Oh when the Saints....... go sulking home

23 points for Jacko
By Graeme D
December 28 2006

The last time I wrote a match report was for the home match against Gloucester last year. That day I didn’t know where to start my report. Those who were that day will remember how bad we were and when I say bad, we were really bad.

This time I do not have a problem. What I saw last night (ten months later) was a team playing with confidence, leadership all over the field, leadership off the field, a desire to win, good discipline (at least second half) and total commitment from the players.

We now have a squad of players that want to win, are fighting for places in the team and I believe capable of winning the premiership (OK I have written this before Leics away on New years day) but we will have the likes of Richard Hill, Andy Farrell, Tomo Castaignde and Kevin Yates all returning to the team for that match.

On to the game.

First Half - Our one weakness exposed in the first 20 seconds. Ches jumps high for the ball lifted by three players – superb height only problem it was about four yards from where the ball landed!!! The result - us under pressure early on and a penalty to them in the perfect place for Carlos to get in to the grove.

However that was the tonic we needed to get going and within a couple of minutes Jacko kicked a huge up and under, we retrieved the ball, had a ruck under the posts quick hands out to the new outside centre – (Nick Lloyd) who got held up on the line only for the ball to pop out on their side for them to clear their lines. This pressure was only relieved momentarily with us winning the lineout, Adam Powell making a break, tackled, Saints over the top giving Jacko his first three points of the evening. It was at about this point I noticed Howard and Gustard practising the new scrum rules of touching before connecting – well at least that’s what they told the ref.

What followed for the rest of the first half was quite a lot of Ping Pong rugby, with Saints prepared to play the waiting game kicking long and relying on the boot of Carlos to keep their score ticking over. Sarries however tried hard and produced some excellent passing through the backs and threatened Saints line on a number of occasions. The closest of which was when TV was “bundled “ out in the corner. I thought you had to use your arms in the tackle nowadays ??? Sarries did however get it right in the 22nd minute when Thompson over threw his lineout for us to charge up field resulting in Kameli the flying winger leaving their backs standing and strolled in under the posts.

At this point 13-6 up we should have started to pull away but silly errors and some strange refereeing decisions (did Pearson have a clue what was going on in that front row ?) meant we ended up he half going in 16-15 up. The last couple of minutes being a comedy of errors from both sides.

Second Half

Wow – what a second half performance – we took them to pieces up front , we out kicked them, we out defended them when we needed to and showed them how a set of backs on form can play.

For the second half Saints had two sets of possession in Sarries half – the first 30 minutes in by which time the game was over and totally wasted.

We scored three tries - Glen with a show and go special under the posts. The forwards with a combined effort destroying their scrum four or five times on the trot that resulted in a penalty try being awarded and Cencus from a driving maul from a lineout.

In addition we had at least three more chances
– Gustard deciding to kick to the corner when we had a 5 on 2 over lap
– Skirvs sending a rocket pass straight to Seymour head (did the hair get in the way or did he have no chance ?
– Scabs after superb run beating three players chipped to far over the fullbacks head and the ball ran dead.

Kameli also looked good when “tackled” by Robbie Kydd – there were certainly calls for a red but like Pearson I believe it was more instinctive than deliberate and a yellow was probably right.

Some comments on Saints. Sorry but outclassed last night – where is that lean, mean and hungry Carlos spoken about at the start of the year. I think he and Steve Thompson have been at the pies. On paper the front row looked good but crumbled by mid way through the second half and then we brought on Cencus !!

Final score: Saracens 38-15 Northampton Saints

Sarries marks out of 10

Lloyd 8 Part of a very solid front row
Byrne 8 Lineout throwing back to his best
Cobus 8 Solid as a rock
Ches 8 Always in the thick of it
Simon 8 Another solid as a rock – with Cencus in front of him 40 +
Stone on that side of the scrum no wonder it wheels
Gustard 8 Lucky to get away with a bit of handbags but like always there
Seymour 7 Mixed match
Skirvs 7 Great break – poor pass
De Kock 6 Not his best match ( highest up and under of the day – zero yards forward though)
Jacko 8 Reliable as ever this year
Kameli 9 Looks dangerous whenever he gets the ball
Powell 8 Looked good – who says he can’t tackle – couple of great ones
Sorrell 8 Solid as ever – great tackles and passes
TV 8 Solid if not spectacular
Scabs 8 Best game of the year – didn’t miss anything in defence – great running lines and a couple of perfectly timed passed to set others in the clear.

Dave Pearson 6 I think the reason he doesn’t give any signals as to why he was awarding penalties is because he doesn’t know why he is !!!

Thanks to Tim (Ex Girlie Back) for use of his notes – my second half notes went to pieces – too much cheering and forgetting to write. – summed the evening up.