By From the Archives
December 4 2002

In our first look back into a very short archive this week it down to the Arms Park in September 2001 and the Heineken Cup group game last season. Things did not quite go to plan........ Lacklustre Saints downed by Cardiff power.....

By Saint On The Box
Date: 29/9/2001

Cardiff 25 Saints 17
The Arms Park
Friday 28th September 2001
Heineken European Cup

The Saints went down in their first Heineken European Cup encounter last night as they failed to come to terms with the pwer of a Cardiff team missing almost a round dozen of first team players.

The score however was no reflection on a game which apart from the closing stages Cardiff dominated from the off.

Indeed had Cardiff 'Ginger Monster', flyhalf Neil Jenkins been available the Saints would have been dead and buried before the half hour mark. Young replacement kicker Nicky Robinson failed with several kicks in a hard fought but uninspiring first half.

The Saints were lucky to go in at the break only 6-0 down, to be fair on the Welsh team it could have been 20.

Not so lucky was was Nick Beal who came off worse in a sickening clash of heads with ex-Saint Matt Allen who as he promised was all over the shop against his old Northampton colleagues.
At the time of writing it is understood Nick has sustained a badly broken nose.

The game finally came to life in the 45th minute. From a scrum needlessly given away in the Saints 22 that man Allen fed Rhys Williams on his outside then deftly took Mark Tucker out of the equation as Williams strolled past a poor tackle by Paul Grayson to score. The attempt by Larry was described by BBC pundit Jonathan Davies as pathetic and to add insult to injury it was a nail in any hopes the Saints had of making a game of it.

Grayson made slight amends minutes later hitting a long range penalty but Cardiff had the bit between their teeth and it wasn't long before Rob Howley, who won the battle of the Lions halves, squeezed over to drop the ball with the tryline beckoning.

To the amazement of the Saints (and some Cardiff supporters) the try was given but on the face of it it was no more than they deserved.

Robinson converted and the Saints, as they did at Sarries five day earlier, finally woke up in the last quarter. A little bit of the Northampton of old shone through as a series of pick and drives, so successful in the glory days, allowed James Brooks to put through a grubber which substitute Ali Hepher pounced on to score.

Ali converted from the touchline and the Saints were back in touch only for Anthony Sullivan, son of Hull KR legend Clive, to go over for Cardiff in the corner to put the game beyond doubt.

With the game all but over Mark Tucker combined well with Grant Seely who went over under the posts for the final score of a game in which the Saints were decidedly second best.