Northampton Saints
News: AP: London Irish vs Northampton Saints - Match Preview
By Daventry Saint
April 21 2011
Northampton Saints have a guaranteed three matches left in the 2010/11 season. This figure could rise to as many as six depending on results in the next few weeks. First up, the Green, Black and Gold travel to Reading to face London Irish in a rare Saturday, 3pm kick-off. Daventry Saint looks ahead to the game...
LONDON IRISH vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
AP: Saturday, 23rd April 2011 - 3pm (Sky)
MADEJSKI STADIUM, READING
MATCH PREVIEW
Crunch time!
For the Saints, this is potentially their biggest game of the season so far. Win, and they secure their place in the play-offs to play either Leicester Tigers or Saracens. Lose, and they risk dropping out of the top four, and would rely on Leicester doing a number over London Irish on the last day of the season, whilst also having to deliver the last rites to a battling Leeds Carnegie themselves.
On their previous two visits to the Madejski, the Saints have performed admirably, just losing out in the 2008/9 season, before comprehensively winning 7-31 in the 2009/10 season. Obviously, this has little bearing on the fixture at the weekend, as this season both teams are in decent form heading into the game, as opposed to Irish’s poor form in the season just gone. For the Saints, this is a third Premiership fixture in as little as eight days, and this could be seen (and could well become) a considerable advantage to London Irish. While Irish have had a whole week to re-cooperate, Northampton endured another bruising encounter at Kingsholm with an in form Gloucester side, resulting in an infuriating and somewhat disappointing loss. Considering that, it will be a big ask for the Saints to put in a match-winning performance on Saturday. However, the match may not call for a Saints victory as such, but instead simply denying London Irish a bonus-point victory, whilst also claiming a losing bonus-point may be regarded as a success. This would be enough to put Northampton in pole position to be the fourth entrant into the end of season playoffs, at the expensive of Saturday’s opponents.
There are a lot of comparisons to be drawn between the Saints and the Exiles’ seasons. For one, both teams had dramatic dips in form, suffering six Aviva Premiership losses on the bounce. However, the London Irish loss of form came a lot earlier on in the season, and thus they have had a long period to recover and regain a respectable league position. Coming into Saturday’s game, the Exiles are a mere four points below Northampton, and having not lost at home since Bath visited on New Year’s Day, Irish are unlikely to relinquish their home winning streak easily. For London Irish, this is a must win, at all costs. Lose, and they are out of the playoffs and their season is over entirely – something which Toby Booth and Mike Catt would not appreciate. Irish don’t tend to travel well, however, they always rack up a very respectable points tally at home – especially in 2011 where they have scored 126 points in five home fixtures in the Premiership. Compare that with the Saints, who have scored 93 points on their travels in 2011, spread across six away games, and Saints look at a distinct disadvantage. However, all is not lost, as there are signs of Northampton causing a disruption to the London Irish playoff charge.
Against Gloucester, Jim Mallinder fielded an almost entirely second-string team in the hope of resting the majority of his first-teamers for Saturday’s match. On Tuesday, that second-string team very nearly turned Gloucester over – if it were not for two dropped balls over the try-line from Dylan Hartley and Soane Tonga’uhia respectively, (as well as the officials missing a blatant head-butt from the delightful Olivier Azam) then the fixture may have swung in the Saints favour. Considering that, if a Wanderers side can go to Kingsholm and almost sneak a victory, what can a full strength Saints side achieve at the Madejski on Saturday?
The London Irish team has been jigged and re-jigged a lot this year, particularly in the No.10 shirt, with a Northampton bound Ryan Lamb falling out of favour with Booth and Catt during the Irish dip in form – albeit following a very bright start to the season. You could compare the handling of Ryan Lamb by London Irish to the handling of Shane Geraghty at Northampton. Both have been given only a short amount of time in which to really impress this season, and have often been withdrawn from the starting birth in favour of more ‘steady’ Fly-Halves. The current incumbent of the Fly-Half jersey at the Madejski is Kiwi Dan Bowden, who arrived at the club to some fanfare, however as of yet has failed to entirely settle in and blossom in Reading, instead showing flashes of brilliance alongside solid performances. Although he started the season as first choice Inside-Centre (ahead of club legend and Japan-bound Seilala Mapasua), Bowden has now moved to secure the No.10 jersey in the absence of an injured Chris Malone, with Ryan Lamb warming the bench for the majority of games. Whilst London Irish still possess a backline with a razor-sharp back three, their game still centres on their Fly-Half’s distribution to the wide channels where Sailosi Tagicakibau can attack to lethal effect. In previous years, this has been a weakness of Northampton, and thus it will be vital that the occupant of the No.13 jersey is on lightening quick form to close down those channels as quickly as possible.
