By Chris G in the Archives
September 21 2005

Saints first played Gosforth who later became Newcastle Gosforth and are now Newcastle Falcons in the 1957-58 season and won that match at Franklins Gardens 33-8. The only other game before their first national cup encounter was in the 1960-61 season when the Saints lost an away match 9-6. We now look back at four (two here and two classic cup encounters to follow) Saints v ‘Falcons’ encounters at the Gardens in more recent memory starting with two recent Premiership games.

First up that oh so close encounter last season when a certain young whippersnapper named Wilkinson could have consigned us to Div1.

Slippery Saints Fluster Falcons
By Simon Robinson (Smurf) - April 16 2005

Saints edged out winners 23-22 against Newcastle at Franklin's Gardens. All the talk in the press was about a certain Mr Wilkinson, but it was Shane Drahm who came out the better in a scrappy match.

Saints looked strong in the first half, taking a 6 - 0 lead thanks to two Drahm penalties, but by the 26 minute mark Newcastle had drawn level with two from dislodged fly-half Dave Walder, playing at full-back. A nasty injury to wing Michael Stephenson on the half-hour saw "Jonny" enter the fray, an injury attended to initially by paramedic-cum-ref Tony Spreadbury. His swift action a month ago almost certainly saved England U21 prop Matt Hampson from further injury.

Wilkinson's first job for Newcastle - a team now playing with three fly-halves - was to convert a penalty opportunity into a three point lead. This didn't last long, as a Drahm cross field kick found Hyndman waiting on the left wing to sneak in for a try. Drahm slotted the conversion to put Saints back on top at 13 - 9.

Saints extended their lead just prior to the break, departing South African Corne Krige falling on a loose ball from a Newcastle scrum. Drahm again added the extras to leave Saints 20 - 9 up. A late Wilkinson penalty brought half-time at 20 - 12.

Of course, Saints are notoriously poor at defending leads, as well as being sure fire to let in early points after the break. In this vein, Jamie Noon ran the Northampton defence ragged for a try after only three minutes, Wilkinson's boot meaning the gap was now a point, 20 - 19.

Another worrying injury, another player stretchered off, this time Saints centre and try scorer Chris Hyndman. Paul Diggin, local lad and C Block favourite, entered the fray in his place. Billy Fulton came on to replace an excellent Ben Jones on 56 minutes, both scrum-halves performing admirably.

An uncharacteristic second missed penalty by Shane Drahm (the first being after five minutes) let Wilkinson convert one of his own on the hour mark to put the Falcons back on top at 20 - 22. Drahm's reply on 66 minutes gave the advantage back to the home team, Saints now leading 23 - 22.

That ended the scoring, but Newcastle had chances to win. A badly miscued Walder drop goal attempt on 77 minutes, and a Wilkinson penalty miss on 80, left the Saints thanking their lucky stars.

All in all, a well fought out win, Bruce Reihana, Corne Krige and Mark Soden heading the team for man of the match. At the First XV meeting afterwards, Andy Blowers gladly received the COYSDC memorial brochure, telling how he'll greatly miss the atmosphere at the Gardens. I'm sure you'll be missed greatly by the fans Andy, farewell and good luck.

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And then its back to October 2003 where Mark saw the most soul destroying of first halfs (we’ve had a few more since) but Saints proving to be real Jekyll and Hydes by pulling a five pointer out the bag.

Northampton Saints 33- Newcastle 20
By Mark H - October 19 2003

The Mamas and The Papas once said, 'the darkest hour is the one before dawn'. Well, this report may not be dedicated to the one I love, but I certainly know what they were on about, as Saints picked themselves up off the floor so that we can all have an enjoyable Monday Monday.

And all down to the Saints securing the most unlikely five points.

Ever!

With voices raised in unity prior to the kick off for England’s hard-fought victory in Perth, perhaps the most interesting aspects of the early part of the game were whether those voices would be left in the bar. It certainly seemed like it, with the supporters unable to raise the team and the team unable to provide anything for the supporters to shout about, and I wonder how much that had to do with the confident start that Newcastle made after Air Shane had kicked a long penalty within the first ninety seconds.

