Northampton Saints
News: Saints 33 v Chiefs 3 – Dumplings Dumped
By Broonie
October 9 2011
(Those who know their touring cricket teams will appreciate there is no offence intended, though on the available evidence the Chiefs’ trainers perhaps leave a little more meat on the bone than The Hood’s gang). On the terrace before the game, we agreed it was strange to come to a home game at FG as underdogs against last year’s promoted team, but all were agreed that both teams seemed to have richly deserved their respective league positions at this point.
Aviva Premiership Round 6
Northampton Saints v Exeter Chiefs
Saturday 8th October, Franklins Gardens KO 2:30
Saints 33 Chiefs 3
In B block we were happy to see that D block were the lucky hosts of the visiting bongo-pummelers this year and as the teams did their callisthenics we noted the absence of the normal welsh clan nearby (suspected alcoholic poisoning) while consoling the irish among us and admiring the stiff upper lip of the plucky sassenachs
In a scene of such cosy neighbourliness, imagine our shock as the hitherto inert and shapeless saints of 2011/2012 set about the visitors , smiting (yea verily- F.Howerd) them hip and thigh in contact and spreading the ball among a veritable variety of carriers and running hard into both opponents and space .
This was aided by much more aggression and far greater venom and pace in defence than seen this season , Christian Day in particular absolutely detonating the massive Naqelivuki in full stride on halfway. Throughout the game, Saints spent a lot less time trying to pilfer the ball and far more energy in smacking runners back with big hits, double tackles and gang tackles; as a result the penalty count at the breakdown was improved, though there was to be a strange codicil to this at the scrum.
On the second time Saints explored the touchline, Jon Clarke was put away down the Church’s 
touchline. Beating one and giving another defender a ride, JC delivered clean ball swiftly, this was moved inside and James Craig rumbled at a good clip for the posts, brushing off arm-tackles before failing (just) to hurdle the fullback and getting a dose of Turf-nose at the end of a soaring swan dive (like an octopus falling out of a tree, my neighbour muttered) . The defence in disarray, the ball was moved on and James Downey thundered over, Ryan Lamb adding the afters., with only 2 minutes elapsed.
For another ten minutes or so Saints continued to apply the turbocharger while the Exeter defence performed miracles ; several times Saints lost possession in their eagerness, but their defence was winning it back as often.
As the initial frenzy calmed, Lamb missed a penalty and the first couple of scrums revealed that the Exeter scrum was not even close to being a match for their opponents, Mooj in particular having one of those days when the opposing loosehead simply could not live with his power. Gradually , however, and with the aid of some favourable refereeing decisions , Exeter found a foothold in the game and a decent share of territory and possession , for some sustained pressure. However, as they got into the red zone , space was compressed and the big hits were turning over possession back to saints.
Then, after about 25 minutes, Saints set sail again, drove up the hill through Tonks and Armstrong and pressed for the posts. Possession was slowed and the defence was crowding up the right side, but Lamb threaded an exquisitely measured grubber through the defenders on a shallow line , Digger swerved left and right and picked the pocket of the two remaining defenders to dot down smartly as he was bundled over – a crafty bit of business all round and in front of digger’s fan club in the shrubbery as well. Lamb again added the extras from wide right.
Play ebbed and flowed before another Lamb penalty , followed by a desperate deliberate knock on by Arscott who bade au revoir to the other 29 players for 10 minutes as a consequence.
For some time, Exeter had been living on their wits at the scrum . Periodically Saints would absolutely annihilate their scrum, particularly on the Exeter loosehead, but the referee was surprisingly tolerant of the variety of desperate ploys by which the visitors were keeping afloat. It was reminiscent of ND1 days as their props took turns to dive (depending on which side Mr Garner stood) turned in or stood up to deflect the pressure sideways or upwards. They delayed the put in or delayed engaging and periodically whipped the scrum round , trying to sell the referee a narrative whereby Saints might be deemed to be engaging early or following the hit in or indeed whipping the scrum themselves ; of couse , as it was self-evident that the power lay only on one side in this phase and Saints had no need of these ploys Mr Garner would never be fooled by this, would he?
