By Barfly
September 2 2006

1:45pm on a Sunday. What a poxy time to kick off the season. The Reverend Wathen Wigg must be turning in his grave.

Saints v Falcons - The Preview

 

It’s not even the first game of the Guinness Premiership. If it were then I could understand it, but there are three matches on Saturday afternoon that will raise the curtain on what could be the most competitive, tense and exciting league season yet.

 

Before you ask, no, I haven’t taken a job with Sky’s PR department. But with the salary cap now having a full effect in the even distribution of talent, and with some of the youngsters that were given their chance towards the end of last term, then for once the reality might live up to the hype.

 

Pleasingly, so much of that young talent is from this green and pleasant land, and our visitors on Sunday afternoon are renowned (admittedly much of it self-generated) for giving English players a chance to shine.

 

One in particular will have all the attention placed on him, and is – I would imagine – largely the reason why Sky are gracing us with their presence for this match.

 

Yup, Jonny’s back. Wilkinson has changed his kicking stance and is fully fit to take his place in the Newcastle starting line-up. He will be looking to prove several points to those commentators who have pencilled Charlie Hodgson as the certain England number 10 by the time the autumn internationals. Furthermore, Jonny will be looking to rectify the mistake that helped kept us up during the season from hell.

 

What is certain is that the contest between Jonny and Carlos is going to be spell-binding, particularly if the rain that swept over Northampton on Saturday clears up, as is promised by the BBC weathermen. Wilkinson showed his skill in full that night in 2005, and if his performance is anything like that then we could be in trouble.

 

But Los has started the season OnFire. And to be fair to him their range of clothing is rather cool. His play hasn’t been too bad either. Passes around the back of defenders, 95-metre tries, back-heeled grubber kicks… I never thought he could get better, but what he’s done so far points to a potentially special season for the Saints.

 

 

Of course he needs the other backs to be on the same wavelength. Fortunately they look to be, especially Ben Cohen. Five tries against Treviso demonstrate that the tryline is no longer proving a barrier impenetrable to the big number 11.

 

 

 

That’s the preamble over with, here’s the Saints team…

 

15 BRUCE REIHANA (capt)
14 SEAN LAMONT
13 Jon Clarke
12 DAVID QUINLAN
11 BEN COHEN
10 CARLOS SPENCER
9 Johnny Howard
1 TOM SMITH
2 STEVE THOMPSON
3 Pat Barnard
4 Damien Browne
5 Christian Short
6 PAUL TUPAI
7 Darren Fox
8 Mark Easter

 

16 Dan Richmond
17 Chris Budgen
18 Matt Lord
19 Mark Hopley
20 MARK ROBINSON
21 Robbie Kydd
22 Luke Myring

 

Two of the selections intrigue me. Not Johnny Howard’s at scrum-half, although it will be interesting to see if he can set the pace from the base of the breakdown without waving his hands and imploring the ref to give a penalty.

 

No, the inclusions that caught my eye were David Quinlan and Darren Fox. The latter seems to be a horses for courses pick, and if the weather stays rubbish then it could be inspired, as Foxy and Paul Tupai provide a hard edge to the back-row. But if the sun is out and the Falcons’ ball fast then I fear the he doesn’t have that edge of pace to put Jonny under the pressure he needs to be.

 

Quinlan has only played one game of pre-season, against Leeds, in a game that most observers thought Saints had a pre-meditated plan to keep the ball away from the backs. So we don’t know whether he has captured the form and ability to get the speedsters out wide in the clear. It also means that all of our play will stem through Los at first receiver.

 

This, I think, is a mistake. One of the reasons the All Blacks have been so dangerous this season is the interplay between Luke McCallister/Aaron Mauger at 12 and Dan Carter at 10. The relationship has been a classic first five-eight/second five-eighth. For those not familiar with this terminology, have a look at Tialata’s try against the Springboks last weekend.

 

McCallister gets the ball at first receiver close to South Africa’s line. The defence ruches up to prevent the running play. Unfortunately for them he fires a long pass out to Carter, who chips the two remaining defenders for the easy try in the corner.

 

Saints could – and should in my opinion – be adopting the same style of play. Having Los in midfield on the odd occasion puts the opposition defence in complete confusion. Either this allows him to pull the strings further wide, or frees up space closer in for the big lads to crash their way through. Either way we become more dangerous. With Robbie Kydd at 12 we have the personnel to do this. With Quinlan I’m not so sure. I hope the boys can prove me wrong.

 

Especially against this lot…

 

15 Matthew Burke (captain)
14 Tom May
13 Jamie Noon
12 Toby Flood
11 Anthony Elliott
10 Jonny Wilkinson
9 Hall Charlton
1 Micky Ward
2 Andy Long
3 David Wilson
4 Andy Perry
5 Andy Buist
6 Brent Wilson
7 Ben Woods
8 Phil Dowson

 

16 Robbie Morris
17 Matt Thompson
18 Jon Golding
19 Jason Oakes
20 Mike McCarthy
21 James Grindal
22 John Rudd

 

13 of the starting line-up are English, 10 of whom have come through the club's academy.

 

Wilkinson will attract all the attention. But having Toby Flood at 12 points to a Falcons game-plan not too dissimilar to that I’ve written about earlier. Jamie Noon, Anthony Elliott, Tom May and Matthew Burke will definitely be able to exploit the space if Saints can’t shut down Wilkinson and Flood.

 

We may also have the chance to welcome back John Rudd, Jon Golding and Robbie Morris back to Franklin’s Gardens, should they come off the bench.

 

It will also be interesting to see the effect the change of off-field leadership. Rob Andrew has gone, replaced by former academy manager (and Saints centre of a few years back) John Fletcher. It will certainly be an intriguing clash that I think is too close to call.

 

That’s the Premiership match covered then. And for those of you who can’t get enough rugby, there will be barely time to get another pint before the ‘A’ League game between the Wanderers and Falcons Seconds kicks off.

 

From a Saints perspective it will be good to see the return from injury of Daniel Browne. He forms a back-row with Sam Harding and Ben Lewitt, and with David Gerard, James Percival and Soane Tonga-uiha also in the pack some would say this eight is better than the first team’s.

 

With Errol, Digger and speed merchant David Smith in the backs we could have some fireworks in the late afternoon. ‘A’ League matches are always good fun as well, so stick around. More importantly, get your friends to as well.

 

Wanderers

15 Rob Laird
14 David Smith
13 Chris Wyles
12 Seamus Mallon/Robbie Kydd
11 Paul Diggin
10 Luke Myring
9 Ian Vass (capt)
1 Simon Emms
2 MATIAS CORTESE/Dan Richmond
3 SOANE TONGA’UIHA
4 DAVID GERARD
5 James Percival
6 Ben Lewitt
7 SAM HARDING
8 Daniel Browne

 

16 MATIAS CORTESE/JP Koster
17 Charlie Beech
18 Alex Rae
19 Mark Hopley/SEAN-MICHAEL STEPHEN
20 Danny Pointon
21 Adam Barnard
22 Joe Ansbro

 

Falcons Development XV:

15 Alex Tait
14 Tim Visser
13 Tom Dillon
12 Patrick Dias
11 James Hamer
10 Gavin Beasley
9 Tom Jokelson
1 Johnny Williams
2 Ross Batty
3 Rupert Harding
4 Sean Tomes
5 Stuart Walker
6 Eni Gesinde (captain)
7 Cory Harris
8 Ed Williamson

 

Mark Darlington
Danny Brown
Phil Dawson
Michael Young
Mark Laycock
Cameron Johnston