By Mark H
April 17 2004

Respect. A small word with a big meaning. Leaders Bath come to the Gardens on Sunday for the first of two Sky games (the obligatory weekly visit to Gloucester for their game against London Irish is the second), and it’s a game with big ramifications for both sides. Should Bath go away with an eighteenth victory from their twentieth ZP game of the season, then they will almost certainly end up on top of the pile and will avoid one of the two winner-takes-all matches that will decide who the best team in England are for 2003-04.

Should Saints win, however, it will not only mean that the pressure will transfer down to Castle Grim and mean that Glaws will need a positive result against the team that ended their defence of the Powergen Cup at the first attempt (also at Kingsholm), but it would mean that the out of control juggernaut that is Wasps will be right up behind Bath with lights flashing and horn sounding.

Which is where respect comes into it. You cannot fail to give credit for the job that John Connolly and Brian Smith have done this season in stripping a team that survived on the last day, bringing in what essentially are their own men to blend in with the survivors of the cull, and producing a team spirit (and the odd gameplan) that has seen the results be the complete opposite of last time around. Those results have taken them into the European Cup next season already, and have guaranteed a shot at the title through the play-offs. Yes, just as binmen do it with black bin bags, Bath supporters do it with one hand.

Count their defeats, that is. Newcastle and Wasps in the league, Leeds in the Powergen Cup, and a first leg defeat to Beziers in the Parker Pen. That’s it. You have to respect a record like that, as more than anything else, it shows a team that believes in itself, and believes in its ability to pull a rabbit from the hat whatever the situation is - you only have to look at their turnaround against (an albeit shorthanded) Montferrand side last Saturday to see that.

Respect though is a two-way thing. For all of the respect that all those in green, black and gold will be showing the Bath team and coaches on Sunday, you just get a feeling that opinions of the Saints are at an all time low in the west country. Various rumblings have come out of the city in recent weeks and months that are, to be quite frank, insulting, abusive and libellous against Northampton Rugby Club.

The ticketing situation. Repeated whining from the Bath Chronicle has suggested that Saints changed their ticketing policy without telling them and consequently the 1,400 strong supporters club, “the best travelling support in the country”, have been left without tickets -

“…Bath Rugby supporters have been royally shafted on the ticket front by Northampton Saints…”.

More likely that with the league game at FG in the last four seasons having been played in September, Bath didn’t realise that they had to put their ticket order in at the same time, or that they weren’t confident of selling tickets for a Friday night game (as the game was until about six weeks ago), or they thought that they were going to have another poor season and wouldn’t be able to sell the tickets.

Whatever.

The fact of the situation is that Bath only sold 86 of the 250 tickets they requested for last season’s game (on a gloriously hot Saturday in mid-September), so to turn down the offer made a few weeks ago of 150 tickets for Sunday’s game was just a fit of pique, to try and convince themselves that they were taking the moral high ground.

The salary cap.

Yet another alleged outpouring from the Bath Chron, only this time, it wasn’t just pointing the figure at Saints, but Leicester, Gloucester, Saracens, Newcastle and Wasps, all of which apparently must be infringing the regulations because all six clubs have international players. Which, of course, conveniently ignores the fact that Bath employ Messrs Catt, Tindall, Grewcock, Balshaw, and Barkley, roughly the same number of internationals that are mentioned for each of the other named clubs. Add to this the employment allegations about the families of Saints players which will not be repeated here, but are still being churned out week in, week out, and you start to see why it gets boring reading the same old rubbish all the time. New signing for next season Wylie Human has even had the same allegation made about his own family, and he’s still a Bath player!

Saints’ ability. Rather than using my own words, let’s see what those ‘experts’ think of our boys:-

“I think that they're the worst side to visit the Rec this season, and Morris and co are the weakest scrum I've seen in the modern era. Their performance at home against Llanelli showed who the real rabbits are. Whoever turns up and whoever they support in our match, they'll only be one winner. These games are won up front and the Saints are too soft.”

“…both Glaws and Saints are big game chokers…”

“I understand that following a successful trial last weekend (the Wasps game) Northampton Rugby Club has announced a new venture that specialises in running up white flags…”

“Even with Blowers in the side this time, this team has got to be the worst to visit the Rec this season.”

“I suspect his (Wayne Smith‘s) comments were for home consumption to deflect potential criticism of being underprepared for a game that was viewed as a gimme. I think it is called get your excuses in early.”

“The strangest one is Robbie Morris. The guy just cannot scrummage, and is responsible for a lot of poor Saints performances.”

“We match up well against their weak scrummaging pack, and this is a game we should win.”

“Is Robbie Morris playing? If he is then Bath by 20, if not then Bath by 4.”

“Bath by 20 to shut you lot up.”

And they don’t stop at insulting the team, they also have a high regard for our supporters and our town:-

“…went to Northampton once, but it was shut…”
“Have you spelt "shut" correctly…shouldn't there be an "i" in there not a "u"?”

“What a sad little lot of townies you are!”

“No amount of sanctimonious bleating from Stains (sic) supporters can disguise the fact that they are a miserable set of (expletives) who obviously want to live in their own world.”

“So much boastful talk, so little to show for it.”

“Saints Fans, bitter 'cos you totally bottled your PG final??”

and my own personal favourite:-

“How many competitions have the 'Chelsea of Rugby Union won', just one was it…”

That’d be just the one more than Bath so far this season then, for as we all know, you can’t live on past glories, especially when you’ve been as unfeasibly bad as Bath have over the past two seasons. Anyway, the comments regarding the team are interesting. Saints have obviously been written off already, with Robbie Morris in particular coming in for harsh criticism.

