By The Supporters
September 30 2002

Better late than never! Here are the supporters thoughts following the home win over Bath. Once again I've had to edit bits out because this week ran to 11 pages. Thanks to all who left comments on the message board. Dave Jackson
I have been very impressed so far this season with the new signings. Steve Williams was good in first couple of games - hope he is back soon but JP had such a goiod game today he will have to fight for his place. Connors today was all you expect of an Aussie International - keep up this form and he will be one of the stars of the premiership this season. Ripol - wow - gets better with every game, where did Rotherham find him (and are there any more?) - just cant wait for Bruce to turn up but where will he play and who to drop could be a big question.

St. Bart
The great thing about Raspberry is that the opposition are acutely aware of his presence, and blistering "off the mark" pace, which opens up the field for any other of our growing range of strike runners. What a problem, where do we fit Brucie in?

Hippo
Blowers again brilliant. Does that guy ever stop tackling??? Some big hits going in from lots of the lads. Bath seemed far more up for it coming out for the second half that our lads. However the defence was good but why oh why oh why must we have such an excruciating wait for the bonus point try?

Steve 393
I think at H-T Bath wised up to the fact that Mr McHugh would let just about anything go at the tackle, whereas we were suffering the effects of being nearly whistled off the park in previous games. Still, it allowed us to see some good defensive work, & for my money they could still be playing now & Bath wouldn't score a try. Dawson was good, so too were Beal, Connors, Ripol..... actually, everyone was pretty good now I think about it. Bath just looked like a side lacking in confidence. There's a good side in there somewhere, but God knows when it'll come out.

Chris
Wasn't that long ago that wins over Bath were something to be celebrated and talked about for weeks but is it just me or did any one else come away feeling, that in some respects, we had under achieved?

Dorcan8
That search for perfection - Smudger's influence is catching!!! The team didn't seem that pleased with themselves either. Better that than believing your own publicity. There is more to come - of that I am certain.

Maverick
Did anybody else notice the look on AB's face after Grewcock's(?) trampling of Wally in the second half? He was standing on the try line, eyes fixed firmly forward, hands slowly clenching and unclenching, sheer venom (it seemed) coursing through his veins at the outrage of it all.

Old Pete
First half I thought we were up for a 50 pointer - then what happened - did barf get good or did we just lose our way for a bit. Not that I want to be critical -- there were some very good signs - fast moving and competitive - but in the second half some edge was lost
Also Mr McHigh has had his welcome - were it nit for the sympathy vote he would have got a lot more stick - barf were offside - handling on the ground - over the top and blatantly nudging - barging Daws at his put in.


Saintsby
I agree that we kind of went off it in the 2nd half plus I think that Barf did step up a bit too, after all they must be desperate.

Chris Hoddle
I have plenty of time to reflect on the game. Whilst looking I noticed on Ceefax that Mr Bracken was going to Mr Grewcock’s' hearing. Well can the Tetley stand go and tell them what he did to Wally in the first half! They also mentioned about Matty running the show, I thought he had a sound game but there were still too many errors in the 2nd half.

Dave Jackson
It was that poor old Jonathan Humphries that the ref picked on , for about the first time ever he was innocent. I actually thought he was one of the few Bath Forwards who gave his all - he must love the money.

Swill
I’ll bet nobody can remember the last time Saints scored 4 tries, all by backs, including one for each winger. And not one penalty attempted at goal!

Saintsby
Well we got the max points...just phew! but second half we seemed to take our foot off the gas a bit. Still there were some nice moves that didn't quite make it. Did anyone else think that Larry had a bit of an off day?

Smudger
"Overall: a bit of frustration and there's a bit of hard work to get on with this week".

AlanT
Well we got the bonus point which we would have struggled to get last season, but we should have had that wrapped up my the turn around...as some one has said here B4...when we finally click, some ones gonna get a good tonking.

Fat Alan
Nice result, thought we might run away with it looking at the half time score. Still - no tries conceded.

St. Bart
Pity you didn't come, there was plenty of room after all. Game was a bit like the curate's egg, I thought we were in for a cricket score after the first 30 minutes. To give Barf credit they managed to shut us out of the game in the second half, and Larry wasn't firing on all cylinders either, trying to over-embellish a number of times when the simple route one plan worked well in the first half. Jorgy was unlucky not to get 2 more; when Raspberry has got used to having support on the outside we will be awesome.
Good to see Daws back to his best and not having to flap his arms about, as Mr McHugh had a pretty good game.

Sall in the Mids
Well I can remember the days when you knew every member of the Bath team and yesterday I hardly knew any of them!!!! Maybe that says something!

