Observers Reflections Part Two

By The observer
July 22 2003

Our anonymous scribe "The Observer" returns to reflect on Saints fortunes so far in 2003 and points out that they were only halted in each competition by the eventual winners. Finally as all good Saints everywhere should...he's already excited about next season. Many thanks Observer...COYS!

January

The new year started for Saints with a visit by London Irish, and this is one of the few games Wayne Smith felt they should have won but didn't.
Jimmies got off to a bad start when Michael Horak went over for a try right at the start. Saints came back with a try of their own through Steve Thompson to tie the scores at 7-7, but three penalties by Barry Everitt saw the teams go into half-time with Irish ahead 16-9. Saints' play did not improve in the second half, and another brace of penalties by Everitt, answered by a single effort from Grayson saw the exiles head home as 22-10 winners.

The disappointment of defeat was alleviated somewhat a couple of days later when Andy Blowers and John Leslie extended their contracts at the Gardens, to put everyone in a better mood for the visit of Biarritz Olympique for the next instalment of the Heineken Cup rollercoaster. It was a nailbiting game, with Saints needing a try and victory to have a realistic chance of progressing to the quarter finals.Biarritz started well with a couple of penalty goals through Dimitri Yachvili, while Paul Grayson had a rare off day with the boot.Steve Thompson went over for a try on 33 minutes, however, and Grayson kicked the conversion to give Saints a 7-6 lead. Biarritz came back with a beautifully worked try, and a further penalty from Yachvili in the second half stretched the French champions' lead to seven points. Grayson missed another couple of penalty goal attempts, so Dawson took over kicking duties, and took the score to 10-14 at his first attempt. The break came for Saints with a couple of minutes of normal time left, when Julien Peyrelongue was sin-binned for failing to roll away from the tackle. Replacement centre Peter Jorgensen broke through two defenders to stretch over the line and score what was becoming a trademark last-minute try. Dawson's conversion gave Saints a win by three points and put them in a strong position in their pool.

Later in the week Matt Stewart became the latest member of the parents club at Saints when his wife delivered the couple's first child, a daughter called Hannah. Stewart was given time off, meaning he would miss the Friday night clash against Ulster in Belfast. The permutations were complicated, but Saints new that staying within sight of the Ulstermen would mean a quarter final place.

Saints did enough, mainly thanks to a Ben Cohen try shortly after the break, and probably could have won the game, had referee Joel Dume not seen fit to sin bin three Saints players in the second half. Jimmies were ahead for much of the tie, but two late kicks by the Irishmen earned them the win. Down in France the next day Biarritz knew they needed a hatful of tries against Cardiff to stand a chance fo going through to the quarter finals, a task they managed, and Saints went through as pool winners while Biarritz qualified as one of the best runners up.

There was more cup action for Saints the following weekend with a Powergen quarter final at Bath. Jimmies took 18 coachloads of fans to the Rec, and they saw yet another late try by Peter Jorgensen seal victory for the visitors.Saints had a slow start, and swiftly found themselves on the wrong end of a 16-3 score just 10 minutes into the tie. A try by Ben Cohen, in his 150th game for Saints, on 23 minutes narrowed the gap to six, and a second - thanks to a crossfield kick from Grayson straight into the hands of the England winger - gave Saints the lead by a solitary point. Prop David Barnes went over to put Bath back in front, Barkley converting to put the home side six points ahead once more. Another penalty by Grayson saw the fly half take his tally for Saints to 500 points, and the gap was back to three. The sides swapped penalty goals before Barkley hit another to put the lead back to six points, and Bath fans were beginning to think the game was theirs. Saints set up a ferocious assault on the home team's line however, and came close several times before Jorgensen touched down and Grayson kicked the conversion to earn Saints a semi-final appointment with London Irish at Oxford's Kassam Stadium.

January ended with a note of controversy as Budge Pountney quit international rugby, and heavily criticised the Scotland set-up in the process.

FEBRUARY

It was back to the premiership for Saints at the beginning of February, and a visit to London Wasps' new home at Wycombe Wanderers' Adams Park ground. Both sides started cautiously, with the emphasis on defence, perhaps as a result of the sides occupying fifth and sixth places in the league and not wanting to slide down the table. Wasps' spherical hooker Trevor Leota created the breakthrough with a try from a rolling maul, but Saints stayed in touch through a couple of Grayson penalties to change ends 10-6 down. There were no more tries in the game, and Wasps scored two penalties to Saints' one in the second half to end up 16-9 winners.