No, scrap that - Robbie’s getting blamed for all of the problems in the pack. Absolute complete and utter rubbish, as one player cannot make or break a team, least of all a 22-year-old who’s still learning the nuances of his position. And before anyone mentions Matt Stevens at Bath, perhaps better comparisons can be made when he gets a regular run of games in the Bath side, rather than seemingly being a permanent replacement. All Robbie needs to know is that the people who appreciate and support him are right behind him; we see him every week, we see him growing as a player.

Arrogance. Every winning team needs a certain amount of it; that belief that nothing is ever going to deny you victory, that unshakeable feeling that you are better than your opposite number. The Leicester championship winning team had it; the England world cup winning team had it; undoubtedly this Bath squad have got it, and you can‘t knock them for that - John Connolly would expect nothing less.

However, if you believe some of their supporters, then the championship and Parker Pen are not only already won, but next year’s championship and European Cup as well, along with the Six Nations title and the 2007 World Cup, as well as claiming all the glory for the 2003 World Cup win. No, sorry, that was Leicester wasn’t it. My mistake.

Buying tickets now for the final when you’re not yet guaranteed to be there sounds pretty foolish to me, as it not only writes off the teams they still have to play - Saints (bottlers), Quins (not won at the Stoop in ages), and Gloucester (bottlers) - but also writes off the chances of Wasps winning their last three games, and as we have seen over the last two Sundays, they seem to be running into a bit of form at the moment. This lot, however, wanted to buy tickets in March - presumably to go with the Powergen Cup final tickets that they were going to buy before Leeds knocked them out.

It’s a big test for Saints after being steamrollered by Wasps two weeks ago, where the general reaction was one of “we knew they were good, but we didn’t know they were that good”. So who have we got to look out for? Well, Bath’s undoubted strength this season has been in their pack. Number eight Zak Fea’unati is their top try scorer in the ZP with six, and together with Michael Lipman and Andy Beattie have been providing pace and strength off the back of the scrum. In the second row, Connolly has the enviable choice when fit of England’s best forward in the Six Nations in Danny Grewcock, the man considered by more than a few good judges to be England’s future in Steve Borthwick, and the terminally underrated Rob Fidler.

Fidler must rue sometimes being around in the era when England’s second row has been their greatest strength, otherwise he would have had many more England caps to go with the two that he’s got. Still only 29, it would now be a major surprise were he to add to that total, but going on form this season alone, he wouldn’t be that far off making the team were he a few years younger. Ironic really that it’s his team-mate who’s the man in possession. If he makes an appearance, then it’s sure to be a lively afternoon for our friend Danny, as it could well be his last meeting with his great pal and provider of scrum caps Mark Connors. Three appearances against Saints last season brought three yellow cards for Grewcock and two for Connors, so this meeting of minds could be something to look out for.

Jonathan Humphreys is still in the centre of the front row - for about an hour that is, to then be replaced by Lee Mears - and seems to be another one who relishes the games against Saints, trading blows with Dan Richmond at the first scrum just a minute into last season’s cup tie. Either side of him, David Flatman is another trying to catch Clive Woodward’s eye before the summer tours, whilst Duncan Bell - responsible for two monster performances against Saints so far this season - looks a shoe-in for Welsh selection when he qualifies at the end of the season, having reportedly turned down a place in the England A squad.

In the backs, well who knows? For as strong as their forwards have been, the Bath back line have been dropping like flies all season, to the extent that if one goes down with an injury now it’s usually a bad one. The main constants have been Martyn Wood at scrum half, and Olly Barkley at either fly half or inside centre, depending on where Connolly’s needs have been. Barkley’s 219 points this season place him second in the ZP scorers list (some bloke called Shine is four points ahead of him), and he’s kicked the most penalties (50) of anyone in the league, deservedly earning him England recognition when Woodward was robbed of his first choice fly halves for the games against Wales and France. How many caps he earns in his career may well depend on the fitness of Wilkinson and Hodgson, but it’s interesting to reflect that all three players can play at either 10 or 12, so there is conceivably a role for two of them in the games where the England supreme feels that he needs two kicking options on the field.

If there is any criticism of Bath though, and it may be a point that Smithy can work on, is that the majority of Bath’s kicking options behind the scrum are left footed, regardless of which side of the pitch the play is on. Are you listening Mr Blowers, Mr Seely and Mr Fox?

The other Bath back to make a note of (and indeed who most Saints supporters will be keeping an eye on) is Wylie Human, a Saint from the coming summer. The South African, as evidenced in the game against Montferrand on Saturday, has blistering pace, as well as a good eye for being involved in a scuffle and allowing a team-mate to get the blame (Fea’unati getting the card that should have been Human’s). It will be interesting if he plays though, especially if the score is close towards the end and he has a rampant Ben Cohen bearing down on him, trying to clinch the game for Saints…

Neither coach has yet named his final line-up, with Bath waiting for fitness test results and Saints having a stomach bug going through the camp, so expect to see nothing until Saturday at the earliest. Two points of note though - Shane Drahm needs just 16 more points to set a Saints league scoring record, whilst Paul Grayson needs just 2 more points to reach 1200 in the Premiership.

All we ask of the team is this. Forget games against Leicester, this is the game that the supporters all want to win. Too many insults have been passed in our direction; too much mud slung at the good name of Northampton; too many doubts about our quality; too much nonsense has gone on.

Win, and we’ll go away happy.

Win, and we’ll look forward to the play-offs.

Win, and we could well be playing Bath again before Twickenham.

Win, and Sunday will blend nicely into Monday.

Win for the town. Win for the supporters. Win for yourselves.

WIN!



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