By Jon in Alaska
February 20 2014

Top of the table Northampton Saints look to keep up their impressive Aviva Premiership momentum this weekend with a road-trip up to Kingston Park to take on Newcastle Falcons on Sunday. Regular COYSDC contributor, Jon in Alaska, takes a look ahead to the game...

NEWCASTLE FALCONS vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

AP: Sunday, 23rd February 2014 - 3pm

KINGSTON PARK, NEWCASTLE

MATCH PREVIEW

Well, given that Saints face another team named after birds of prey, I thought I would do a preview comparing Saints to falcons. Then I remembered that the word “falcon” is traditionally used to refer to only the females, and I didn’t really want to write a preview talking about Saints being a bunch of girls! But, in keeping with the falcon theme, let’s see what I can do…

Falco rusticulus – the Gyr Falcon (male = Jerkin)

The Gyr is the largest of the falcons, and has a surprising amount of straight line speed. The word Gyr is thought to derive from the German “gier”, meaning greedy. This immediately put me in mind of the Saints pack. Large and powerful, and takes what they want! This shows in the immensely powerful scrum (152 scrum wins and only 20 lost), and also in the lineout stats. Top of the pile in wins from own throw (304 wins, but Tiggs are close behind!), but apparently GJVV is sixth overall in the lineout steals table as well, with 9 in 20 games. A little worrying though is our position in rucking. We’re 11th in the table, winning 1322 rucks, compared to Quins at the top with nearly two thousand! I’m pretty sure that we’ll have the upper hand in the forwards come the weekend, although my concern is that Deano will have watched the way Wuss addressed our forwards, and come with much of the same.

Falco columbaris – the Merlin (also known as the Pigeon Hawk)

Some may wonder why I include this in here, but the Merlin is more robust and heavily built than most falcons. Only around a foot long, weighing in at about 6-8 ounces, it can easily take down prey bigger than itself, such as pigeons. Only a year ago, critics would say that Saints struggle to beat the top four teams, and this year we’ve beaten Sarries twice, Quins twice, and drawn with Tiggs. I’d say that was taking down prey bigger than ourselves!

I also wanted to talk about the magician as well. We’ve had several magicians in the team, but this weekend our magician in the middle will be at scrum half. I’m not up on who’s staying with England and who isn’t, but both Dickson (L) and Kahn have been pushing each other to improve, and fast ball to the back line is the benefit. Add to that sniping runs, cheeky tap and go’s, and the sleight of hand should leave the Falcons reeling.

Falco cherrug – the Saker Falcon (male = Sakret)

The Saker falcon is believed to be represented as Turul, the most important bird in the origin of the Magyars. Arguably the most important position for Saints is fly half, where Stephen Myler has seen off plenty of competitors over the years. His decision making and consistency has seen him called up to the England camp, although a place on the bench may be a while coming. This can only be a good thing for Saints, as he will keep doing what he does best, and that’s controlling the play and kicking the goals. In his absence, it seems that Dickson (G) needs more time to settle, but I think that he will make a great understudy soon. Hopefully he sticks around.

Mr Important for the Falcons last year, Jimmy Gopperth, left for pastures new, and is flourishing in Ireland. Recently, Falcons have been playing Rory Clegg in the 10 slot, but with a lack of tries coming from the backs, Clegg has been relied on to put penalties past people (15 penalties and only two conversions…).

Or is the most important person one Mr Small… ?

Falco peregrinus – the Peregrine Falcon (male = tiercel)

Peregrinus comes from the Latin “wanderer”, or “from strange parts”. Also the fastest of the falcons, reaching speeds of over 200 mph, which makes it a ruthless hunter. With a large number of Saints away with England, the Peregrine seems a good choice to talk about Saints back line. I would consider Fats at full back, Stephenson and a Pisi on the wings (no pun there, honest), with Wilson and Pisi in the centres. All powerful, all running, and strong hitting as well. Plenty of back line penetration should lead to plenty of tries.

So, after talking through the jerkins, pigeons, sakrets and tiercels, let’s take a moment for the Falcons. They’ve lost their last 8 Premiership games and gained only two LBPs. However, they did win their last two home games against Bucharest and nilling the Dragons. Unfortunately, I still feel it does not bode well for the men in black – the last time they beat Saints was five years ago at the Gardens. My money is on the Saints for this game. Just to throw out a few falconry terms, as long as Saints keep the Falcons “under their thumb”, they can “pounce” on the tries. If the forwards don’t “hawk it up” and keep the opposition pack “wrapped around their little finger”, the Falcons may look “haggard” and end up “turning tail”.

Saints by more than 7, but pessimistically, only 3 tries.