By Mark H
December 7 2003

Owing to the view (or lack of it)the report this week more a series of reflections on a night in west Wales where we were made welcome, outsung, out scrummed, and packaged off back over the Severn Bridge with one more point that those nice people from Llanelli would have wanted us to take. In fact, the view was about the only down side of the evening. A small batch of board persons (me, Ballagher, Laurie and Lesley, Sall, Tim, Craig and the Smurfs) gathered together and we can honestly say that the top step of the terrace was now more than a foot above ground level, hence any close to ground action at the end where Scott Quinnell went over to score his try was very much impossible to get any sort of perspective on.

Apart from that, there wasn’t an awful lot to grumble about the off field activities. The welcome was warm, the atmosphere was nowhere near as hostile as I had expected, but the Welsh were certainly getting behind their side throughout the evening, and many handshakes were exchanged whilst issuing invitations to the game at FG. If the match can be arranged for the Saturday, then I think that we’re assured of another sell out and a superb atmosphere. Whatever happens, we do not want it to be on a Friday night.

On the pitch though were many things to pick up on, both promising and worrying - the trouble is, it seems like for every positive there is a negative. Defensively, that’s the fewest number of tries conceded in any game so far this season, and although it was a bit harem-scarem at times, the line was kept intact after that rather soft (or as Tim’s Welsh friend stated, easy) Quinnell try was conceded. I can’t comment on whether it was offside or not, as I haven’t seen the replay, but if it was, then it’s another one to note down to Mr McHugh - more of him later.

Worryingly though, it didn’t ever seem to me that there were enough ideas for the Scarlets’ line to be crossed. Trying to pick six out for the man of the match on the way home, it was apparent that there were more players being marked off the list than being kept on it, and I ended up with four forwards (JP, Seely, Fox, Blowers), one back (Sharky), and one toss-up between Tucker and Smith. Too often possession was kicked away with grubber kicks or floated balls to try and run onto that were completely eaten up by the thick red line. Indeed, the two pieces of imaginative play from Saints all night were both stopped at the defensive line - the late long lineout that Sharky ran onto, and Brucie’s chip over the top that was slapped into touch when Bruce was a catch away from being under the posts.

Probably a good time to mention McHugh. Never a personal favourite of mine, it would be fair to say that he was equally clueless for both sides. As one of our new friends said “he’s had so many shockers down here we’ve stopped counting”. The alleged offside try, the slap into touch which depending on your viewpoint was a penalty try and/or a yellow card, the missed knock ons, the tendency to favour whichever team was going forward, over the top of grounded players, his reaction to the crowd to help him make his decisions (my favourite being when he penalised Saints for not throwing in straight when he had his back turned to Wally), the pre-put in mobility of the scrum on Scarlets’ ball. Apologies if I’ve missed any. What can be said though was that thankfully he did not affect the result, Llanelli were so far the better team that it would have been robbery had Saints escaped with any more than the one point (and even that was something of a minor theft). It almost makes you wish for the fair and consistent performances of Stephen Lander. Almost.

What has been pointed out elsewhere is that Saints did not react to the state of play when it became obvious that the referee was missing offences, and in effect proceeded to be half a yard off the pace. Smithy has stated previously that the team do not look at how particular referees control games, preferring the players to react to what is in front of them. Well, they’re not doing it, so perhaps the time has come to look at what the referees penalise on and let go. I know for a fact that other teams do it (one of them won two European Cups and four league titles doing it), so the question has to be asked - do we want to be winners or do we want to be nice? As it seems that we can’t have both, then I’d venture for the winners tag.