Dorcan8
Curates egg a good description. I thought the first half was good but we should/could have scored more. I see that Daws was MOM and Ceefax is singing his praises. I thought some of his passing was not up to scratch although his pass to Jorgy for Jorgy's (2nd?) try was slick and superb. And that is the LAST time I welcome a ref.

Ben Dover
From my seat I thought he (McHugh) had a fine game, not overly officious like some I could mention, and he actually allowed the play to flow - playing some good advantages for both teams. Whilst on occasion he may not of stuck rigidly to the letter of the law, the game was played in the right spirit, and the players clearly respected that, I don't think I can recall either captain protesting at too many of his decisions?

Maverick
I thought McHugh had a pretty fair game i.e. my lot weren't on his case for most of the match, a good ref is an anonymous ref. Great first half but after the break we lost momentum. If we had scored early in the second half it could have been a rout, Bath's heads were already down. But, fair play to Bath, they refused to rollover and tried to play rugby. As has been said here before, we seem to be a little over anxious to get the final ball away, resulting in the knock-on or wayward pass. Still, four tries, none against, no need for Larry's kicking boots. Perhaps the biggest plus from today has to be the lack of penalties conceded. Good solid defensive work, but less of the daft going in from the side or playing the ball on the floor malarkey we seem to have been prone to up until today. If we can keep the pens down then we are always going to be in with a shout.


ps the "Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!" after Raspberry's try from the terrace sounded great although "B" block's rendition of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", leaves a lot to be desired!

Cheesey
It was hard to concede penalties with Mr McHugh in charge. Apart from holding on, it was anything goes at the rucks. It made for turnovers and excitement, but the players need consistent refereeing from one week to the next- Sat will doubtless see the usual whistle happy refereeing. Receiving restarts- good.
Lineouts - on the face of it good, the throwing was accurate and Jon Phillips caught any amount, but the dear old chap cannot play it off the top. He comes down, wrestle for the ball, we eventually get it-result-slow ball. Bath had off the top ball, immediately out into midfield. Very well played our defence. Ripol is going to be fantastic. We outplay Bath by a mile, get 5 points and still a feeling that we let them off. Boy, we have the makings of a seriously hot team.

Dave Jackson
It was nice to see a ref who let the game and players get on with it. Sometimes he may have let things go that other refs would blow for but overall it probably balanced out and made for a far more exciting game.

Dorcan8
The only thing preventing the game from flowing was generally player error.

Flyhalf
for me there are too few mentions of binks. There were only two stray passes , some excellent snipes and the pass to Jorgy was sublime. he made a fantastic cover tackle on cooper having given him 5 yards and he was as brave as ever.
Yesterday he was excellent but it was quietly done...what a pleasure to watch.
at some stage Bath were going to have their moments and then they put on their no' 20 who in open play was always screening our centres so goodness knows what he did on the floor. once again the ruck was not reffed properly. we were so good in the first half we cleaned it out. in the end glad we got the 5. yes there was a sense of something missed I wonder if this would have been a better game without the bonus points?

Old Pete
Good point made there Dorcan - no forward tries - they used to be our forte - but then our backs were slow and deliberate to the point of somnambulism - could say that about yesterday. Defence is good - we used to leak soft tries - now we don’t. We could have had and desperately wanted six or seven tries - I think that it will come . BUT it wont happen just because we want to or wish it so.
Kia Kaha

St. Marlowe
Having had 24 hrs to refine 1st impressions, I think that the side gave their all in the 1st half, and somehow Bath acquired a backbone in the second, which threw the team. Lionel was terrific, and it was great to see Jorgy making his statement about the outside centre's place. When the side and Ripol get on the same wavelength, someone’s going to suffer. 7/10 - the highest I gave last year (apart from the falcons game) was 4/10! How easy it all is from the stand!!!

WMS
Were you at Bristol David? Down there JL had so much man and ball I think he almost died of shock yesterday when he actually found room to work. One of our greatest failings (many culprits yesterday) is the timing of passes in the backs - too early and the defence has chance to drift - the door closes. I agree that once Jorgy, Ben , Ripper et al are on the same wavelength someone is gonna get a right tuppin' but we must commit defenders before trying to go wide - give raspberry some space to work in. This is JL's major strength - committing defenders, standing up for his support and, hopefully, releasing quick ball for the back three/four.

Flyhalf
agree . we looked really good when the break was first made within 5- 10 yds of the breakdown, mainly by JL but also by Binks. once we were over the gain line we looked good.

Chris
There’s a fine line between letting the game flow and letting anything go which is what it looked like McHugh was doing. If he had picked up any number of infringements in the first half hour the Saints could have well and truly been out of sight. Did he actually give an offside (apart from the accidentals) all afternoon?

