By Saint Dom
February 19 2011

Before time began, when mud was liquid and the Rec was just matter, cave-dwellers used to wrestle. There were no winners or losers, just bragging rights until the next wrestle. That was then, before professional rugby. But, after all this afternoon's pushing and shoving, mucking and rucking, there is only pain, humiliation and embarrassment.

Aviva Premiership

Bath Rugby v Northampton Saints

The Rec Saturday February 19th

KO 3:00pm  3:15pm  3:20:pm  3:24pm

(thanks to ESPN now controlling our game)

Bath played with flair and confidence, battering Saints with five tries against a solitary, late-afternoon touchdown by Tonks. So Saints have not won a single league game this year. And, after all this afternoon's pushing and shoving, mucking and rucking, there is only pain, humiliation and embarrassment.

Pain? Certainly. Joe Ansbro, released after a couple of invigorating displays for Scotland, will have nothing but a sore hangover after his head-clashing collision with the egregious and very butch James. Joe was knocked senseless into somewhere after next week when one of his few enterprising runs ended with a brutal tackle by the Bath fly-half, who showed our two no. 10 tyros how to tackle, how to kick, how to pass and how to - well, play rugby. Joe's pain is nothing to the hurt we are all experiencing after such a promising start to the season, but so diastrous a start to 2011.

Humiliation? Personified by the much belittled Banahan, cruising past tentative tacklers to score three unopposed tries, as lazy defenders and inexperienced Wanderers looked on from a distance. Tonks, Commins, Armstrong and Elliiott show great promise but scant awareness, and all were too often exposed, losing the ball on contact, missing tackles or losing concentration at critical moments. The experience and industry of the Saints front-row club, Vickerman, Wilson, Clark and Dowson were nullified by the paucity of options offered by the sluggish 9-10 axis.

Embarrassment? There must have been drills on the fundamentals of rugby, the basic bread and butter skills of forwards and backs, but how often did we see simple failures in the set pieces and, worse, missed kicks to touch and goal. In desperation, the coaches threw on the neglected Geraghty, with 30 minutes to go in the second half - only for Reihana to attempt (and miss) kicks at goal and SG to run into no-man's-land and pass to his invisible friend.

The final touches were applied when England's Matt Banahan ran in his third try, still maintaining balance and composure to shake hands with Lewis Moody and dice with the dead-ball line as he touched down. The irony (of Tonks brushing off a feeble tackle by Banahan as he scored Saints' only try) is not lost. Banahan is invincible - but only when faced by a powder-puff defence and a tolerant referee.

My own plan for the weekend had been to spend a peaceful couple of nights under the Quantocks with my Somerset friends, but this strategy was defeated by the Minister for Home Affairs (hope she's not reading this) and the demands of my day job.

With a lightning fast step and swerve, I negotiated a subscription to ESPN and was treated to a good 40 minutes of poofball between Chelsea and Everton before flopping into the warm embrace of Little Thatched Austin and his crew. Their comments on the game were instructive and probably accurate:

"The Northampton defence is too narrow", "the Northampton defenders are not working hard enough", "missing kicks like that at this level is just not good enough...". Have you heard that last one before? The only moment of light relief came when Wayne Barnes (who reffed flawlessly), whistled for Saints and was heard to say that Bell had "lost his body shape"... Years of dieting could not achieve that! Mr Barnes also dismissed the blethering Claassens with "Stop screaming at me", which brought back memories of earlier altercations between Matt Dawson and various whistlers.

Teams and scorers are detailed below. Armstrong was a late replacement for Diggin, who fell at the last hurdle (the "Captains's Run"). We truly missed him and the 5 England internationals. And the moment I will remember for ever is Shane Geraghty, with 5 minutes to go, making a promising break, sliding past (among others) the clutching Naccho, erstwhile of this parish, and passing into thin air - air - air...to his invisible friend. Does that remind you of anyone?

Bath (17) 38 
Tries: Banahan 3, Carraro, Vesty Con: Barkley 5 Pens: Barkley 
Northampton (3) 8 
Tries: Tonks Pens: Myler

News: Bath 38 Saints 8 - Pain Humiliation and Embarrasment

Discussion started by ComeOnYouSaints.com , 19/02/2011 23:22

ComeOnYouSaints.com
19/02/2011 23:22

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Reply Quote Report

Trevorchurch
20/02/2011 10:39

I watch the game on ESPN and watched Bath slaughter Saints 2nd string, Bath played a lot of good rugby and as hard as the Saints tried they were outclassed.It was good to see a good referee with Wayne Barnes tacking charge & as the result was well & truly won by Bath he let a accidental offside go for Bath`s 5th try.As the Saints have to play 4 more matches with mainly their 2nd team I can`t see them getting a win but at present they need all the support that they can get.

Reply Quote Report

smurfomatic
20/02/2011 12:00

Well reported Dom, seems to cover the abject performance that was Saints yesterday.

Photo Gallery

Reply Quote Report

Stockers
20/02/2011 15:21

Thanks for doing that Dom. The lack of comments is probably due to the air of gloom pervading Saintsland at the moment.

Reply Quote Report

Gwendoline
20/02/2011 18:58

Banahan was released by Johnson to play for his club. This was important because whoever the Saints meet will have their internationals released . It is very important we do not let Saints keep up with Tigers.

Having said that I was there being entertained (by Bath hosts ) oh what fun. And in my opinion that Saints team on the day couldn't have beaten Olney.

Reply Quote Report

St Marlowe
20/02/2011 19:04

Yes G I was surrounded by Bath fans - I wanted to crawl under the seat. They were pretty good really - as Dom knows by now I don't like being patronised!!

David L

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

- Live wrong and preposterously

Reply Quote Report

Phil.
20/02/2011 23:30

A good read for a difficult day, Dom. Thank you.

Looking at the table this evening, our two games in hand do not help us. Better to have the points on the board as Sarries have - two bonus point wins in our g-i-h will only just nudge us back against the Fezheads. These next few weeks will be a struggle, I fear...

Reply Quote Report

Wee Jim
21/02/2011 07:14

Thanks for that Dom - not an easy report to write but youve summed up the weekend well. Lets hope Saints turn things around.

Reply Quote Report

desbralass
21/02/2011 20:16

Well done,Dom.It can't have been easy...

Bridesmaids no more.

Reply Quote Report

Saint Dom in Hanoi
21/02/2011 21:44

Thanks folks and fellow Saints.

You will know by now that it was utterly miserable and bleak. Certainly, one of the worst performances performed by a Saints team in the 30 years that I have watched them, perhaps made worse by the (unrealistic?) expectations generated by the season before New Year's.

I struggled to find something positive to say, but eventually - because there is always something positive to say - I found it: COME ON YOU SAINTS!


*I could agree with you - but then we'd both be wrong...*

Reply Quote Report

Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search• Log In

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net