Northampton v Leicester - East Midlands Challenge

Naughty dog!
By Smurf
March 15 2004

A well observed minutes silence for the victims of the Madrid bombings signaled the start of this inaugural East Midlands challenge between Northampton Saints and local rivals Leicester Tigers.

Both teams contained a mix of
youth and experience, with a welcome return of
Testimonial year man Jon Phillips to the starting
Saints XV. Neither team had played for three weeks,
and it showed. Bad passes, miscued lineouts and knock
ons were the order of the day. Terrace favourite
Austin Healey was responsible for five knock-ons on
his own.

It took 28 minutes for the opening score, a cracking
break down the wing by young Mr Phillips. Drahm missed
a difficult touchline kick to put the Saints 5-0 up.
Leicester had made the strange decision to kick at
goal, and the crowd heckled Andy Goode's attempts. He
missed the first but got the second, leaving it 5 - 3.
A typical Neil Back "truck and trailer" try left it 5
- 8 at half time, Goode having missed the conversion.

The Saints made six changes at half time, five in the
forwards, to leave only Phillips and Soden from the
atarting eight, since Morris left the field in the
first half. Youngsters Kort Schubert, Ed O'Donaghue,
Jon Golding, Matt Miles, Brett McNamee and Johnny
Howard entered the fray.

Several outbreaks of derby
day fever (ie handbags) spoiled the game somewhat, JP
lucky not to be binned for stamping, followed closely
by a Neil Back punch that deserved at least a yellow.
Only a few minutes later, Back added another try in a
similar vein to his first, Goode again missing the
conversion, to put the Saints 5 - 13 down.

Smith rang the changes in the backs as well, bringing
on Russell, Binham, and towards the end pushing Miles
to 13 as Richmond returned. With JP leaving the field
late on for the returning Lord, surely this must be
the youngest Saints XV ever to take the field:

Golding, Richmond, Sturgess; Lord, O'Donaghue;
Schubert, Fox, Soden; Howard, Russell; Ripol, Vilk,
Miles, Binham; Clarke.

Leicester put another try on the board late on,
leaving the final score Leicester 18, Saints 5.

A good attendence at the game saw a reasonable
exhibition of rugby, however both teams have a lot
more signifiacnt games to win in the coming weeks.