Oh yes he would. And his naivety was precious oxygen in territory and possession to a team short of a man and whose scrum was being dismembered in public.
However, shortly before the interval, Saints at last got the chance to lay down a series of scrums in the Exeter 22 and the pack, Mooj in the van,started to butcher their opponents systematically. First the loosehead collapsed. Then he held his side up but retreated rapidly , spinning it round , then he went down again ; the poor lad was being moulded like plasticine , Brian had the scent of blood and was tearing up chunks of Piggy’s grass with his studs and the Tetleys were baying and howling for Garner to come over where the action was and see for himself. When at last he did, the poor brave lad held for one reset to allow his chum to take a turn at collapsing, but Mooj got the penalty on the second reset after that and Lamby slotted it before oranges were served.
Pray forgive the detail. These are esoteric pleasures , but pulsating ones ; we were watching an artist at work.
So, half-time. Saints fans suddenly remembered to breathe , shook ourselves and peered around nervously ; what had become of the hapless bunch in green shirts? Might they suddenly reappear unwished-for but somehow inescapable? Or were they suddenly endowed with superpowers and wearing their briefs on the outside? Well, Digger was anyhow…
More to the point, would they fall asleep at half time? No, was the answer as Scott Armstrong roared out of the blocks as Saints kicked off downhill, sacking the receiver deep in the Exeter 22 after evading/trampling the usual 4 blockers. This was the cue for saints to play aggressively without the ball for a while. Exeter were efficient at recycling a large anount of fairly harmless possession, while saints hammered away but eschewed using hands in the ruckwith quite unaccustomed discipline.
Two more penalties to Ryan Lamb (the man who stole Grays’ song) wrapped up the win, and on another day the second of these would have been to the corner, but yesterday was about “no cork-ups” , quite rightly.
Meantime, Paul Doran Jones had gone off to general plaudits and with 10 minutes to go we stood for the exit of Big Bad Brian. The Exeter support, not for the first time looked puzzled at the storm of apparent booing which greeted his withdrawal , but the mooj had a quietly satisfied air as he trudged modestly off.
No matter , Tom Mercy came on for a canter and he and Alex Waller were at the helm for Saints’ last try, yet again totalling an Exeter scrum , to give JC a
chance to flick a cute grubber off the outside of his right boot for the mighty Armstrong to live up to his Borderer’s name by hurling himself through to come up with the last try.
This was swiftly converted by Stephen Myler who , with Tom May, had come off the bench late and offered us glimpses of the firepower now at Saints’ command .
May in particular showed pace and hands (as well as ambition and power) , which hinted at the possibilities of split field sets opening space with Foden and Ashton on either side and choices at first Receiver , elaborations which offer intriguing tests (but also intriguing possibilities) for coaches and players alike , as the current festivities in NZ have shown that if you’re not prepared to stretch to be the best, then you probably won’t be the best
We have also seen that there are good players striding the FG turf even when the poster- boys are far away . They just needed to get used to being go-to guys and be prepared to live up to that. They can play a lot better and must continue to improve , but they were playing a team who have done very well so far , and they absolutely controlled them, with and without the ball.
My MOM (but then he often is) was Brian Mujati, but MOMs are inherently invidious, and almost everyone put up their hand at some point. I was so happy and relieved after the game to see the team coming round the pitch and soaking up a bit of love . So, I suspect , were they.
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“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
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
in his case the "consequences" which nobby spoke of at the start of the new regime have seemingly worked the charm.
looking round the team yesterday was like a glimpse of the sunny uplands.
there may be darker days, but the likes of Armstrong, Craig, Lamb, all of the props, Heywood , all had games where they looked at home on the big stage, which is a huge positive.
if you noticed Ross Mcmillan , the bench hooker we've taken on loan, you may have seen him play at FG for England U20 when i think he may have been a contemporary of dylan and been coached by Jim & nobby; don't be surprised to see him around next year.
