Saints Win at Fortress Franklins

Mr Leyshon and his so called assistants were mysteriously unwilling to prevent punching on Saints players by the visitors, most noticeable a flurry of punches landed on Corne Krige by Tykes flanker Richard Parkes but later in the game on Johnny Howard, Chris Budgen and Darren Fox. If the crowd can see it, why not the officials. In the case of Parkes, they all saw it and wimped out, merely awarding a penalty kick, which was no real guarantee of points on such a windy day. Krige showed the measure of the man by not retaliating but he needs protection from intimidation like this from the officials.

Shortly afterwards, Leeds prevented a penalty tap kick being run 10 metres from a strong attacking position for Saints and again no cards were shown for a clear professional foul.

The officials also had no grasp on the laws concerning ruck and maul nor on the set scrum and hardly any scrummage was completed first time. The signal to the players by such lax refereeing was that jungle laws apply and they just got on with it.

On the other hand the game was enlivened by a more confident performance from the Saintsmen and they may well be annoyed this morning that a bigger victory wasn’t achieved. In the first half particularly, Saints had the bulk of the possession and scored both of their tries as a result.

The first was a tremendous team effort in the left hand corner after 18 minutes when Andrew Blowers finished off a persistent attack (featuring a Brett Sturgess sprint and side step!) and great recycling to great acclaim from the capacity crowd. AB was clearly enjoying his return from injury and was a huge presence all afternoon. Shane Drahm missed the conversion from out wide in the tricky cross wind. Score 5-3 to Saints, Leeds having a Gordon Ross penalty kick at 10 minutes resulting from a strange decision at a ruck after the first offence had been committed by the Leeds No8 coming in from the side!

From the restart, Leeds attacked with more purpose and drove into the Saints midfield, earning a penalty after Saints were penalised for coming in from the side at a ruck, a silly penalty to give away in a very kickable position for Ross, 35 metres out from the Sturtridge end. Score 5-6 after 21 minutes.

Then came the move and try of the match (well there were only two to choose from!) which said a lot about Saints attacking confidence from the set piece.

After Saints had won a free kick in the front row lottery at a scrum and moved the ball right, Bruce Reihana chipped over the Tykes defence but was held back illegally in front of the touch judge who, yes you’ve guessed it, did nothing. Leeds cleared hurriedly to touch and from a Saints line out on the 10 metre line, Grant Seely secured ball off the top.

Johnny Howard fed the ball out to Drahm, who spotted that the Tykes rushing defence were about to rush past him having already been a mile offside. Instead of shipping the ball on, Drahmy turned on the afterburners and shot through the Leeds line, fed an inch perfect pass to Ben Cohen in the centre who galloped in for the try at the posts giving Shane a much easier kick to convert the try to 7 points. From the line out throw in, the ball had only been through 4 pairs of hands before touch down.

So after 27 minutes, the score was 12-6 to Saints and it was to stay that way through to half time, when a clearly annoyed Budge Pountney confronted Leyshon as he left the field to try and understand why the laws of the game were clearly not being applied. Shortly before the interval Wylie Human looked to have scored a perfectly good try, again after good handling from a Saints line out, in the left hand corner but the final pass was judged to be forward.

The second half was a much messier affair as the continuing rain made conditions even more difficult, although Saints had the elements in their favour now.

After 10 minutes, Krige left for a well earned rest and was replaced by Darren Fox, returning after suspension and warmly welcomed on to the pitch by the home supporters. Damien Browne came on for Matt Lord 8 minutes later and four minutes after that, Neil Starling and Dan Richmond replaced John Rudd and Wally respectively. Who was skipper now then??

Shane and Gordon Ross exchanged a penalty kick each to bring the score to 15-9 after 28 minutes and Saints were still not in the clear. Grayse made his way to the touch line to get stripped off as concern mounted on the coaching bench but salvation was close at hand.

A trade mark counter attack from deep in his own half by Bruce led to a penalty for Saints after the All Black chipped over the Leeds backs and Tim Stimpson, not having an enjoyable afternoon, failed to release the ball after being tackled by Wylie. Possible try? Definite professional foul. Cards shown to Stimpson? Off course not!

Anyway, three points to Saints, making the score 18-9 to the home side and Grayse put his track suit back on, deciding that Shane should finish the game.

Saints were using the wind at their backs to good effect and kept Tykes pinned down in their own half, forcing them to try and counter attack from deep whenever they had the ball. Stimpson’s unhappy afternoon continued when, as he tried to attack from his own 22, Johnny Howard, having a momentous match at scrum half, launched a huge but perfectly legal tackle into the midriff of the ex Tigers full back. Stimpson was winded and rolled away slowly and the pay back came in the next contact as Johnny received punches from the Tykes forwards.

On the credit side for Leeds, Welshman Matt Cardey nearly scored twice being denied once by Cohen’s pace and later by Shane Drahm’s ingenuity.

Tykes kept attacking to the bitter end and a tiring Saints defence was starting to look shaky but before Leeds could take an opportunity afforded by a 5 metre scrum after Saints were forced to conceded touch in goal. Mr Leyshon blew for no side and ecstatic cheers by the Gardens crowd.

Four more valuable points to Saints and a position fourth from bottom of the Premiership, although Quins have yet to play Wasps this weekend.

Saints showed that their defence is as effective as in recent weeks but also that they have the confidence and desire to play more dynamic attacking rugby and score tries, which is the only way to make progress in all the competitions in which Saints still have a presence. Back to Heineken Cup duty next week, with a difficult away trip to Stradey Park and Llanelli Scarlets.

Can the winning habit continue? Watch this space!

And a Happy and Saintly New Year to you all!!