By Nick Batley
April 7 2006

Almost two years ago, Academy winger Jon Clarke returned from injury to play in an important fixture that Northampton simply had to win if they had any hope of getting through to the Zurich Premiership playoffs.

 

Splashdown at the Gardens

 

Almost two years ago, he scored possibly the Saints’ try of the season, sidestepping three of the opposition and blistering away from the halfway mark to slide over the drenched try line, sending the Saints marching on towards a victory against the league leaders, Bath. This Saturday, England ‘A’ outside centre Jon Clarke plays against that very same team, with the permutations being quite different. Bath are sitting in eleventh place, and whilst they are eleven points away from the likely relegation candidates, Leeds, they will want to do anything they can to snatch a Heineken Cup qualification. However, this cause must have been helped by their surprising win over Leicester, despite playing with thirteen men and being camped on their own line for the last ten minutes, and now they simply (yeah, simply) have to beat Biarritz to gain a place in the Cup next year. Surely beating the third placed team in the Premiership at ‘home’ is a confidence booster? Their Premiership form of late though, has been mediocre at best. Scraping wins at intervals, and losing badly when they lose. It’s hard to say whether the Brian Ashton administration is working, though he has probably saved them from the drop, which I doubt John Connolly would have done had he stayed.

 

Unlike the subject of my last preview, I like Bath. To me, it’s a very traditional club with an astoundingly successful past. Not many professional teams would want to play in a park, but Bath do. It also has a beautiful backdrop, but since we are at the Franklin’s, where the backdrop consists of the ‘Northampton Lighthouse’ and a bingo hall, I’ll move onto the players. Olly Barkley, despite his critics, and that infamous ‘kick’ in September, is a quality centre. After all, he has played for England, and you can’t be that much of a mug to do that. However, Bath’s reputation lies in their forwards. You will all know of Danny Grewcock, who a few seasons ago, decided it would be fitting to tear Mark Connors’ scrumcap in half. But despite his ‘playful’ tendencies, he is a very good lock and is one of the most capped in the current England squad. Matt Stevens (perhaps luckily for us, out injured) is one of the most efficient props in the Premiership and Lee Mears is currently fighting for a test place against the Saints’ very own Steve Thompson.

 

Northampton, on the other hand, sit sixth in the table and look in prime position to grab the sixth Heineken Cup place. Having only lost twice this calendar year, they are the ‘form’ team in England. However, one of those two games that we’ve lost was last weekend against Worcester. And whilst Mr Clancy had clearly been at the Guinness before the match, we were partly to blame for the result. We, as last year, failed to take the chances that were given to us. It seemed like we weren’t up for it, to play in this ‘UEFA Cup’ of rugby. Which is why we simply have to qualify for the Heineken Cup this year. Oh well, at least we can concentrate solely on the Guinness Premiership, where we are six points adrift of Gloucester, who slaughtered a Brive side bereft of any of the class that won them the trophy in 1997. A win would keep us in sixth place, with a bit of breathing space, whereas a loss could see us potentially drop in to the relegation fight again.

 

So what can we expect of the Saints this week? Well, if the Saints of 18^th February and 26^th March turn up, Bath won’t stand a chance, with Carlos calling all the shots and a steadily improving forward pack smashing up the opposition. If the Saints of last week turn up, where we didn’t take our chances, were thoroughly beaten in the forwards and lacked versatility in the backs, Bath will certainly have enough skill to win. In September, after we had both been beaten by our nearest and dearest, we showed up against Bath (and according to the weather, in one) and as he has done so much this season, Carlos called the shots and we won 17-9. We also have a good record against Bath at home. Those who were at the game last season will remember we ran in four tries, including THAT end-to-end try. Saints have the capabilities, but sometimes, they just lack the capacity.

 

The squads then. I’ll start with the Bath team:

 

Or I would if they had put it up by the time I’d written this preview. However, this is what it was last week, and as I don’t think there were any injuries, I’m pretty sure this is what they will field. You will notice I have crossed out the two props, since they clearly won’t finish the game with them

 

15. Michael Stephenson

14. Andrew Higgins

13. Alex Crockett

12. Olly Barkley

11. David Bory

10. Chris Malone

9. Nick Walshe

1. Taufa'ao Filise

2. Lee Mears

3. Duncan Bell

4. James Hudson

5. Danny Grewcock

6. Andy Beattie

7. Gareth Delve

8. Zak Feau'nati  

16. Pieter Dixon

17. David Flatman

18. Peter Short

19. Michael Lipman

20. Andy Williams

21. Tom Cheeseman

22. Lee Best

 

  

 

And now, the Saints team:

 

15 BRUCE REIHANA (co-capt)
14 SEAN LAMONT
13 Jon Clarke
12 DAVID QUINLAN
11 BEN COHEN
10 CARLOS SPENCER
9 MARK ROBINSON
1 TOM SMITH
2 STEVE THOMPSON (co-capt)
3 Pat Barnard
4 Damien Browne
5 Matt Lord
6 PAUL TUPAI
7 SAM HARDING
8 Daniel Browne

16 Dan Richmond
17 Chris Budgen
18 DAVID GERARD
19 Ben Lewitt
20 Mark Easter
21 Johnny Howard
22 Robbie Kydd

 

This game sees Daniel Browne return to the fray after injury, knocking newly promoted Mark Easter back onto the bench. It is good to see that we have a full strength side, as we were slightly restricted last week due to ECC squad registration. It is also nice to see Lewitt return after a spot of sunbathing sevens in Hong Kong. The bench, to me feels slightly more solid with him included. My only worry really is that we seem to be lacking another back, once again. Whether this is injury-caused or just a tactical move by Budge and Grase, we don’t know.

 

What will the score be then? Well, the Saints will want to finish their relegation worries once and for all. But also, we want to edge closer towards Gloucester and Irish. Bath are in the same sort of dilemma. Anyone in the Premiership at the moment can still mathematically get into the Heineken Cup. But I think that God will be smiling  on the Saints (as he should be) and the men from the East Midlands should win by about 15, edging the bonus point.

 

Come On You Saints…