By Saint Tim
October 9 2011

One of my favourite away trips ruined by the demands of television!  So instead of a nice trip to Sixways and the two pint glasses and warm welcome I instead I endured a match via the wonders of mobile phone updates.  I know that TV provides a lot of money BUT are they killing the product.  I haven’t been to an away game for what seems like ages as they are always at odd times.

Who was your MoTM in the next defeat away at Worcester?

I have very little to write here this week.  I was so depressed after hearing the final score that it took two days before I could bring myself to read the forum and then I disregarded any match thread.  What I do know is that Saints supporters are very worried and feeling reminiscent of that horror year when we were booted out of the top flight.  Have the club lost direction?  Is the stadium distracting us from the product on the pitch?  Is it just a few small things or as some suspect is the squad not able to implement the game plan effectively?  All I know is that all is not well in the Saints Nation (as the current marketing machine calls us) and to top it all we have the announcement that we are off to MK to play Munster.  Now I live in MK and I am still not happy with that decision!

All in all we are not a happy bunch at the moment.

What the Stats say

So where in the stats did we appear to be better than Irish.  Well in the following we looked better:

Metres run with ball (Worcester 253m, Saints 292m)

Turnovers conceded (Saints 7, Worcester 13)

Runs (Saints 88, Worcester 79)

Passes (Saints 148, Worcester 114)

Offloads (Saints 6, Worcester 1)

So where were we worse than Worcester?

Yellow cards (Worcester 0, Saints 1) We are collecting cards at an unhealthy rate.

Scrum success (Saints 83.3%, Worcester 100%)  Second week in a row our supposed good pack was second best in a key set piece.

Lineout success (Saints 82.4%, Worcester 92.3%) – Another set peice where we came off second best.

So pretty even on most stats but the real killer:

Penalties conceded (Saints 12, Worcester 9) and enough of those were within kicking range for the telly tubby to convert into winning points.

So how did the individuals do?

Nutley made the most tackles with 10 missing none – well done Nuts.  Paul Diggin made the most distance with ball in hand with 53 metres (strange that was the top metres run last week as well!), closely followed by Armstrong with 49 metres. Armstong made the most clean break and beat the most defenders as well with2 of each.

One thing I will say is that the stats make it look like a boring game.

So, who caught the eye?

I didn’t see the game but thanks to the 55 people voted.  I know the game was away at a place very tricky to get to but it was on the TV so I am sure quite a few saw it.  I also know it wasn’t a good performance but it is good to try and pick someone who did leave nothing out on the pitch.

When it comes to the picks there were three who stood out.  In third place with 11% of the votes was Christian Day.  Christian is key to so much of the good things that happen in the pack and especially the line out.

In second with 13% was Brett Sharman.  I know that Brett has his detractors and it is difficult playing as second string to club captain but Brett really sticks with it and works hard.  He also took a big knock during this game.

The winner on his first start of the season was Scott Armstrong with 29% of the votes.  This is Scott’s fourth start for Saints and he is still searching for being part of a winning team.  This is Scott’s first ever win in the MoTM poll.

With Scott winning we have five different winners from the five games played so far.  Jim has used 23 different players with five having been ever present in the starting line up. 

Once again my thanks to Claire for the fabulous pictures.

Full Result

Previous Winners

Vote History

Who wins?

Leaderboard

Players Used

MoTM: Scott Armstrong wins for the game away at Worcester

Discussion started by ComeOnYouSaints.com , 09/10/2011 10:00

ComeOnYouSaints.com
09/10/2011 10:00

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Saint Tim
09/10/2011 10:00

But what do you think of my musing?



“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Benjamin Franklin

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ClaireJ
09/10/2011 17:22

Thanks Tim - I love reading the stats. It was a boring game so the stats didn't lie.

And Sixways is a pain in the dark so I think you were lucky to get anything!

ClaireJ
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Saint Tim
09/10/2011 17:39

I have already looked at your pictures from yesterday - there are going to be some great ones to pick from next week.



“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Benjamin Franklin

Tetleys Block F E143

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