Much better performance all round.
More passion, control, discipline, energy, leadership and skill.
Better game management and with Lamb playing very flat (and very well), the backs got more go-forward and over the gain line time after time.
Good line speed in defence and utter commitment meant Chiefs getting knocked back hard and often as brroonie highlighted above.
I enjoyed that. Keep the upswing going please Saints!
Interesting ploy in our most successful attacks.
The defence almost always has something of an 'elbow,' a bend where the up-and-at-em frontline ends and the second, cover layer starts. Almost always this is somewhere around what we call the 13 channel.
That kink allows a bit more space than is evident inside where you get all manner of policemen including the best tacklers/ruckers in the side.
Exeter had a strength and a weakness in that channel - all the considerable skill and strength was undone by a lack of pace. I suspect that identifying this was the work of Ross's analysts. Good stuff. We got wide of their aggressive inside defence and made hay (to the tune of about 40 metres a time) in the 15 metre channel.
Long may this sort of thing continue...
* Identify the weakness
* Adopt a plan to exploit it
* Execute the plan with proficiency and efficiency
[lowrence.com]
And the fact it was all about a Saints win, and better than that - a good performance - is the icing
I must try and remember to use those stats in my MoTM review!
“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
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
We saw a odd combination of a 9-1 turnover ratio in Saints' favour but I'm guessing at a whole-match possession ratio more than 60:40 to Chiefs (a guess as I say). The back row worked well enough and Calum Clark was back to his combative best but the turnovers came from a few different sources. I still think Nutters is the future at 7 and Clark will have a battle on his hands for the 6 shirt from Craig who is more muscular than his rangy frame implies.
Finally, mentions for Mikey Haywood who may not be the ball-carrier his club captain is but got at least 2 turnovers and for Alex Waller who yet again showed why the coaches stuck with him - we are indeed blessed in the depth of talent in the front row.
i'd agree about mikey , again he seems almost an obsessively hard worker .
Nuts; as you know, i've been a serious fan since i first saw him before he made the senior academy. But he must aim to be Pocock/McCaw/O'Brien , not settle for Seymour. That means he needs to really , really work. he needs to be stronger , faster and the fittest guy out there and be truly driven . it's a huge ask. he needs above all to want to dominate games, not just have good patches.he could be better than Budge.
A really top 7 can write his own ticket and win heineken cups these days.
Likewise, Broonie, I think there is a huge difference between the first two 7's you name, and the third. In fact the stand-out player of the weekend for me was Warburton, who despite being significantly smaller than those opposite him did an absoulte gainline destruction job on both the hitherto massively effective carrying Irish flankers, not by competing physically but by playing most of the game roughtly six inches above the turf and displaying absoultely flawless tackling technique and courage.
If I was Nuts I'd be re-watching that performance, rather than O'Brien's against us or Oz.........
Some highlights of the game for me:
THAT tackle by Digger on their big centre.
Their 9 timewasting at a penalty when we were 20 odd points up with 7 or so left to play.
Calum Clarke earning a turnover penalty on our own line and coming up looking like he was about to collapse/blow chunks through the sheer effort he'd put in.
And last but not least Digger and Lamb chatting while waiting for a scrum to form and Lamby was smiling...
My eye was caught by Dowson, whose tackle-rate was prodigious, and whose leadership was very evident.
And what a relief to see the Amazing Wilson trotting on for a late cameo.
Now, what to say about the scribe that hasn't been said?
Professional journos please note: all you have to do is know a good bit about the game, watch very carefully and report what you see. And if you feel the urge to chuck in the odd magic metaphor, so much the better.
That's what Broonie does, and I look forward to many more. Keep scribbling, Ken!
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