Early Promise As We Get Back In The Old Routine

By Benjamin Dover
September 10 2003

How pleasant it was to be back amongst the familiar faces and accents of Northampton’s Rugby loving fraternity and my Saintly friends all renewed and invigorated, full of early season expectations.

There are few that I know personally or in fact speak to, but as always there are the pleasant nods of acknowledgement, which will be accompanied by the occasional comment on the afternoon’s proceedings.

Their holiday tanned faces are full of hope for the long winter months, and before a ball has been kicked we wallow in the luxury of a blank sheet of paper. We mentally fill in our own results pushing our team ever nearer to the championship, the domestic cup and who knows maybe even European glory.

For now though the summer is still definitely in charge of the proceedings and as I sit dosing the hot afternoon of late summer sunshine I can almost smell the sweet cigarette smoke and warm beer of the old Gordon Terrace.

I can’t think of many better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon in the county town. The day also affords another luxury - a friendly fixture? Against Gloucester.

So then what of the latest issue in black green and gold? Is that special magic there? Is there that championship-winning blend of grace, power, intelligence, slight of hand and down right determination. Well - maybe!

Admittedly a non-technical observer of the game I rely more on my instincts than anything else when assessing a team performance and personal judgment is even harder in the fog of a friendly as I try to track the infinite number of changes.

In the final analysis… at the end of the day… too early to tell… just looking at… got to see… comments flow not quite as passionately as usual in the after match bar room commentary.

But this I as much observed. Firstly Wayne has assembled a team more likely to reflect his own way of thinking, his own determined way of playing, a team that looks capable of executing something resembling his plans.

Secondly if we are to win anything it looks like it might be done with some class and style with the backs earning their fair share of the points, something unfamiliar to a Saints fan of old.

Third and finally this is still my good old Saints team just as I remember them, full of promise but still capable of those elaborate indiscretions that to my mind only they seem capable of.

Although in the past I have expressed a desire to see my side dispose of the opposition as easily as Michael Schumacher wins Grand Prix, I can’t help but feel that part of my affection for the Saints lies in their vague quirkiness’ to make things look far harder than they might be.

If this or any future Saints side reaches the Rugby heaven that is complete domestic domination then a little part of me will still pine for the Saints of the early 2000’s.

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