The Northampton team is likely to have a distinct ‘cup final’ feel about it, with a first choice XV that practically picks itself. The only contentious point is the inclusion of the England EPS five, who are still limited due to their 180-minutes-a-week agreement – thus, which will start and which may be kept back for the final quarter? Having said that, there is also the issue of Tuesday’s game. Did anyone really put their hands up for selection? Alex Waller perhaps. Maybe even the two war-horses in the Second Row, who both put in a highly effective shift on Tuesday. Tom Wood also looked as if he picked up a knock whilst charging down Freddie Burns (which the Cherry and Whites’ fans did not appreciate – cue mindless eeyores).
Did Shane Geraghty do enough to warrant an attempt to terrorise his former employers? Perhaps, although many others would say otherwise. Also, with Joe Ansbro making a full return from injury, playing the entire game on Tuesday, will he feature on the bench in place of Diggin or Reihana, or possibly even start thanks to his pace in the No.13 jersey?
One thing is for sure, there are a lot of questions to be answered at the Madejski come Saturday. If the Saints win, it’s a top four finish, if they lose; it is a very nervous last weekend in the Aviva Premiership for both sets of supporters. I expect the ‘cup final’ team to be backed to get us the win, but wouldn’t be surprised to see the introduction of Shane Geraghty perhaps have a large impact on the overall result.
Sat 23 Apr, 3.00pm: London Irish
DaventrySaint’s Predicted
Team:
15 Ben Foden
14 Chris Ashton
13 Jon Clarke
12 James
Downey
11 Paul Diggin
10 Stephen Myler
9 Lee Dickson
1 Soane
Tonga’uhia
2 Dylan Hartley
3 Brian Mujati
4 Courtney Lawes
5
Christian Day
6 Phil Dowson
7 Tom Wood
8 Roger Wilson
Replacements:
16 Brett Sharman
17 Alex Waller
18 Tom
Mercey
19 Mark Sorenson
20 Calum Clark
21 Stuart Commins
22 Shane
Geraghty
23 Bruce Reihana/Joe Ansbro
Come on you Saints.
Saints by 5.
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon21/04/2011 12:38
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
I'd just like to add that there's a couple of interesting match ups to look out for:
Foden v Armatage (skinny)
Hartley v Paice
Your 2 are quite rightly the incumbants of the England shirts but Armatage will be wanting to show his form is good enough to make MJ think twice. Also Paice, who's just back from injury, has shown some great form since his return (3 tries in 3 games) and will be wanting to be on the plane to NZ.
Covers all the bases. I think it will be tight, but I feel in my bones (could be the arthritis) that Irish may just prevail.
Our pack will have to be on top form and niggling injuries may play a part, but it has the makings of a great game.
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
However, I can't see them beating us by more than a score, so bonus point, and a win against Leeds should see us ok :/
Foden v Armatage (skinny)
Hartley v Paice /quote]
Neither Armatage nor Paice did anything to unseat the incumbents
David L
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- Live wrong and preposterously
More Northampton Saints headlines
- End of season how the squad was used analysis
- This weeks rugby 1st - 5th July
- Weekend Rugby 27th/28th June
- Weekend Rugby 19th - 20th June 2026
- Weekend Rugby 12th - 14th June 2026
- Weekend Rugby 5th - 7th June 2026
- Weekend Rugby 29th - 31st May 20206
- Weekend Rugby 22nd - 23rd May 2026
- Weekend Rugby 15th - 17th May 2026