Either that, or Rob Andrew had got hold of the London Irish video and worked out how to play against us, because the first Falcons try was very similar to that of Paul Sackey seven days ago. Much had been made of the “inside out” defence that Smudger has been trying to get the team to play this season, and at the Prozone evening on Wednesday it was pointed out how this had failed at times last week with the players being sucked in and therefore leaving an overlap for Irish to exploit. Well, it’s back to the video again this week, because once more the defensive line was sucked in so that Brucie had to double back to chase Michael Stephenson as he headed down the touchline for the corner.

What happened next is a subject of much conjecture, and proves how two people standing next to each other can see the game differently. From where I was in Block D, it appeared that as Brucie bundled Stephenson into touch, the winger dabbed a little kick through for Jamie Noon to dive on the ball in the in goal area and score the try. An un-named Yorkshire born co-contributor standing two feet away from me saw it as Stephenson knocking on and the ball going over the line, and the referee missing it. Other reports from the Church’s Stand mention that Stephenson was already in touch by the time he knocked the ball on. Whatever. It’s one for Lardy to prove or disprove, and the try was given, so we can’t do anything about it. Personally, I’m more annoyed that he was allowed to get that far. Ben Gollings missed the conversion and Saints were down by two after ten minutes.

Another thing mentioned on Wednesday was that Newcastle had a very effective four man lineout that the players were working hard on to try and combat. Well, they did a pretty decent job of it, with Connors, Lord and Hunter all looking like they could steal ball at any time, and indeed as the game went on so they did. It was noticeable that the assertion from the Falcons’ message board that they played better with Mark Andrews than without was proving to be the case, for the big South African was the main focus of Nick Makin’s throwing in, and slowly but surely Falcons began to dominate.

Well, dominate wasn’t really the word - it was much more than that, Saints just couldn’t get the ball, and they silenced the Gardens as they looked like they could score with every move. Hugh Vyvyan, another having a fine game at the back of the big Newcastle pack, will look at the video on Monday and wonder why on earth he decided to lay the ball off from a pick up at the base of a five metre scrum when two more steps would have seen him over the line. Desperate Saints defence was stopping any further addition to the score, but it really did seem like just a matter of time before the gap was made wider.

If Newcastle had scored five tries in the first half you wouldn’t have heard any objections from me, because they were that far clear of us. The visiting forwards were having a ball, and just before the half hour the second try came from prop Marius Hurter as a maul was rolled over the line with Saints retreating at a great rate of knots. Gollings again missed the conversion, and the small knot of Falcons support in D Block was making itself heard in an otherwise shellshocked Gardens.

Something dramatic had to happen for Saints to avoid suffering a right hammering, and amazingly, just before half time, that something happened. Spurning the chance for three points from a penalty, Shane kicked for the corner. From the lineout, Saints won a scrum, Howard fed Drahm, Drahm returned the favour, and Howard went over in the corner. Shane missed the conversion, but somehow, at half time, Saints were only two points down. Hard to fathom, and incredibly unjust on Newcastle, as I pointed out in a text message up north. Saints hadn’t lost at home to Newcastle since 1998, and at five to five on Saturday I just couldn’t see any way that they were going to lose. The most Saints could surely hope for from this was a bonus point, and even then it was difficult to see that coming.

It was the most important half time talk of the season, and its effects would be immediate. Two minutes in, and straight after letting a ball from a ruck go through his legs whilst moaning at the referee, Johnny Howard was replaced by Sharky Robinson. It was the right decision, because Howard had been a cross between Kyran Bracken and Matt Dawson all afternoon, passing like Bracken (and that’s not meant as a compliment), and talking to the ref like Daws. Daws can do this, as it doesn’t inherently affect his game, Johnny can’t because it does at the moment.

