Powergen Final Preview


last year

By Rich
April 3 2003

It seems like forever since Saints beat London Irish in the Powergen Cup Semi-final, finally the finals weekend is only a day away. Will Saints finally lift the trophy or will the Gardens faithful once again leave disappointed? Who knows? Not me, but I CAN'T WAIT!

Northampton Saints Vs Gloucester
Powergen Cup Final
Twickenham
April 5th 2003
holy grail?

It's going to be a bit of a different preview this week. there's so much quality information to be found regarding stats, the weather, the teams, interviews with the players I think it'd be overkill to do my normal round of links to the relevant information. So my Powergen cup final preview will be more opinions, thoughts and feelings. The facts are available elsewhere.

My feelings are so mixed about this final that I have to rely on the words of others. I considered the rousing speeches of Shakespeare's Henry V, or the How to be a Man mantra of Kipling's 'if'. At these times though only Homer makes sense:
"beer now there's a temporary solution"

More discussion follows the teams...

Saints
15 NICK BEAL
14 BRUCE REIHANA
13 PETER JORGENSEN
12 JOHN LESLIE (co-capt)
11 BEN COHEN
10 PAUL GRAYSON
9 MATT DAWSON
1 TOM SMITH
2 STEVE THOMPSON
3 ROBBIE MORRIS
4 Matt Lord
5 STEVE WILLIAMS
6 MARK CONNORS
7 BUDGE POUNTNEY (co-capt)
8 ANDREW BLOWERS

Replacements:
16 Dan Richmond
17 MATT STEWART
18 Grant Seely
19 Darren Fox
20 Johnny Howard
21 James Brooks
22 Chris Hyndman

Gloucester
No first XV announcement, just a squad of  26.
Forwards
Olivier Azam, Jake Boer C,Pete Buxton, Mark Cornwell, Andy Deacon, Adam Eustace, Rob Fidler, James Forrester, Chris Fortey, Andy Hazell, Junior Paramore, Ed Pearce, Rodrigo Roncero, Trevor Woodman

Backs
Simon Amor, Tom Beim, Chris Catling, Thinus Delport, Terry Fanolua, Marcel Garvey, Andy Gomarsall, Ludovic Mercier, Henry Paul, James Simpson-Daniel, Clive Stuart-Smith, Robert Todd.

We're doomed, the mighty Gloucester tight five will huff and puff Saints of the park. They are better in all aspects of set piece play. Then when they decide to open it up they've got the forward who thinks he's an outside centre James Forrester, good grief . Gomarsall is playing the rugby of his life behind the cherry and white juggernaut and at 10 they have the biggest boot in world rugby. Mercier could back heel it over from 50 metres. In the centres could be the awesome Terry Fanolua accompanied by the ex rugby league star Henry Paul. Paul could be one of the stars of the day as he is finally finding his feet in Union. Oh dear! Then the back three, nothing much to worry about really just 3 of the paciest and most creative players in England. They'll run rings around our cart horses. To be fair it could be worse than last year.....

epic struggle

Then I wake from my nightmare dripping in cold sweat and remember this:

I was there last year in the Rodbar when Wayne Smith and Budge Pountney stood on the counter and apologized.

I talked with Peter Jorgenson and Matt Dawson and I saw the disappointment in their eyes.

I heard the promises:

"this will never happen again, we will go back next year and do better"

True to their word Saints have battled back to the final, they won the Epic of Edge Hall Road 44-55 and then on the road again they sneaked a one pointer in the Battle of Bath. More unfamiliar surroundings and last years nemesis, London Irish, were dispatched in a ruthless display. Saints want this badly. They ache for this trophy, it's been obvious since that awful day last year.

Will they win? Who knows, Gloucester are THE team in England this season. All I know is it won' be like last year.

Can they win? Oh yes and we all know it! That's the agony and ecstasy of being a Saints fan. On their day Saints are a match for anyone, ask Biarritz, ask the Tigers, ask the Peerless Super 12 Cats of South Africa. Even ask Gloucester. The two games between the sides this season have been close to say the least. The match at the Gardens was fantastic. Saints ran and ran and ran but just could not breach the line. Four names were missing from the Saints team sheet that day and they couldn't have been bigger, namely: Connors, Blowers, Dawson, Cohen. Those four could be the difference on Saturday.

So off the fence time. Will the Saints faithful enjoy Saturday? You bet! See you all there, may the best team win. Let it be Saints. Otherwise we'll all be reminded of Homer.

COME
ON YOU
SAINTS


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