The rise and fall and rise of Northampton Saints

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By Broonie
June 20 2002

I was thinking back to the end of season last year and the tearful send-off at the Gardens for Pat Lam, Garry Pagel, Allan Bateman, Matt Allen and Tim Rodber. It occurred to me just how quickly our Heineken Cup winning side broke up.

That was definitely the passing of a team, even if they had a poor final season they could still pull out a performance on their day and I don't honestly think we know what our new team really consists of yet.

I think that's partly why there's such an air of fretful uncertainty at present, tinged with expectation to try & see what style we may be playing next year.

So where did that team come from, what style did they play in, whose team was it, were they really the best in Europe, will we see their like again......??

Well..…….

Whose team ?
I would say Geech's, as they played his style, which he got the players to buy into and understand over a period of years. Classically, this was to seek an opening, even a shoulder past the tackle, but then to have the support go through almost directly behind the ball carrier and try to get deep as fast as possible, trusting players to come in from wider and deeper to support the break.

Also i seem to remember Geech brought in the pair from Newcastle who finally put the finishing touch to the blend, Lammy (obviously) and Richard Metcalfe (vastly underrated ).

John Steele may have been in his honeymoon period, but credit to him for not messing up the system and for keeping the lads going right to the end of a brutal year.

Best team in Europe?
Yes, just about. The semi and final of the Heineken Cup were both against teams who had had much easier seasons, while we were on our knees. The team from Welford Road and Wasps were the two teams we had a problem with, but by then we were already running out of steam.

Weren't they a bit limited?
Absolutely. Paul Grayson was half the player he's become under Wayne Smith. Matt Allen was a classic 1980's English crash ball merchant with appalling hands. Ben Cohen was a callow lad compared to his present excellence, but my god, when they were fit they were good at what they did.

What were they good at?
Well, they were a terrifying pack. One of the best driving packs at club level seen up to that time, with a really clever running scrumhalf in Matt Dawson behind them. We had huge power from Pagel, Metcalfe and
Rodber.

Budge Pountney made the jump up to world class at the Rugby World Cup that year and was able to be rested because we had cover in Simon Holmes as well.
We could change our pack depending which row Rodber played in. Mendez and Lam were great ballplayers who could put pace on a move either with a pass or by explosive running with it.

Nobody could stop our maul legally and it was so strong people couldn't even pull it down once Pagel and Metcalfe got it moving. We could send Rodber up the middle to start it again or Lam or Dawson or Mendez could be through a gap and deep into the defence while the defenders were still on the back foot .

The close defence was absolutely paralysing, with the 2 props, Don MacKinnon and Metcalfe taking anything that came round the side and hitting it backwards, forcing sides to play across our defence at which stage they became targets for Rodber, Allen and the back row.

And if all that wasn't enough, Grayson could kick the corners and people didn't know about challenging our lineout, so over went the maul again.

So where did they go?
Surely we were hoping for the start of years of domination etc? Wasn't it a young side?
Well, not really, the old heads who directed operations were on injured shoulders, tired legs and in some cases , a huge wage packet, I suspect. Even the following year Pat Lam was shot as a player, his legs still worked, but his charges were being hit back as his upper body was gone. Tim Rodber was firing one match in three and Garry Pagel a bit the same.

Freddie Mendez was gone, so was Don MacKinnon and we missed Rich Metcalfe who we should have kept and haven't replaced for power until Olivier Brouzet hit form this year. Simon Holmes leaving meant Budge Pountney getting no rest. Matt Stewart has had to play 24/7 for 2 years until Robbie Morris emerged, which is practically unique in the Premiership, etc etc………..

Did the wage cap coming in start our problems?
That's a scary thought, as it may still be cramping our style now ?
Remember , however, there are a lot of clubs out there who are going to have to start spending on infrastructure soon to meet requirements. I prefer to think we have been hit by a departure of team leaders, players the others respect who , in the crunch, will step up a gear and take responsibility.If you think of Pagel, Lam, Rodber and Mendez, these are people who will be rallying points in hard games, and that's a lot of leadership to lose all at once.

A couple of real hard-bitten types wouldn't go amiss now, Andy Blowers to come out of his shell a bit, Budge to grow into the captaincy or become senior pro and let Grayson or Dawson do it.Though Matt Dawson must quiet off season winding down and getting his head on straight again.

On the whole I can see this all coming together, but the next time we have a really good team, we must be thinking 2,3,or 4 years ahead as well as living for the day.

Broonie