Tries by Ben Cohen, Matt Dawson, Tom Smith and Grant Seely earned Saints a try-scoring bonus point at Franklin's Gardens the following weekend as Saracens were beaten 34-25. The match was marred, however, when Kevin Sorrell was stretchered off to hospital after a collision with Andy Blowers. It would be several months before Sorrell would be fit to play again.
A bonus game followed the bonus point, as a Saints XV took on the 'peerless' Cats of South Africa, led by the legendary Bobby Skinstad. The Cats ended up looking more like kittens as the Saints (effectively a Wanderers side) trounced the visitors from the southern hemisphere by 33-8. Saints clocked up five tries in the game to boost their confidence before a three-week lay-off as the new-format Six Nations got underway.
There was further good news from the club a week later, as Northampton Saints plc announced a net profit of £18,000 for the first six months of the financial year, compared to a £250,000 loss for the same period of the previous year.

MARCH

Saints' next game was a big one - the Powergen Cup semi-final and a chance to avenge the humiliating defeat London Irish had handed them in the final of the same competition a little less than a year earlier. We'll have to wait for Matt Dawson's memoirs to find out exactly what the mental preparation work was like for this game, but whatever it was, it worked very well.
It was the Exiles' turn this time to be on the wrong end of a drubbing, and they left Oxford's Kassam Stadium with heads down after a 38-9 defeat after a game which they never really looked like standing a chance of winning.
Saints simply outclassed the opposition, and it was former exile Steve Williams who got Jimmies' first try. A couple of Barry Everitt penalties kept Irish in contention, at least on the scoresheet, until about 30 minutes in to the first half, but a quick tap penalty by Dawson set Pountney free to put Saints on 14 points. Everitt kicked another penalty just before half time, but try as they might Irish had hardly managed to break into Saints' half of the field, let alone the 22.

Saints clocked up another 24 points in the second half while denying Irish a score. Mark Connors and Peter Jorgensen added tries before Darren Fox scored his debut try in a Saints shirt.

With a cup final place at Twickenham secured, the news kept getting better as the club announced the signing of French prop Renaud Peillard from Perpignan on a two-year deal to start in the summer, while Nick Beal and Darren Fox signed one and two-year contract extensions, respectively.


Another visit to Bath was Saints' next appointment in the Premiership, and following the close call in the Powergen quarter final the visitors were in no mood to take chances.Saints started well with three penalties from Grayson, before they temporarily lost captain Budge Pountney to yet another break to his nose. Connors was off shortly afterwards, along with Bath lock Danny Grewcock after a repeat of their spat back in January. This time, however, Grewcock ripped up Connors' scrum cap in a fit of pique. Connors later appealed against the yellow card, an appeal he won. A pair of tries by Jorgensen, both converted by Grayson and another couple of penalties gave Saints a comfortable 27-10 win.

APRIL

A couple of comfortable and convincing victories were followed by a couple of weeks off before Saints headed to Twickenham for their fourth domestic cup final in little more than 10 years. The end result was one familiar to Saints fans - a fourth defeat.

Saints matched their opponents in the first half and actually turned around in the lead, but they failed to turn up for the second half and Gloucester romped away with the title and the silverware, winning 40-22. To add insult to injury, it was clear from the video that one of Gloucester's two second-half tries should not have been allowed as James Forrester failed to touch the ball down. Gloucester were clearly the better side on the day, however, and fully deserved the win. It will have to be fifth time lucky for the Saints.

After the pain of defeat at Twickenham it was another trip to south west France the next weekend for the Heineken Cup quarter final in Toulouse. Some 32,000 fans filled the city's football stadium (rebuilt after being practically destroyed by an explosion at a nearby chemical plant in 2001) a good few of them wearing green, black and gold. Beautiful sunshine, cold beer, an enthusiastic and friendly crowd, even the coppers were welcoming. What more could you ask? A win? Nah, why break the habit of a lifetime? A second half try by Jon Sleightholme briefly resurrected the hopes of the Saints faithful, but it was just a cruel illusion as Jimmies were beaten by the better side - although Toulouse were far from being at their best. The French showed brief glimpses of brilliance with scintillating back play, but for the neutrals this game was hardly the stuff of legends. Toulouse ended up 32-16 winners and would, of course, go on to win the cup.

After two heavy defeats in two important cup games in two weeks, Saints hardly had time to draw breath before facing Bristol Shoguns on Wednesday evening. The West Country outfit would eventually be relegated, but were game enough and probably a little unfortunate to come up against a weary but miffed Saints side.Tries for Ripol, Tucker, Reihana, Sleightolme and two by Fox contributed to the rout, which was topped of by five conversions and two penalties by Bruce Reihana. Bristol went home wondering about the future after their 43-23 drubbing.