The differences in the back lines also said an awful lot. I think that it would be fair to say that Saints only bettered Llanelli at scrum half, and possibly with Bruce over Finau. Stephen Jones, despite an uncharacteristically poor kicking display, was breaking the line regularly, as were the two centres, Matthew Watkins and Mark Taylor. Watkins looked particularly sharp, and relished the chance to try and establish attacking opportunities for his team-mates to exploit. It was almost a slight on him that they weren’t exploited, and I personally would have given him the man of the match award rather than it going to Quinnell. In contrast, Saints struggled with what appeared to be a lack of time and a lack of ideas. Shane had a quiet game, which seems to indicate this season that all will not be going well in a “we want to go forwards” type way. Ben was obviously still trying to get back into the patterns and plans that have been developed in the three months that he’s been away. Tucks and the Handyman did well to stem the tide from Llanelli, but as a result their forward movements were restricted. Bruce was better, but still quieter than he has been in previous weeks, whilst Bealer was very much doing a firefighting job in trying to ensure that any Welsh attacks were having to come from as deep as possible.

We had heard in advance that the Llanelli pack were a bit special, and they certainly had the upper hand, but not as much as I thought they would have, which is a massive credit to our eight. Tom Smith has had a massive impact on the front row since his return, and we can only hope that his injury sustained late on is not too serious, as he will certainly be needed next week against whichever combination of Crenca, Hasan and Califano Agen field. Grant had another good game, looking very fresh (as he should, given that he was ignored for a lot of the season so far), and was the best of the back row, although Foxy was very close. Chris Wyatt’s early injury, when he turned an ankle running back to collect the ball, helped Saints in the lineout, but then the lineout did need, once again, all the help it could get. JP was doing well in the time that he was on and actually stole a couple of Scarlets’ throws, but then he went off injured early in the second half. I won’t pretend to know what the answer is, but can only hope that when everyone is available things will improve. When that will be, who knows?

The COYSDC collective said at half time that we would be happy if the five point difference was still there at the final whistle, but it only seemed to remain because of Welsh failings rather than dogged defence. Yes, it was a huge defensive effort to keep the score down, but had Jones got the three kicks that he missed (the relatively straightforward conversion and the two second half penalties) then it would have been a long trip for nothing. It seemed to be that every time Saints came back into the game after the try, another penalty would be given away to give them a chance to stretch away again. When Grays made it 11-6, Saints transgressed from the kick off and Jones kicked the lead to 14-6. By now it was a case of give the game up and guarantee the point. That was helped by Jones missing a longer penalty from the same angle, but when the man of the match has been announced you know that you don’t have an awful lot of time left to do anything spectacular. When the 83rd minute chance came, Grays gratefully accepted it, and that should have been a safe point.

So a week after being called “dumb” by the coach for giving a point away at Gloucester by conceding a late penalty, what happens - again? Mark Connors was the guilty party this time, diving on the ball in an offside position after Sharky knocked on. Thankfully though, a strange kind of justice was done. With McHugh’s back turned, Jones managed to sneak another two or three metres, and the referee was too weak to send him back. The kick was flatter than any previously that evening, but still looked certain to go over, before dipping no more than six inches under the bar.

Yes, it’s a big point. However, I can honestly say after reading El Tel’s report in the Chron on Saturday night that it was nowhere near the moral victory that is being claimed there, nor does it give Saints “the slightest of edges” in the pool, nor did it “pour more misery on the Scarlets”. Looking at the group table this morning (Sunday), Llanelli and Agen have both got one more win than Saints, and if that’s the case come 1st February then Saints will not be in the draw for the quarter finals. Both results have an impact on what Saints need to do in coming weeks, in that we now need to beat Llanelli without conceding a bonus point, and also manage to pick one up when trying to beat Borders at home. And that’s without the most immediate priority, which is getting at least four points from the Frenchmen next Saturday afternoon.

That’s now four defeats in the last five games for Saints - granted, all of them away from home, but none of them have looked like they’d be a GB&G victory - and both runs will need to be arrested quickly, first to get past Agen, and secondly to ensure that the three league games between the Agen and Borders matches go some way to keeping Saints in the hunt for prizes. Leicester at home, Newcastle away, London Irish away, may seem a long way off, but lose those and we may well be looking more at scraping into a wildcard spot and possible entry into the Shield rather than a top three finish and a shot at the title.

Agen next. Rough, tough, and dangerous. Win - please.