Late There, Late Away

It was a last minute decision to go to the game Saturday, and none of the usual ground work was done regarding the travelling arrangements to the G-Tech stadium, therefore I arrived 15 minutes, late missing our opening try and a Northampton penalty, I was very disappointed with my performance, I decided to have a word with myself and give myself the wagging finger at half time.

I discovered the try was scored by the rejuvenated Fa’aso’o, who has completely changed his early performances, to the player everyone was expecting as a replacement for Albert. I previously was a critic of the lad, but it proves that in these days of salary cap reduction it will be more prudent now, if your coaches can work on making players better than buying in big names that can be an expensive gamble, that the clubs just can’t risk, I just have to learn to be more patient.

Luckily I was there to see the second try for Irish, that man Pearson, is there anything outside his skill set? He danced his way through a Saints defense like an XL Shane Williams, incredible.

When I studied the Northampton team line up on the train up, I was impressed with the strength of the starting line up, this was their chance, as ours to push for a play off place, with that in mind and some slightly favorable calls they managed to get back into the contest with a try, narrowing the lead to four points.

The Northampton winger was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock forward, and so the game dramatically slowed down, punctuated by water boys and medics.
With the first half near running out, Irish were awarded a penalty, and intelligently went for the posts instead of the corner glory, which the impeccable Paddy Jackson potted, to give the hosts a 17-10 lead at HT.

I did not see any half time entertainment as the queue for the Men’s was long, as was the queue for my first beer of the day, I’m not complaining though, it’s good to see a virtually sold out ground, with an atmosphere that you could slice with a knife and dip in your curry, to cool it down.

My seat with the my ex-easty beasty reading massive, there were a couple of Northampton fans sat behind me, they were very pleasant and informative when we spoke about their club, they liked our style but fancied their chances in the second half, I must say I agreed to a certain extent, but thought they might struggle as the three enforced substitutions Northampton made in the first half (one a front rower) plus the scrum dominance Irish had, had in the first half (against Northampton, this is a new concept to me), could sway it our way.

The first score of the second half, came from a rare Creevy overthrow that Northampton tidied up and flung out wide to the opposite side from the line-out, the ball got dislodged via a crunching tackle from Fa’aso’o, the very impressive Loader pounced on the loose ball, sprinting to the line leaving the cover defense in his wake.

Northampton were back to 15 and the game sped up funnily enough, Freeman the yellow cardee, managed to peg one back for the away team, but then the game was seriously put out of Northampton’s reach, as Irish introduced from the bench, some forwards you could argue made there pack even more abrasive than the starters, it was all too much and even though chances were fluffed by Irish, it was clear to see when Munga scored his try that Irish were in charge.
Northampton did manage a 3rd Try but got nothing from the game in the end.

It must be mentioned that Paddy Jackson played with the intelligence he had shown when at Ulster, running the game with his distribution and kicking, this was all topped off with a stunning drop goal, maybe the first seen at the stadium.

Now, I don’t like to point fingers on such a good occasion but, the attention Arundell got when shown on the big screen and on his subsequent introduction to the game may cause his feet to leave the ground, don’t get me wrong he is a serious talent, but he is not yet the Messiah. The sloppy finish when crossing the line unopposed could have had consequences in the game, if not for the forward pack dominance, he will get back to his best, he has to get his feet back on the deck first, we don’t want a Cipriani on our hands, I very much doubt this will be the case.

Powell on the other hand, who was a last minute recruit, has started in a similar vein to Fa’aso’o, yes he dropped a pass to score and was slightly hesitant at first, but I think he his distribution is getting better, his reaction to a line out win against the throw with a 50/22 was hopefully a turning point.

I had to race away after the game but need not had bothered, because the No65 bus I was supposed to be boarding, was at the time crossing Kew Bridge passing too close to a Black Hole, this obviously caused the time at the bus stop to pass quickly compared to the short distance the bus travelled making it 45minutes late, and all I could think of was being forth in the table at the business end of the season.