The Italian Job 2 - Saints vs Parma - Preview

They currently sit second in pool six, five points behind Biarritz. The odds are that the two sides will take five points from each of their next two European games, leaving the final match of the group stage deciding who tops the pool, with Saints needing to win with four tries and at the same time stopping the visitors picking up a bonus point. This would tie the group, with points difference over the two Saints/BOPB fixtures deciding matters.

It is most likely, however, that Saints’ best chance of a quarter-final place will come via the two runners-up places available. All six teams currently occupying second place in the pools have three wins, Saints and Castre with 10 points and all the others with nine. Perpignan, in third place in pool one behind Castres, also have three wins and nine points. The deciding factor between the six runners-up will be match points followed by tries.

So Saints go into their home game against Overmach Parma, and what remains of the group stage, needing match points and tries. The cliché has it that there is no such thing as an easy game of rugby at this level, but if there was, this would be it. This is a vital opportunity for Saints to put themselves in pole position for on of those runners-up places, so hopefully the game plan will be to score early and score often.

Team selection, especially in the backs, has been very easy for Paul Grayson this week – just about everyone who is fit starts, with the exception of Johnny Howard, who will cut a lonely figure as the sole representative of the ‘girls’ on the bench. Looking at Saints’ injury record over this season, it would be a brave man who would bet against his making an appearance.

The fat boys are a different story, however, with all three rows showing changes from the visit to Italy. Soane Tonga’uiha comes in in place of veteran prop Tom Smith, who gets a well-earned rest. Christian Short joins Matt Lord in the second row, while Sam Harding and Paul Tupai line up either side of Daniel Browne.

Northampton Saints

15 Paul Diggin
14 SEAN LAMONT
13 CARLOS SPENCER
12 Robbie Kydd
11 Chris Wyles
10 Ian Vass
9 MARK ROBINSON
1 SOANE TONGA’UIHA
2 STEVE THOMPSON
3 Pat Barnard
4 Matt Lord (capt)
5 Christian Short
6 PAUL TUPAI
7 SAM HARDING
8 Daniel Browne

16 Dylan Hartley
17 TOM SMITH
18 Damien Browne/DAVID GERARD
19 Mark Easter
20 Ben Lewitt
21 Darren Fox
22 Johnny Howard

This appears to be a side capable of playing an expansive game, especially with the selection of Harding in the back row, although the weather forecast predicts a blustery afternoon with plenty of rain.

We saw (or in my case heard) that the use of Carlos Spencer at outside centre, with Ian Vass at stand-off, gave Saints plenty of options, and Paul Diggin had a good game in the unfamiliar fly-half role. I was half expecting to see Ben Cohen return for this game, but the shoulder injury he picked up on England duty is obviously still causing problems. Personally, I am delighted to see that Matt Lord has not only kept his place, but has also been given the captaincy.

We all know that this little batch of three games, starting with the Leicester match a fortnight ago, are not going to give us any idea of how Saints will perform in the next set of Premiership matches. However, they will hopefully have restored some much-needed confidence in the squad, and will give us a bit of a boost before the Wasps match next Friday.

The only major concern is that we will see Saints take their foot of the gas before the job is completely done, either by losing concentration as the points rack up, or because of the now-traditional mass replacements in the closing stages. We must hope that Grayse and the other coaches have impressed upon the squad that this weekend, as far as tries are concerned, there is no such thing as “enough”, and at the other end of the pitch they can keep their heads and achieve Grayson’s achievement of a ‘shut-out’.