The Full; Monty X: Leeds Away

By Monty Masters
July 24 2006

Back in November, Leeds hadn't won a game all season. Saints sat 10th. Here's Monty's view of what happened next...

 

I've been trying to think of something positive to say. But I can't. I haven't felt this bad since Robbie left Take That. Anyway no time for maudlin let's get to the report.

The Leeds city motto is: "Leeds Leeds", and the Northampton Saints motto is:
"Nothing without Labour" (Latin translated for you secondary modern oiks.)

If you take those two phrases you uncover the whole problem with this afternoons match which the previously winless Leeds Tykes won 28-25. Leeds did indeed lead and Northampton made hard work of it all!

Twenty five minutes in and the Saints were coasting towards a five pointer at 6-17 after tries from King Carlos and sevens star Andrew Vilk. Two of the greatest tries ever witnessed at Headingley.

Then they realised that it was all to easy. With the good Reverend, Samuel Wathen Wigg, turning in his grave the boys in Gold, Black and Green reverted to type and parted like the red sea to allow Roland de Marigny and Andre Snyman in for tries. Hey presto 20-17 to Leeds.

That wasn't enough for the true stars though. Carlos Spencer, who clearly felt it was unfair to be on the same pitch as has beens like Justin Marshall, decided to get sent off. His audition for strictly come dancing earned him a yellow card. Ross banged over another penalty and half time was 23-17.

So there you have it. The first half was a real thriller for the treble figure crowd. Four tries, marvellous stuff. The second have should have been a cracker.

Christmas was having none of it and decided not to come early in the West Riding. Not for the first time the Saints have been involved in a ding dong first half and then in the second the ding loses interest as the dong gets performance anxiety.

The Saints camped in the Leeds 22 for about 50 minutes and all they had to show for it was a Bruce Reihana penalty almost blown of course by the ridiculous booing of both Leeds fans.

Meanwhile the Leeds team appeared to realise they were onto something. The side that play more rugby than Toulouse and are fabled to score tries with for fun were clearly playing somewhere else today. So they wandered up the pitch in one of those giant cuddles, Mauls, I think they're called and Tom Palmer scored a very easy try. Oh dear. 28-17.

In the huddle under the sticks captain Reihana looked his troops in the eye and simply said, "remember the game plan."

"Oh yeah", they said as one, "we need to score more points than them! Why didn't you mention it before?"

"Just remembered myself", Bruce replied.

A few minutes of bish, bash, bosh later and Rudd trundled Sherman like over the line, he didn't get it down but Seamus Mallon did from the next scrum. Game on. Just like the Irish match. One more try and that would have been a win with a bonus. Well it would have been but they stuffed that up too!

In the post match interview Budge stated that the Saints deserved to lose: "We lost the bit in the middle! That's what we'll concentrate on in training next week. Clearly the pre-match cocoa isn't useful."

In summary this season Northampton Saints are the most exciting team in world rugby. On their day no-one will live with them. Defenders will quake at the sight of the Saints backs. There may be the odd teething problem to iron out but the Guinness Premiership isn't won or lost in November. Keep the faith. Don't panic. It's a marathon not a sprint! Believe in the power of the pie. Let's treat victory and defeat like the impostors they are.

Q. How do you eat an elephant?

A. One mouthful at a time!