Right away, the ball distribution improved, and the penalties started to come from the small amount of pressure that Saints were managing to have. The first from Shine put us in front (my main question at this point was “How???????”), and the second stretched it out to 14-10. In addition, John Clarke almost went over for a try before being forced out in the corner. Grant came on for Mark Connors, but of possibly bigger impact on the game were the names coming off the Falcons bench - Dave Walder on for Shaw, Epi Taione on for Dunbar, Tom May on for Gollings - all game breakers in their own right, and with the lead looking slender at best, it would prove to be a very interesting last fifteen minutes.

I don’t think any of us could have believed how interesting after the (to be frank) comparative dross served up beforehand. The Saintly pack had started performing, and lineout ball was starting to be won off the Newcastle throw, and ironically, it was the Saints’ own game breaker who started the tide turning. With the pack hammering away at the line, and advantage being played, Sharky fed the ball out to Shine who danced through the Falcons line and under the posts, to secure an easy conversion for himself.

It did appear, momentarily, as if the Newcastle heads dropped. It didn’t appear to affect their game that much, as once again they pressed hard to try and get back in the game. Stephenson and Taione were both forced out in the corner with some desperate defence, and Taione himself wasted a 6 on 1 overlap when he didn’t make a pass when his backs were literally queuing up to score. Dave Walder added a straightforward penalty, but we’re Saints fans, and having seen it done so many times ourselves, we know that chances like that can’t be wasted and just have to be capitalised on, so when Bealer crossed in the corner to make it a third try and 28-13, the match was virtually won. Bealer was having one of those games when you can see why he is so highly respected, and one clearance in particular, inside his own 22 from a position tight on the touchline to within the Newcastle 22, summed up both the man and the turnaround in fortunes.

I commented to no-one in particular that even whilst I was astonished, it would be nice if we could get a bonus point from this, and was told not to be greedy. Greed is good. Matt Miles, on for the impressive Richmond, broke out of the Saints 22 before laying off to Drahm, and suddenly there was clear space. A perfectly timed pass left Bealer to run 60 metres, and with Walder in hot pursuit, and Stephenson coming off the opposite wing like a train, Nicky Boy had two options - sprint for the line or have the collision put him into the back of D Block. Thankfully, he took the former option, and got the bonus point. Shine missed the conversion from the touchline, but a surprising (albeit very welcome) five points were in the bag. With the last move of the game, Hugh Vyvyan went over and around the back of the posts after repeated penalties for offside against Saints whilst on their own line, but Walder’s conversion was never going to be worth the points needed to get them anything from the game, and a 33-20 success was the prize for the gold, black and green.

So what have we learnt? Well, the fussiness of referee Geraint Ashton-Jones that was mentioned before the game came out to prove itself in the extreme, and although any mistakes he made were honest and evenly spread amongst both sides, it can’t be good for the game to have such a bitty game with seemingly every Saints lineout having to be retaken because he was trying to separate the lines that extra ten centimetres, or resetting every other scrum three or four times because both sides were trying to take an early advantage.

Secondly, has there ever been a more soul-destroying first half from a Saints point of view than that we saw on Saturday? This is allegedly a championship chasing side, yet somehow despite not really performing, we are in a group of three clubs on 18 points as I write this, and could be second by five o’clock next Saturday. The league this season is obviously struggling in the face of the World Cup, so questions have to be asked about whether or not it is a better competition. It is said that good teams make their own luck; is this a case of lucky teams making good?

Finally, certain players were exposed somewhat today and although they may be one week blips, questions may have to be asked before next week, and what still remains the ultimate test - Leicester at Welford Road. I’ve already mentioned about Johnny Howard, and would expect Sharky to start next week for no other reason than it’s his turn. The front row is still a problem; when an Academy player in John Golding makes his debut rather than an England international (again, albeit one who is still learning the game at the top level) who didn’t make the bench, it provides further evidence that we will get seriously exposed one of these Saturdays. John Clarke looked under more pressure today than he has done in previous weeks, and I would be tempted to start with a bit more experience next week. For the first time in years, we will probably go over the border as favourites; it would be nice to live up to that billing.