By Saint Tim
December 19 2010

I love the Heineken Cup nights under the lights at the Gardens.  They really are something special.  It was great to see that so many Cardiff fans had made their way up and it was a pleasure to meet some of them from their supporters club at the Thomas a Beckett (yes I know there shouldn’t be an a in there but it is what the pub is called) before the game.  They had had some delays and this meant that the real officials from the Saints Supporters club had to high tail it to sell tote tickets so I held the fort so to speak.

Who was your MoTM as Saints denied the Blues a bonus point at the Gardens?

I have to say they were a really great bunch of people as were all the Cardiff supporters I met that evening.  Being able to meet before the game, sit by each other during the game and then chat afterwards in the bar is something which we should all be proud of.  I know there were a couple of idiots about but I am sure they continue to be the minority and will not change the respect we show to each other.

Enough of my hobby horse onto the game.  Well I think it is fair to say that the camaraderie on the terraces was not really shown between the two teams during the game.  It was a full on, hard, bruising, physical encounter.  The Blues were a well organised if not the most threatening attacking team.  They tended to go side to side rather than make headway.  They were also one of the best organised defences out there.

Cardiff were first on the scoreboard thanks to an early Dan Parks penalty.  He is a very accurate kicker and any infringement by Saints was going to be punished.  Saints did take the lead thanks to a Paul Diggin converted try but then Saints seemed to lose their discipline and there were three more Parks penalties with only one for Saints leaving a turn around scoreline of 10 -12 in the Blues favour.  This was not the plan.  Yes we were mullering them in the scrum and their lineout was taken apart but we could not regularly beat the defence.  I for one was nervous at half time.  The other thing to say is that there were two yellow cards in the first half.  The first went to Downey for a high tackle.  No complaints about it but there was no real intent and that sowed in the muted reaction from the Blues payers.  The yellow for Cardiff was to their tight head and I hear that was a soft card.  It did show that Mr Poite was not afraid of flashing his cards.

The second half started really well for Saints as Blues made a mess of the restart allowing us to go on the attack and work space for Chris Ashton to go over for a converted try.  I am sure there were words about discipline at the break and Saints did not give away another kickable penalty until the 71^st minute and in that time Stephen Myler had kicked two for the Saints.  Well that was it for the scoring but there were more cards in the second half.  Courtney got what most believe was a team yellow on 71 and then right at the death the Hookers got to grips with each other and were sent to cool their heels.

So it ran out 23-15 to the Saints.  It wasn’t the best rugby we have seen at the Gardens but it was certainly some of the most intense and it was always enthralling.

So, who caught the eye?

Again it was a bumper poll with 143 of you taking the time to vote.  I thank each and every one of you.

In third place was Christian Day.  I do wonder what would have been the outcome of our season last year if Christian hadn’t been injured.  I know we had great Locks in Jurandre Kruger and Nacho Man but Christians performance has been a revelation this year.  I wonder if Courtney may have still been a back row fringe player if Christian hadn’t been injured.  Anyhow it is great to see how he is playing this year.  Christian got just under 12% of the vote.

In second place with 17.5% of the vote was Mr Dependable (ie Roger Wilson).  It is hard to know what more to say about Roger.  He is a rock at the back of the scrum.  He cleans up so much ball!  It was Roger who got the ball away under pressure from the back of a disrupted scrum that allowed Digger to go over for the first try.  He is rarely if even driven backwards and helps put the Saints pack on the front foot.  I am sure there are those of you out there who could add to this litany of good qualities that Roger brings to the Saints.

The winner, and by some distance, was Stephen Myler with 33% of the votes.  This was a game where Stephen ran the show.  His kicking from hand was sublime – helped by the knowledge that a Blues line out was likely to result in Saints ball.  His kicking from the tee was just as good, I cannot remember a missed one.  He also, in the second half at least, offered a threat to the line with some good runs that helped fix the defence.  This is an element of his game that has really kicked on this season, if only he was half a yard faster there would be some very worried defences out there.

This is Stephen’s second MoTM win of the season and he joins The Mooj, Long Arm and Digger on two wins.  This really is a very close things so far this season.

I would also like to thank Claire aka Red Hat Photos for such an excellent source of action shots.  I do hope she does mind when I crop some to show the particular player.  I know I do not have her eye for composition.

Full Result

Previous Winners

Vote History

Who wins?

Leaderboard

Players Used

So far this season we have used 31 different players. 

Saints V Blues Episode 1 MoTM

Discussion started by ComeOnYouSaints.com , 19/12/2010 22:28

ComeOnYouSaints.com
19/12/2010 22:28

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Saint Dom in Hanoi
19/12/2010 22:37

Smyler's kicking improvement and accelerated readiness to dart and drive with the ball are signs of a thoroughly competent flyhalf: credit to Mr Grayson, I guess.

It was a hard one to call, after such a bruising encounter, but he is a worthy winner of this hard-to-win accolade!

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ballagher
19/12/2010 23:19

Without wishing to criticise (really - not even a Tiny bit), it's nonetheless interesting that one of the top starters and I think largely acknowledged everywhere as one of our best players (is he the best in the world thread recently) has yet to win the poll yet this year.

Maybe rectified this week?

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Saint Tim
19/12/2010 23:33

Agree that is surprising.



“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Benjamin Franklin

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