Ajack
Every time the ball is now kicked to us we look threatening with Bealer, Ben and Raspberry looking to link and run the ball back, we now actually look a threat from more than 15 meters out. Did anyone else notice that scrum in the middle where we loaded the blind side leaving half the pitch open with just Ben and Raspberry, okay it didn’t work that time but I bet we see that again with the desired result. One down side on Raspberry he really must work on his passing, two clear opportunities went begging yesterday, we will not always pick up that bonus point in the last minute.

St.Marlowe
I don’t think Raspberry has yet got used to the fact that there is support for him. I suspect that most of his tries for Roth were real solo efforts.
I also think that the rest of the guys need to be aware that needs supporting (a bit like Daws needs protection!). When it clicks we'll murder someone! (hopefully PCP)

David Tavener
I think someone earlier summed up Mr McHugh's performance as a rusty performance missing out on the simple things that were clear to the eye and yet spotting more technical problems. Sound performances by several players Daws and Beal and blowers as a few to mention. All in all Saturday was a great game and I enjoyed every moment and can't wait for this weekend against Sarries.

AlexC
... but years ago you got used to watching a game where it would end up something like 9 v 3 and come away satisfied beating a club like Bath. Now we stick 4 tries on them, they only get one penalty and you come away feeling as though we could and should have done better. Yikes, I like the fact that we can win these games but we still need to celebrate a good win by the lads. I don’t want use to become a Leicester type of club where we become arrogant and expect too much.

Veg
Some people seem to forget we are playing against other Premiership teams. It’s not quite as easy as when we were ploughing through the first division. Yes there’s always room for improvement but let’s be pleased for a good win.

Howlin
I am pleased !! Not only did we beat Bath but the variations and options in our play have become so numerous compared to the last few years . We are playing some breath taking stuff and to expect it to carry on for the whole 80mins is possibly a bit unrealistic. Give me a home win and I'm happy, add a bonus point and that's even better. Add the pace and style of rugby Saints are trying to play and the crowds will continue to grow ( 2 home games average crowd 9880 ). I for one , cannot wait for the next game; and I do not expect to win away at Sarries or home against Wasps just by turning up. Both will be hard fought contests that we can win and I hope we win but will never take for granted.

Broonie
I’ve seldom seen jarjar play better for the team. he absolutely did not once slow the game at the base of the rucks. instead, he was securing the ball immediately then moving it at top speed, shifting the point of attack , and only taking the break where it was tactically sensible .I’ve said some harsh things about him, but he was class on Satdee. the little back flip for Jorgy was as good as any thing from George Gregan.

Broonie
I thought the main reason we fell away in the second half was we failed to stick to our knitting. we didn't engage as much down the middle , for whatever reason . maybe barf decide to key on JL. at half time and closed him down earlier, but we seemed to fall in love with the idea of having some outside speed , so forgot to make the hard yards down the middle first.

that may be why Wayne brought on Robbie and Dan for matt and Wally (matt not being a running threat and Wally playing a bit looser and wider than Dan ). I know we can get fed up with forwards barging in from the 10 &12 channels, but it's important to physically commit the defence before spreading it , and we look a little light in that department without Olivier. I’m really impressed with some things ; particularly the way we seem to be developing week by week.

the first thing I noticed this season was the improved defence, but this week there was a definite step up at both lineout and restarts, and the counterattacking of the back 3 and indeed the rest of the team was miles more organised. also, we played in attack at times with a pace we never managed against budgies .

for me the three things we still need to improve are close support for the ball carrier , get the scrum more stable (oddly enough it's quite dynamic, but needs more stability on our own ball ), and really start to get some driving play going-we aren't doing the hard yards well enough yet to cope with Glaws and pcp. the backs are evolving week by week and will soon be outstanding, but the forwards need polishing.

Howlin
I think Cheesey just summed it up for me; play Bath out of sight, never look like conceding, get a bonus point and yet we all feel there should and could have been more !! Be interesting to see how Bath get on at T****rs. (oh yes , and how we get on at Glos.)

Saintham
on Saturday I saw Robbie take a punch straight on the nose from one of those nasty bath players without retaliation right in front of the touch judge who took no action. being only the kid on the pitch he seems to be picked on by the referees when they start to loose control.
Hippo
Robbie is a good player with excellent potential. He can only show that when staying on the field. He came up from the youth squad (U19's) with a reputation of being fiery and being removed from the field. He needs to avoid trouble (ok difficult in the front row) and stay clean for a bit.

BiggySaint
JP's lineout jumping and all round play was great, especially at the beginning when nicking Barf ball and when Barf had been expecting Deso to be targeted on our own throw