well. Several Cardiff lineouts were stolen and allowed Myler to kick for touch in the highly reasonable expectation that Saints could win the ball back at the throw. It was an early indicator for the forthcoming Six Nations battle between Courtney Lawes and Bradley Davis. One – nil to the Saintsman so far.
In the loose, the collisions were mighty. Cardiff started like an express train and the Saints defence had to be on its mettle to cope. The back row trio and Jimmy Downey held firm in the close encounters and the whole team did their bit to make every tackle count. And if the first tackle was missed, the next man up made sure.
The battle of the two fly halves was won by Steven Myler. Up against the Scottish internationalist, Dan Parks, Myler’s place kicking was 100% (as was Parks’) but Myler’s game management behind a dominant pack shone out. The competition for the starting 10 shirt has seemingly improved Myler’s all round game as the season has progressed and this match was proof of his progression. His tactical kicking in the second half kept Cardiff penned back in their 22, just where Saints wanted to play the game. Parks kept the visitors in the game with 5 perfect goal kicks but, without tries, they were always playing catch up.
Saints got their scorecard going with a well worked try after 20 minutes. Saints’ pack had spent a good 5 minutes beating up their opponents as a succession of penalties and free kicks were awarded to the home side. M. Poite was back on message and recognising the dominant pack’s prowess.
A scrum option from the award of a free kick saw Saints switch the attack to the blind side and Ryan Powell spun the ball out to Paul Diggin who hurtled over in the corner. The score was referred to the TMO just to be sure but it didn’t need long to confirm the try was good. Myler added the conversion from out wide to put Saints into the lead.
Parks put Cardiff back in front with 2 penalty kicks and Saints conceded another 2 minutes before the break as Downey was pinged and sent to the sin bin for a high tackle. He was soon followed to the naughty step by Filise for a ruck infringement in the red zone and Myler was able to narrow the deficit at the break to 10-12.
As the teams trooped off for whatever highly tuned athletes have at half time these days, “Sir” kept both captains back for a lecture on scrums, ruck infringements, life and the universe.
Saints got going straight from the restart. Paul Tito caught Myler’s kick off but dropped it behind him. The loose ball was gobbled up by Saints, who rucked, mauled, rocked and rolled towards the Cardiff line. Playing with a penalty advantage, Saints moved the ball out from the tight. Tom Wood found himself as first receiver and fired a sublime miss pass out to Ben Foden who delivered the scoring pass on the Ashton who was never going to be stopped from 15 metres out. Myler added the extras to put Saints 17-12 ahead.
He added another 6 points from penalties later in the half as Saints dominance in the scrum and line out brought dividends. The second half also brought the welcome return from injury of Lee Dickson to replace Ryan Powell. The Welsh 9 has done nothing wrong in recent weeks and the battle for the scrum half starting slot will be tasty.
No sooner had Dicko come on than Lawes left for the sin bin, pinged for handling in the ruck, although the big man didn’t look at all convinced that the ref was right. Well, he wouldn’t would he! Parks took the 3 points on offer and Cardiff must have had hopes of getting a losing bonus point. Lawes had been rather expensive in committing penalties during the game, usually at the ruck.
An attacking Saints scrum was put on hold as Brian Mujati left to great applause to be replaced by Tom Mercey. As the Saints pack drove, the scrum crumbled and crabbed sideways. The front rows got stuck into each other on the ground and it took some time to separate the two hookers. M Poite gave a penalty to Cardiff and sent Dylan Hartley and Gareth Williams to the bin for fighting. The war of words between the two continued along the touch line to the tunnel where the fourth official had to calm things down. Next week will be interesting!
As the ding dong between the packs calmed down, the PA system went…..Ding Dong! And then, half the floodlights went out. The ref asked how long it would take to find a 50p coin and decided to tell the captains that as there were only 4 minutes left, he would play on.
By now Saints had 13 players to Cardiff’s 14 but still the defence and scrum held firm, with Downey packing down at flanker. Saints depleted scrum won a penalty with seconds left on the clock and Myler waited for no side before punting the ball into touch to bring matters to an end before trotting off to pick up the Man of the match Award.
A hard game ending in a 23-15 victory for the Saints to put them clear at the top of their pool, ahead of Castres in second and Cardiff in third. The return fixture next Sunday in Cardiff will need firm refereeing if the scrum is to be managed correctly and any niggle hanging over from this game is avoided.
Romain Poite remains one of my favourite referees and his application of the laws puts several other officials in the shade. I still think the scrum engagement palaver is taking too long but seeing line outs pinged for players leaving the 15 metre zone was strangely refreshing.
Upwards and onwards for Saints who remain unbeaten at Fortress Franklins this season on a day when other English teams lost important Heineken games.
Teams:
Northampton Saints: Foden; Ashton, Clarke, Downey, Diggin; Myler, Powell; Tonga'uiha, Hartley, Mujati, Lawes, Day, Dowson, Wood, Wilson.
Replacements: Dickson for Powell (64), Clark for Dowson (66), Mercey for Mujati (75), Sharman for Wood (76), Dreyer for Tonga'uiha (78).
Cardiff Blues: Czekaj, Mustoe, Laulala, Shanklin, James, Parks, Rees, Jenkins, G. Williams, Filise, B. Davies, Tito, Molitika, M Williams, Rush.
Replacements: Paterson for Tito (54), Warburton for M. Williams (54),
R. Williams for Mustoe (76).
Ref: Romain Poite (France).
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:12:12:22:43:04 by white lion.
David L
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- Live wrong and preposterously
And We beat SA -how did England get on ?
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