By Rich in the Archive
February 24 2003

On Sunday the Saints play their seventh national cup semi final against last years victors London Irish. This week we look back at those previous games starting with the first against Orrell at the Gardens in 1991 The 1991 semi-final versus Orrell at the Gardensis a match that ranks second in my all time favourites. Not for the style of rugby but for the sheer bloody mindedness and determination by the Saints to prove the entire rugby world wrong.

Saints were the new boys on the block in the early nineties. The glory days when Saints were arguably England's finest rugby union club had dwindled away through the 70's and 80's and to be frank the club had been a mess. After the 'revolution' events of July 6th 1988 (which is another story for another time,) Saints had been building steadily. They had been promoted as second division champions the year before and in the same season put together an impressive cup run beating Leicester 23-7 in the cup quarterfinals and losing narrowly to Gloucester 12-17 in the semi finals with both games being played at Franklins Gardens.

The semi-final against the tractor boys will always be remembered for Ian Hunter's spectacular solo try. Hunter burst through the Gloucester tackling, fair and foul, to pull Saints right back into the cup tie only for the bigger and more experienced Gloucester pack to grind out the victory. Another lasting memory will be of Tim Rodber with the number 8 shaved into the back of his head.

So to 1991 and Saints were having a rough ride in their first season of top-flight rugby. Orrell had smashed Saints 60-0 at Edge Hall Road, their cosy home venue in the heart of Rugby League land. I was not alone at the time in reading the score on Ceefax (BBC teletext of the time) and switching to Oracle (the ITV equivalent) because I thought it was a mistake. Based on this Saints had been written off by the whole rugby world and the rumours of the time were that Orrell had already booked accommodation in London for the final at Twickenham. What they reckoned without was the huge influence of legendary All Black Wayne 'Buck' Shelford, the motivation of arrogant press cuttings pinned to the dressing room wall and the desire of Northampton to have it's big day out.

It has to be remembered that this was the amateur era still and watching the video while researching this it seems strange to see the players and Franklins Gardens as it was only a decade ago. The lake end was open with no spectators and a giant net spread between the trees to save the balls from a swim. The scoreboard was a lonely brick structure also at the lake end. Our beloved Gordon Terrace only ran from 22 to 22 with open banks at either end and around to a much smaller Sturtridge Pavilion. The few stewards of the time were not kitted out with huge fluorescent jackets or walkie-talkies. They made do with ill-fitting yellow bibs and far from preventing crowds from spoiling Piggy's playing surface they joined in with the pitch invasion at the end of the match!

The players of the time for Saints included a young Tim, Harvey and Ian Hunter, Saints physio Phil Pask, the long serving England prop Gary Pearce, John Olver, Gavin Baldwin, John Ethridge, Saints team manager 'Lenny' Newman, David Elkington (once described by Nigel Starmer smith as the Franklins Gardens mole), points machine and now director of rugby John Steele, Peter Moss, John Thame, local bobby Frank Packman and of course the legendary Buck. The way things have changed is remarkable from this team of only three internationals to today's side where there might only be three non-capped players.

The Orrell team also contained some interesting names such as England winger Nigel Heslop, old lardys pal Dewi Morris and the man who was to become a Saints favourite Martin Hynes. Not only were the names interesting but also the size and shapes of the players involved, with traditional barrel shaped props and some stick thin backs.

The game itself was played in front of a full house (about 6000 at that time) on a freezing cold day where the crowd in the open areas got a good soaking (me included!). Orrell came out in their rugby league style collarless polyester shirts full of confidence and after 15 minutes were 0-6 ahead. However they were not dominating the game as the Saints pack led by Shelford were driving ferociously and the backs were tackling for their lives. Peter Moss had to go off for stitches but was quoted after the match saying, "I couldn't wait to get back on, we were knocking them over and they couldn't handle it!"

John Steele's boot provided all the points on the day as Orrell were forced, and at times tricked, into giving away penalties. Dewi Morris was completely flummoxed by Kiwi guile, as Shelford appeared to release the ball at the back of a scrum and then rolled it back in as the' Florist' dived offside. Steele booted the penalty over from half way.

Saints went into the break 12-6 up and then came out in the second half for more of the same. Driving runs from Harvey, the Mighty Tim and Ian Hunter were the perfect compliment to the one-man rugby lesson that was Wayne Shelford in his biggest game for Northampton. The Tinman's reliable boot kept knocking over the scores as Orrell continued to lack an answer to Saints intensity. Heslop scored a consolation try for the northerners to provide a final score of 18-10 to the Saints. There were tears of joy for the Saints and literally tears of despair fom some shellshocked Orrell supporters on the Gordon Terrace who now had to cancel their pre-arranged Twickers jollies.

Wayne Shelford returned to New Zealand after the match in an attempt to re-capture his All Black no.8 jersey for the forthcoming 91 World Cup.. This meant missing the cup final at Twickenham and I've always wondered if he regrets that decision because he was injured in the first trial game and an All Black place eluded him. Never the less there is no doubt that he was man of the match on the fine day we sent an over confident orrell back to deepest Lancs with their tails firmly between their legs. Here's to a Buck-like performance from all fifteen Northampton players this Sunday!

COME ON YOU SAINTS