The following Sunday saw Saints on the road again, this time heading north to Newcastle, and the second of two games they really should have won, but failed. The visitors had established a stranglehold on the game in the first half and the let their collective foot off Falcons throat to let them back into the game. Saints returned to the dressing room 20-12 ahead at half time, and should have buried Newcastle, but the Falcons came back thanks to Wilkinson's entirely predictable brilliance with the boot and a try by Vyvyan, and the home side snatched victory 22-20.

The defeat in the Northeast put Saints at risk of having to win the new wildcard competition to qualify for the Heineken Cup 2003/4, and knew they would have to pull out all the stops to earn automatic promotion.

First up were the Sale Sharks, ahead of Saints in the league and with a dangerous set of backs - hardly the easiest of opponents when you're chasing a win. It was a close-fought first half, but excellent tries from skipper John Leslie and wing Ben Cohen gave Saints a 14-0 lead at half time.

It was eight minutes into the second half before Baxendell put Sale's first points on the board through a penalty, and the gap was narrowed further when Andy Titterell was awarded a try despite taking the ball from an obvious forward pass.Reihana kicked a penalty for Saints and another try by Leslie restored the cushion. Sale were determined to make a go of it, however, and centre Graeme Bond scored another try which, when converted by Baxendell brought the gap back to seven points. A further penalty for Saints, this time scored by Matt Dawson, denied Sale a bonus point - a point which would have made all the difference at the end of the season.

Saints' push towards the finish line took a blow a couple of days later when it was announced that Tom Smith (broken toe) and Jon Phillips (fractured rib) would be out for the rest of the season.

MAY

With just two more games to play, Saints needed all the points they could get, and the first opportunity came at the Stoop the following Friday evening. The inconvenient kick off time didn't stop a good number of away fans turning up (especially those who work in London). A penalty try apiece added a note of controversy to the game, but Saints looked like winners virtually from the start, keeping the bulk of possession in a dull first half, albeit mostly in their own territory. The 38th minute saw Saints attacking the Quins' tryline, however, and a deliberate knock on by Nathan Williams resulted in a penalty try for the visitors. Young prop Brett Sturgess got Saints' second try early in the second half, taking the score to 17-6, and Saints never really looked back. A further try by Nick Beal on the 66th minute was answered by a second penalty try from Mr Goodliffe, this time awarded to Quins, which saw the London side needing three points for a losing bonus point, which were duly secured by a dropped goal by Burke in the fourth minute of injury time. Saints were not finished yet, though, and Mark Tucker went over for another try, enough for a winning bonus point.

And so to the last weekend of the season, and Saints had everything to play for. If they could beat Leeds at the Gardens, and if Sale failed to secure any points at Vicarage Road, Northampton would clinch third place in the league. No-one really expected things to pan out like that, but tries by Jorgensen (in his last home game at Saints), Thompson and Ripol, two penalties by Reihana, a dropped goal by Grayson and conversions by Reihana and Jorgensen (!) secured Saints' end of the deal as they overcame the surprise package of the season, Leeds Tykes. When the news came in that Buck Shelford's Saracens had beaten Sale and denied them a bonus point, the crowd knew the season had just been extended, Saints finishing third and facing a play-off match against Wasps to decide who would meet Gloucester in the Championship Final.

In the end, the trip to Adams Park was a game too far for Saints, and an error-strewn match ended 19-10 to the 'London' side. The gap could have been so much greater, but Wasps' handling was dire in the first half, which they otherwise dominated.

Saints were by no means a pushover, but it looked like they had all expected to be lying on a beach somewhere at this stage in the year, rather than playing more rugby. Wasps, of course, went on to win at Twickenham, so in each of the three competitions for which silverware was on offer Saints were knocked out by the eventual winners, having made a final, semi-final and quarter final.
Third place in the league, a third seeding in next year's Heineken Cup and the first club to secure a league win at Welford Road made for a memorable, and relatively successful season for Saints. Often labelled as perennial underachievers, Saints are knocking on the door of greatness, and with the recent news of signings fans can look forward to perhaps their most successful season in their illustrious (but virtually trophy-less) history.

My personal high points certainly include the evening after the game in Biarritz, when my small group were interrupted at dinner by Wayne Smith who thanked us personally for making the trip and apologising for the result; the day after the game in Belfast in the Crown Liquor Saloon; swapping shirts in Toulouse; chatting to the two Biarritz fans at the gardens, and more or less making up for the Powergen defeat by beating Irish at Oxford.