Sale Sharks Vs Northampton Saints match preview.
By Rob Richmond
September 8 2006
One week on from a disastrous Sunday both teams will be looking for improvement and more points than previously earned a week since. It was a poor situation that both teams found themselves in but for very different reasons.
By Rob Richmond
As Philippe Saint Andre and Kingsley Jones tried to come to terms with capitulation of their previously much vaunted pack to the ravenous tigers who had given them a bit of a spanking on Sunday evening, Grays and Budge tried to work out who could fill the boots of Clarkie, the deadly line breaker who forms an integral part of the axis of evil that is the Saints backline.
Saints flattered to deceive on Sunday; whilst they operated well upfront against surely the poorest pack the premiership has to offer (by the way, Rob Andrew selected that 1st team squad which started the season and I’d like you to remember that when the Budgies go shopping down south next month, England’s saviour? More like England’s saliva) they certainly weren’t at the races when it came to the usual standard of thrilling running rugby that Saints supporters have been spoilt with over the last year since the king was crowned….
Whilst it’s regular for Saints to get off to a slow start, we were lucky enough to come away with the win and the much needed points. And if you cannot be good the least you can be is lucky. Yes, Saints know all about a jittery, jerky, spluttering start to the season as those who were brave enough to head to Pooh corner for the opening game of last season will testify. Now our friends in the north know equally well that pulling on the big cats tail and then doing a runner whilst hoping for the best is as good an idea as trying to hold your much needed urination whilst trying to exchange phone numbers with Scarlet Johansson without pee-pee seeping down your trouser leg. (That actually happened to me once, no really, ok, ok it wasn’t Scarlet… It was Angelina Jolie)
So what do we know about Sharks that have been injured or hurt? Well, after some research I found out the following…
Sharks don’t like:
People called, Preacher, Blake, Quint, Hooper or Brody, especially Brody. They are also not fond of Michael Caine or Samuel L. Jackson.
Being stabbed in the eye with a crucifix,
Being blown to smithereens by a gas cooker,
Being electrocuted whilst your prey is safely grounded in a rubber dinghy or a desk,
Being shot in the fin with a harpoon gun which has been wired to a car battery, which has somehow miraculously found itself on an aquatic research station,
Being shot in the mouth whilst chewing on a deep sea diver’s gas tank,
Having a grenade’s pin pulled out from a gentleman’s arm which you’re currently chewing on, again leading to the shark being blown to smithereens. (Nor are they fond of being penned into a man made lagoon whilst they search for their young)
And finally, they are not fond of being impaled on a boats front mast and then for no reason exploding and roaring like a dinosaur as they descend into the murky depths.
Now, I freely admit that this is of no help whatsoever. But it gave me an excuse to watch Jaws and that’s absolutely fine in my book.
Anyway, enough silly-ness…
What did we learn about
They don’t like it up em! Stand up to them in the scrum and at the breakdown and you will get results, however, you still have to put your opportunities away, not even tigers could keep the ball away from them for 80 minutes.
It’s important to protect the ball at the break down and I’d expect Sale to use similar tactics to the Budgies who tried to attack Los and Quins with powerful runners from their back row with some good effect, and I think we all know that Sale’s backrowers are far more powerful than the budgies backrow…
Mind you as good a player the mighty Seabass is with the ball, you have to ask question of his ability to keep his head when without it. Often times his penalty count would make foxy squirm. But obviously he offer the sharks more than just ball carrying and shirt sales right? Pester him and you’ll likely get results, a job for the Toopmeister I reckon….
A lot of the time games against
While many have described Andy Sheridan as the greatest thing since sliced bread closer examination tells a different story. He’s a terrific ball carrier and is first class in his supporting role in the lineout, but his scrimmaging still leaves a great deal to be desired as his personal demolition via the grubby mitts of Julian White showed in the closing ten minutes of Sundays titanic battle showed.
On Boxing Day last season Pat Barnard showed in just 4 minutes on the pitch that he had him on toast and when Barnard was cynically injured moments later Chickenbro showed himself to be a difficult adversary for Sheri to handle as he struggled to cope with the Saints nuggetty front row for most of the afternoon. Should
We can expect one of Wally’s old adversaries to give him some grief. Whilst Sebastian Bruno’s throwing has often been as maligned as Wally’s, one area where Bruno has caused all manner of problems has been in the scrum. Bruno is a ferocious scrummager who has left a trail of devastation in his wake throughout the Premiership and has often gotten the better of Wally, Danny and Dylan too.
There’s an interesting battle in the centre this weekend too as Bruce is selected to fill the boots of Clarkie. Now, some may see this as an incredibly conservative move from Grayse, personally I feel it’s a massive show of respect to the ever improving Chris Mayor and the new Sale recruit Chris Bell from Leeds Tykes. Bell had his choice of clubs throughout the premiership but decided to take himself to the top club in the country in an attempt to improve his international chances (Don’t hold your breath, Chris, Wilko is nailed on for the 12 shirt…).
The back row battle too is deliciously poised. With foxy finding some excellent early season form and the evil Samoan enforcer Toops looking to get the better of Lobbe Jr. and Lund on the floor and Dan Browne returning to the Saint’s lineup looking to keep the Seabass quiet. (Not an easy task even if Seabass isn’t fully fit)
Last week Tigers showed everyone how to beat the Sharks, the question this week will be do the Saint’s have the skills, bravery and determination to go along with Tiger’s game plan?
For me its one of the toughest places to go in the Premiership. Last season’s games shouldn’t really be taken into account, in my opinion. The Boxing Day game the Saints were massively under strength, whilst the final game of the season was played under the most relaxed settings imaginable. ( for the uninformed, Saints, having already qualified for the Euro cup the week before thanks to the ‘ten minutes from heaven’, were given the week off from training and told to ‘show up Saturday and enjoy themselves’. To be fair I think both teams did.)
I doubt
The teams…
15. Jason Robinson
14. Mark Cueto
13. Chris Mayor
12. Chris Bell
11.Oriol Ripol
10. Charlie Hodgson
9. Richard Wigglesworth
1. Andrew Sheridan
2. Sebastian Bruno
3. Ben Evans
4. Chris Jones
5. Jason White
6. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe
7. Magnus Lund
8. Sebastian Chabal
Replacements
16. Lionel Faure
17. Barry Stewart
18. Pierre Gaona
19. David Tait
20. Chris Day
21. Ben Foden
22. Mark Taylor
And the Saints…
15 Kyddo
14 Monty
13 BRUCE! (skipper)
12 Quins
11 Air Ben
10 King Carlos
9 Sharky
1 Wee Tam
2 Air Wal
3 Paddy Barnard
4 Damo
5 Duracell
6 Toops
7 Foxy
8 Medium sized Dan Browne
16 Cowhead
17 Chickenbro
18 Lordy
19 Easters
20 Bluey
21 Vassy
22 Luke Myring (who needs a nickname, cool hand? Honestly who came up with that? )
Saints may sneak it, but that’s my heart talking….