Saints V Irish - My MoTM story!
By Saint Tim
December 14 2010
Well this all seems so long ago – two weeks in fact, the delay being due to the postponed game at Leeds. It all seems so long ago for me as well as at the time I was 5,500 miles away and able to wander around at night in shirts sleeves. The wandering was to change viewing venues between the first and second halves. That’s right 5,500 miles away and I could still watch the game. That is the advantage of being in a rugby mad country like South Africa.
Who was your Man of the Match as Saints routed the Irish?
I watched the game with a couple of American colleagues both of whom had played the game and so did not need every referee interpretation explained to the best of my poor ability. The game kicked off and almost immediately Saints were on the back foot. Irish attacked in waves and then all of a sudden they took the opportunity of a drop goal. We looked at each other very quizzically! When it happened a second time I turned and said that it showed a complete lack of ambition. Fortunately the Saints boys took the second drop goal as the sign to start playing – and boy did they start.
I had been waxing lyrical before the game about the power of the forwards and suddenly my colleagues started to see why. The power and precision of the Saints game for the rest of the first half was just magical. Three tries scored with none in return was a fair outcome. Indeed by half time the game was really over as a contest. We thus moved from the relative quiet of the hotel bar to a much livelier venue for the second half.
The second half started much the same as the first half and I was punching the air and shouting when Digger was released from the base of the scrum to get over for the bonus point try. This I must admit drew some strange looks from the others in the bar who were not watching the one screen on which the game was being shown. They seemed to be much more interested in chatting up those of the other sex and getting blasted. Binge drinking is very much alive and well in South Africa.
I must now admit that after the bonus point was secured I did not manage to give the game my full 100% attention. I think it was something to do with the celebratory shooters that came round. I therefore missed the substitutions that meant we lost shape and allowed Irish to sneak in a couple of tries which made the score much more respectable for them than it should have been.
Now there has obviously been a big week for the club with the announcement that Euan Murray has left the club with immediate effect. Euan was the sole representative of the Saints on the last Lion tour. He is a man of honour. He joined the club in the immediate aftermath of our relegation to National Division 1. I am sure that if he had wanted to he could have found a way out of that contract and stayed playing in the top flight – but he didn’t. We owe Euan a huge debt of gratitude for the part he has played in our renaissance as a club. He is also a man of God and decided that he could no longer reconcile his soul with playing on a Sunday. Now that is his personal choice and in the not so recent past would have had little effect on his rugby career. Now with the various demands of the television contracts the number of games played on a Sunday has increased out of all recognition. This couple with the emergence of Brian Mujati has meant that Euan has only had one start for the Saints all season. I, and I am sure all Saints supporters, wish Euan the very best for the future in whatever he plans to do. I just hope he does not come back to haunt us.
So, who caught the eye?
Firstly my huge thanks to the record 158 people who voted. I know the second week for voting did help a bit but it is appreciated, at least by me.
This week there were also a record number of players getting over 10% of the votes showing just how much of a team effort this was. In fifth place with just under 11% of votes was Roger, Mr dependable, Wilson. Roger cleans up so much ball and gets over the gain line on almost every carry. He is the best No.8 we have had since Pat Lam.
In Joint third place with just over 11% of the vote were Soane Tonga’uiha and Brett Sharman. These two were the corner stone of the tight 5 and if Brian Mujati had not had to be subbed before half time and so miss out I believe he would also have made an appearance. So dominant was out scrum after that first few minutes. It is great to have heard that Brett and Brian have signed new contacts.
In second place was Christian Day making four of the forwards appearing in the top rankings. Christian has really come back from his injury with a bang. I am going to whisper this but it is becoming increasingly had to understand why England do not have a Saints second row pairing.
The winner, however, was not yet another forward. Instead in first place with just under 20% of the votes was local lad made good Paul Diggin. Paul is a squad player, but what a squad player. He is making every attempt to make that shirt his own. Bruce will really have a tussle to get it back. Paul seems to have scored on every outing this season and he again bagged a try against Irish – actually he got two. He latched onto Brett Sharman’s clever kick through although I am sure he would not like me to repeat what he was supposedly lip read as saying. The second try was a well worked move off the scrum to get the bonus point. Paul was also in the wars after trying to tackle a player with his head. It is good to know he has made such a quick recovery.
Full Result
Previous Winners
Vote History
Who wins?
As you can see despite the heroic efforts of the forwards this season the results are now quite evenly balanced between the forwards and the girls in the backs.
Leaderboard
This is Pauls second win of the season but after 13 games no one has more than two wins so it is all still to play for.
Players Used
So far this season we have used 31 different players. Three players have missed only one game and two more have only missed two games. Are these the players we need to watch for burn out? I am very worried as two could be said to be the cornerstones of our game plan. These are of course Soane Tonga’uiha and James Downey.
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“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
Tetleys Block F E143
Bridesmaids no more.
I love the stats about MOTM and am only disappointed that The Amazing Wilson doesn't win every vote - I guess he's more graft than flash, and will remain unnnoticed most of the time.
It's also interesting how little praise goes to our Centres of Excellence (as Shaggy Greenwood named them). Jon and Jim are utterly, utterly central (forgive pun) to Saints' success this season.
And, as someone who is often among South Africans, let's hope Saints will show them how rugby can be sweet, sophisticated and brutal - and yet still beautiful - in Northampton...
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
Tetleys Block F E143
I now have an access data base which stores all the data - entry to it is still a bit of a problem as I am not an Access developer - but it does make getting the stats much easier. This are pulled automatically from access into a spreadsheet which does all the formatting.
I then save the images and find photos for the individuals and then write some words to go with it.
This is why it takes me a little while to find time to produce it. This is also why it is nice to know what people think so I can potentially tweak stuff going forward.
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
Tetleys Block F E143