Northampton Saints v Newcastle - Zurich Preview

By Mark H
October 17 2003

Following on from that disappointing defeat to Irish last Saturday, just around the corner is another potential banana skin, when the Falcons from Newcastle fly down to FG on Saturday hoping to improve their recent record on Piggy’s patch.

It’s very easy to say each week that this is the most important match of the season so far, but in my opinion this is indeed that. Look at what we have ahead over the next few weeks - a trip up the road to the wounded Tigers; a Gloucester team looking to avenge their “injustice” at the end of last season; a resurgent Quins away; and then a trip to Bath, where we’ve already been soundly beaten already this season. A pessimist would look at it as potentially six defeats in a row if we were to lose this time out. Saints, however, continue to confuse one week and astound the next, and as such, who knows what’s round the corner.

I must admit I’ve got a soft spot for Newcastle, probably because they seem to be a northern version of Saints. Supremely talented in all areas of the pitch. A fine ground. A team looking to play the right way, with pace on the flanks and a solid pack. And, to be brutal, underachievers due to the inconsistency that sees that lose more games than they should. Sound familiar? I went up to their first game of the season at Kingston Park against Sarries, and the danger to Saints was there for all to see, as they used a big pack to roll down the field before allowing Dave Walder to control the game from fly-half. Trouble was, that was for the first thirty minutes of the second half. Much like Saints in that nightmare fifteen minute period last week, they went missing in the first half and were left with too big a gap to make up.

So which Falcons team will come down this week? Well, their results so far don’t really give us that much of an indication, with home wins over Sale (9-8) and Gloucester (42-22) being cancelled out by that home defeat to Sarries (20-25), and losses at Leicester (21-28) and Quins (11-18). No joy of the road yet then, but it is worth pointing out that the Sale game was the only game in which they haven’t picked up a bonus point, so they’ve been well in every game. They’re also not having to rely on the boot of the one they call Wilko, and so as such have that mystery element for opponents of having options to attack from any number of angles.

Saints’ pack will be up against it again this week, with Newcastle announcing the following team:-

1 Ian Peel
2 Nick Makin
3 Marius Hurter
4 Garath Archer
5 Mark Andrews (Capt)
6 Jon Dunbar
7 Warren Britz
8 Hugh Vyvyan
9 Hall Charlton
10 Phil Godman
11 Ben Gollings
12 Mark Mayerhofler
13 Jamie Noon
14 Michael Stephenson
15 Joe Shaw

Replacements:
16 Tom May
17 Dave Walder
18 James Grindal
19 Micky Ward
20 Matt Thompson
21 Phil Dowson
22 Epi Taione

Peel, Makin and Hurter are solid in the front row, and may cause problems, but for me the fascinating clash will be in the lineout between Lord and Hunter for Saints, and Mark Andrews and Garath Archer for the Falcons. Saints fans will be hoping that Andrews’ mind is in Perth with his ex-Bok team-mates, and plays despite receiving a red card at Quins last week, and in Archer he has the perfect foil. Granted, his record against Saints isn’t brilliant, as he always seems to get carded, but he’s managed to become a bit of a reformed character this season so far, and as such will be a dangerous customer. Hugh Vyvyan ably led the England A team in North America during the summer, and was unlucky to miss out on a place in the 43 man provisional squad for the World Cup.

It is in the backs, though, that Newcastle can really cut loose. Hall Charlton is in the form of his life as scrum half at the moment, and Phil Godman is ably filling in for the Oz-based Wilkinson and injured Walder. It is here that there could be a weak point to exploit though; when you are missing one player of the quality of Wilkinson or Walder, there is a hole to fill, so to miss two could create a chasm for our 8-9-10 axis to exploit.

Stephenson always seems to score against us, and will be wanting to prove something having been cut down by that magnificent Ripol tackle at Twickers. On the other wing, we know what Ben Gollings can do playing sevens, but he really does seem to have been given a new lease of life in the fifteen man game after moving up from Quins in the summer. He started the Sarries game on the wing, but after an indifferent performance from Joe Shaw, he’s played at full back in the last four games. This would appear to be his best position, because he’s got that bit more time to use what is a very sharp rugby brain and get them ticking, so it’s interesting that he has been moved back onto the wing in place of Tom May. In the centre, Jamie Noon could be considered unlucky not to be on the other side of the world, but looks to me to have a long England career in front of him, and he combines with one of the cleverest centres in the ZP in Mark Mayerhofler. Many people have pointed at the influence of Mark Andrews in keeping them up last season, but to me, Falcons appeared to need someone top take the pressure off Wilkinson and break the line, and Mayerhofler did that to good effect against us back on Easter Sunday. Hopefully he can be kept quiet this time around.

And finally, we come to Joe Shaw. An enigma at Saints who only appeared to start playing his best rugby towards the end of his time at FG, he’s gone up north…and done exactly the same. He’ll have something to prove, both to Smudger for letting him go and to Rob Andrew for placing his faith in him. It would be fair to say that the Falcons supporters are not yet convinced of his abilities, and it will be interesting to see if Saints attack his supposed weakness - kicking - and aim for good territory from which to attack.

The bench also looks strong, with Walder and Taione coming back from injury, and Tom May appearing to be rested despite scoring a hat trick of tries against Gloucester a fortnight ago. Expect to see all three feature around the hour mark.

Saints haven’t got a chance then. Wrong. Last week was so poor in parts that there’s a lot to prove again. To have two-thirds of possession and still not win was criminal, but the problem came in the turnover ball, where it seemed to be that every time it was turned over Irish converted it into points. With each turnover costing on average one point in the ZP this season, this is an area that Saints will have been sure to work on this week in training and will be key to the outcome of Saturday’s game. So, the twenty two to win the game are, as announced on Thursday morning:-

15 Nick Beal
14 John Clarke
13 Mark Tucker
12 John Leslie
11 Bruce Reihana
10 Shane Drahm
9 Johnny Howard
1 Brett Sturgess
2 Dan Richmond
3 Chris Budgen
4 Matt Lord
5 Rob Hunter
6 Mark Connors
7 Darren Fox
8 Andrew Blowers

Replacements from: Matt Miles, ROBBIE MORRIS, Jon Golding, Jon Phillips, Grant Seely, Mark Soden, Mark Robinson, James Brooks, Chris Hyndman, Jon Sleightholme

John Leslie returns in the centre for Chris Hyndman against his old club with more that one point to prove, Brett Sturgess and Chris Budgen return to the front row, Mark Connors is once again fit (a massive plus for the lineout), and it’s Johnny Howard’s turn at scrum half this week. It’s the first major shake up of the team this season, and hopefully the effects of the changes will inspire a good performance all round.

Also, you only have to look at Newcastle’s record on Northampton over the last few years. No wins since 97/98, and some right hammerings in there too - 57-16 in 1998/99, 37-5 in 1999/2000, and 31-13 last season all in the league, as well as a cup semi-final (38-7) that we all remember so well and have never quite managed to hit the heights of since. There must be something about the Gardens that drives Mr Andrew mad. A repeat of any of these results would be more that enough to appease the Saintly faithful, which will no doubt be nicely lubricated for the later kick off

So, which way will the four points fall? Well, simply because we need them more, I take Saints to prevail - just. It could be the best match of the season so far, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there is only a point separating the teams at no side. Fingers crossed!!