At the time of writing (Sunday morning) I am still, like many fellow Worcester supporters I'm sire, in a state somewhere between shock and despair.  Even the fact that I predicted the correct result against the Tigers does not compensate for the manner of their victory.  So it is in an attempt for some form of therapy that I will try and be objective about our chance at Franklin Gardens next Saturday.

Much is being made of the fact that Northampton have never lost 7 games on the bounce before, and are therefore due a win.  Absolutely meaningless.  Each game should be a one-off, following differentiated and focussed preparation (I got that line from a teacher friend of mine!).  On current form they will be expected to lose 8 in a row, regardless of the opposition - bear with me, the therapy is starting to work. 

Lets take a look at the seven they've lost: Irish 21-20 (we lost 25-15), Leeds 26-21 (we lost 24-19), Sale 23-6 (we lost 57-3), Saracens 23-12 (we lost 16-10), Wasps 10-9 (that treat is still to come!), Tigers 32-13 (we lost 38-11) and Gloucester 18-12 (we lost 18-13).  In fact the last team they beat was Harlequins, 45-13 (we beat them 33-7).  Maybe this doesn't tell us much more than the fact both teams are on a terrible streak, losing to similar teams by similar(ish) scores.  Feeling better yet….no, me neither, so lets take a look at the players.

In last week's preview I made much of the fact that Leicester would be without so many of their players, and saw this as a potential chink in their armour.  Unfortunately it wasn't the case, but I've never been one to learn from my mistakes so lets go down that line again: 'Big' Steve 'Wally' 'Thommo' Thomson will be away with the England party, which makes the Saints' lineout a lot stronger straight away!  Similarly, they will be without 'Big' Ben Cohen, which is probably more of a loss to them.  Scottish prop Tom Smith is currently injured, but that's it as far as I can tell.  Their third RWC winner, Paul Grayson, is back from injury and the rest of the team looks like a sub-committee meeting at the Southern Hemisphere division of the United Nations - Antipodeans: Blowers, Drahm, Reihana, Budgen, Stcherbina, and Robinson, are supplemented by South Africans van Wyk, Human, Boome, and of course Krige (actually born in Lusaka, Zambia).

A very strong and internationally experienced team on paper, then, but we still come back to the fact they have not been putting it all together on the pitch and have fallen a long way since reaching the play-offs last season.  Two Heineken cup victories against Glasgow and Llanelli have illustrated the fact that Saints are actually not that far off the pace and they will certainly have targeted the Warriors' visit as a home win. 

So how can we beat them? In Bruce Reihana, they have a class act who can carve defences for fun - he will have to be shackled quickly.  Another obvious strength is their back row, where Corne Krige and Andrew Blowers are two of the canniest operators in the Premiership - quick ball from whoever plays scum half is an absolute must, otherwise our fly half will be creamed by these fellas!  We will require discipline, solid defence and character, as will as a bit more tactical nous and a willingness to express ourselves in attack.  After the past two weekends that sounds like a tall order, but not so long ago we showed all these elements against Gloucester - so it can be done!

I've actually cheered myself up a bit here, so much so that I'm on the verge of predicting a so-called upset.  This has become another 'must win' game - not so much because the result and points are important (although they obviously are), but more so because the coaches and players have to prove that the spirit within the squad has not been broken.  With the latter point in mind, I'll go for…..

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS 15, WORCESTER WARRIORS 21

WSW