By Rich on the spot
December 12 2002

Despite Wayne Smith's pleas to the contrary, Saints were clearly affected by the win at Leicester. This match has been described by the press as ordinary, workmanlike, average to poor and that they were suffering a hangover from last week. Despite this Saints won comfortably. In European rugby, there is so much that's wrong with the season's structure. One thing they have right is the pool match double headers. Cardiff go away from this match knowing that revenge may only be a week away. With the Welsh desire to restructure these great Anglo-Welsh encounters may become a thing of the past but for now we should enjoy this part of the fixture list.

The Blue and Blacks supporters as ever added to the match day atmosphere. If drinking ever makes it to the Olympics then the Cardiff fans will feature strongly in the British team. Well done to them and I hope we see them at the Gardens again in years to come.

To the game...

Once again Saints were slow starters, definitely not 'hats on wheels'. Cardiff raced into Saints 22 and due to the whistle happy Mr. Ramage had to settle for a penalty where with some advantage a try seemed on the cards. Iestyn Harris was successful with the initial penalty and again from further out leaving the Saints 0-6 down after 6 minutes.

Grayson the boot pulled Saints back into the game on 12 minutes as Saints drove their way back into the game. The next three penalties were kicked to touch and then Mark Soden was driven over for the try. 8-6 after 17 minutes.

On 23 minutes Ian Vass did his best impression of Matt Dawson. A very impressive impression it was too! From the base of a ruck, he ducked and swerved and then made the 'Dawson dart' to run in unopposed under the posts. Grayson chipped over the gimme and it was 15-6 after 23 minutes.

The next meaningful piece of action saw, in my opinion, the best try by an away team this season at Northampton. Iestyn Harris made a superb break to feed former gardens favourite Matt Allen his well timed pass put Rhys Williams into space. His clever line and then exceptional pace made total monkeys of both Cohen and Beal. Very few others will do that this season and it was pleasing to see many Saints fans applauding the score. Harris missed the conversion to leave the score at 15-11.

The rest of the half was a tale of missed opportunities. Saints scrum was under pressure and even with the return of Steve Williams the line out remains dysfunctional. Kicks at goal were spurned for lineouts that came to nothing.

At one penalty Cohen's tap and go saw multiple Cardiff offences: not retiring ten yards, pulling the maul down, offside, preventing release and the icing on the cake from David Young who was sin binned for diving over the top of a ruck. The resulting penalty was again kicked to touch and predictably came to nothing. Half time 15-11.

After half time the Hat mechanics had clearly mended the wheels as Saints closed the game off with a sharp try. Blowers, as ever the leading candidate for man of the match, made a strong break to feed Grayson. Larry fed England try machine Ben Cohen and there was only one result. 22-11.

What happened next was erm...not much really. Mr. Ramage continued to whistle the game to a standstill and Cardiff battled on trying to get something from the contest. Grayson extended the lead on the hour to 25-11.

Late in the match, 73 minutes according to the scoreboard, Cohen decided to have a ten-minute rest. Richard Smith went for a chip and chase; Big Ben stuck out an arm, which missed the ball and not the man. The England winger was already trotting off as Ramage blew his whistle without turning to see if the card was produced.

The other significant event was the introduction of Oriol Ripol for Jon Sleightholme. It's been a tough few weeks for the Spaniard who has faded badly since his crowd-pleasing start to the season. So it was reassuring to see him make some good breaks towards the end of the game. Final score 25-11.

Many Saints fans will be disappointed with this game but I think that's unfair. On another day with a bit more focus this could have been a 40 pointer. Let's drag a cliché out - a win's a win. I'm already looking forward to next week.