News: AP: Exeter Chiefs vs Northampton Saints - Preview
By Phil Hollis
March 3 2011
Northampton Saints travel to Exeter this weekend to take on the Chiefs on Sunday at Sandy Park in another vital Aviva Premiership fixture. COYSDC editor Phil Hollis looks ahead to the game...
EXETER CHIEFS vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
AP: Sunday, 6th March 2011 - 3pm
SANDY PARK
MATCH PREVIEW
"It's not the despair Saints, I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand"
You know, you would think that the average Northampton Saints supporter would be used to all this topsy-turvy malarkey by now. One minute we’re careering along like James May test-driving a Bugatti Veyron Super-Sport and the next The New Christy Minstrels are strolling over the hill singing “3 Wheels On My Wagon”! The Rollercoaster ride that is Northampton Saints has gone from the magnificent thrills of The Corkscrew to, it would seem, the vertical drop of Oblivion.
But why should this be? The obvious answer is the fact that over half of our first-choice team are either away on International duty or injured. Or having an enforced rest. But we faced similar problems during the Autumn Internationals and we weren’t too shabby then so what has changed? Of course, this topic has been discussed ad-infinitum on the ComeOnYouSaints.com message-board and I don’t think anyone has really come up with a definitive answer – perhaps it is many small things that are slightly off-kilter rather than one big beast staring us in the face. Have other teams worked us out? Are the players knackered? Are some not quite as good as we thought they were? Are the big-boys’ deputies too “green”? I could go on forever and still not get anywhere I suppose but to me the brutal fact of the matter is that, over recent weeks, the opposition has been better than us. Admittedly Saracens didn’t have to do much to play better than us three weeks ago and Gloucester had the nous to see out the win but sandwiched between those two games Bath just played us off the park. Why should it be any different this week?
Saints travel to the South West this weekend to face an Exeter Chiefs side that is ticking along quite nicely, thank you very much. Whilst they sit ninth in the Aviva Premiership table they are a full 23 points above the struggling Leeds (in 12th) and are quite rightly looking upwards rather than down. At this point in the season they have won seven of their league games (Saints have only one more in the “W” column) and have won eight of their last ten matches in all competitions at Sandy Park. Head coach Rob Baxter (in only his second season in the role) has done a fine job, moulding a straight-forward no-nonsense team that has shown that it can not only compete at this level but thrive in the competition. This lot are no mugs and they will take to the park on Sunday afternoon fully expecting to put one over Saints.
For those supporters that are making the long journey to Devon, are they now travelling more in hope than expectation? It is difficult to see where the next positive result will come from and Jim Mallinder’s options appear to be limited but the coaching team must be targeting this game to arrest the slump in form. Will we see Shane at 10? Will Courtney start? Should Courtney start?! Given the squad we have, what changes can Jim make that will make the difference and re-ignite the Green, Black and Gold flame which is currently flickering like a match struggling in the breeze? I don’t have the answers but of course that’s why I’m sat here scribbling this nonsense and not out on the back pitches drilling the players.
For a few years now I’ve had the title of this piece as my message-board tag-line or signature – “It’s not the despair, Saints, I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand”. And those couple of sentences sum up where I stand with the Saints at the moment. I’ve made myself a little down and grumpy writing this preview but then I say to myself (as I mentioned in the first line of this piece) that I should really be used to it so let’s get on with it. All this gloom and doom is nothing new, it’s just that we haven’t experienced it for a while. It will pass, the sun will come out and all will be rosy again. It might not be this week mind, but, and it’s a big BUT, come 3 o’clock on Sunday I shall be hoping once again. I can’t stand it, the hope that is, because Chiefs should go into this match as deserved favourites but the butterflies will be there, I’ll cheer on my team and perhaps, just perhaps, they will give me something to smile about.
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and yes, I agree
“It’s not the despair, Saints, I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand”.
I agree about the "many little things off kilter" thought, after all a dozen little things can often throw more of a spanner in the works than one or two big problems.
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Have always liked your tag line.
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Please sponsor me for Saints with Heart [www.justgiving.com]
But without the lows how would you appreciate the highs ? And there's always beer (or red wine in Wima's case).
I shall be there cheering the team on, win or lose.
Saint til I die
By the way, when did you stop being a "Maverick"?
Quote:ballagher
Very well written Phil. Thank you.
By the way, when did you stop being a "Maverick"?
Thank you (all) for your kind words.
I "retired" Maverick when I became an Editor of the site. I just thought it better to use my real name rather than a nickname when I took on the role. The old fighter jet does still get an occasional airing, usually when I put the wrong log-in in by mistake!
I had to look that up...
