Northampton Saints - Thoughts from the Chron

By Chris Gleadell
April 9 2005

So Saints European adventure ends for another year but despite the scoreline there was no disgrace in the defeat in the quarter final in Toulouse on Friday night. Of course, as is the norm this season, we were written off long before the first whistle blew but we lived with Toulouse till half time.

Not only that we clearly disrupted their gameplan for the first 30 minutes and but for that throwaway interception try may have even have gone into the break in the lead. Who knows what then?

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and Stade being Stade stepped it up for 20 mins and ran away with the game but taking all things into account the lads can be proud of there efforts and yet again it is going to take a very good team to stop Toulouse.

So while our Zurich Premiership campaign may not go down as being a wholly successful exercise this time round the European cup in comparison was a success. Let’s not forget we were not in an easy group. Toulouse last years beaten finalists and Llanelli the Celtic League champions were tipped to battle out the group but in just losing the single game, including doing the double over the Scarlets, Saints rightly took their place in the last eight. Nowadays that is an achievement in itself but its slightly annoying that certain branches of the media, and a pundit on Sky TV is the worst offender, seem to think its perfectly okay to overlook the hard facts and thinly suggest we were not deserving of being in the last eight. We were.

Once again the Saints support gave good account of themselves in Toulouse.

From our arrival on Friday morning up till leaving on Monday we were still bumping into groups of fans around the city, enjoying the highlife and making the most of their time in France. In the stadium too the 1500 or so that travelled out were in good voice till the bitter end and sitting in amongst the locals far away from the main throng of the Saints support you got to appreciate how much of an effort the gold black and green army make.

Yet again the Toulouse fans and people of the town took to the Northampton support too, from sympathetic barmen offering us napkins to cry into after the game to the many flag waving cars driving around till the early hours cheering each Saints shirt they saw, and not a hint of arrogance about it. The French media latched onto the Saints support too. Local telelevision company TLT have a weekly programme on the rugby club and Saints supporters featured prominently in interviews in the Sunday edition, Some spoke of the atmosphere and ambiance while I am sure a well known stewards solo rendition of ‘Oh when the Saints’ for the cameras while topped with a gold black and green wig will make the French sleep easy knowing that there is unlikely to be a challenge for the Eurovision Song Contest from this side of the channel for some years to come if that is the content of the talent pool. But seriously, well done to Adam Weston and Dave Wilton from the supporters club amongst others for spreading the word.

One last thought on the European Cup, isn’t it quite ironic that while we constantly hear about player burnout, the country that supplies three of the four semi finalists is the one that dramatically increased the number of games they play this season. But then with wage bills triple the size of the ZP clubs they can afford the large squads to see them through the lengthy season, the Toulouse bench was testament to that.

LOOKING AHEAD

So while we put European competition behind us, till hopefully next season, it is all eyes back to the Zurich Premiership and the continuing battle for survival.

On Saturday the Saints travel down to Bath for the third last game of the season hoping to keep their current run of ZP form going and record a fourth straight win following on from victories against Tigers, Gloucester and Quins. It is however a tall order with Bath flying high but the West Country side, despite their denial, are sure to have half an eye on their Powergen Final the following week and taking the first half form against Toulouse into this game a shock could be on the cards. After all a double over Bath at this time of the season would be a timely boost to say the least but then even a bonus point could prove vital in the final tally.

If you are lucky enough to have secured a ticket (I didn’t) the Saints Supporters Club will be running coaches to Bath, they will be leaving Franklin’s Gardens at 9am. The prices are: Adults: £13 Children/Students/OAPs: £8

If you want to let the train take the strain, you can make the short trip to Oxford by bus then pick up a train to Bath with a single change at Didcot Parkway. Not only does this cut around two hours off your journey time, giving you more time in the ‘Pretty City’, it is about a quarter of the normal train fare. However plan your journey in advance and do not rely on catching that last bus back to town as we found out last season, missing it by ten minutes. A taxi fare back home from Oxford is not light on your wallet.

The Saints Supporters Club are having their Annual Pig Roast on Saturday 23rd July, at BBOB’s Rugby Club, Northampton. This year’s event has a Lions & Maori’s theme. Starting at 7.30pm, there will be a disco and raffle, after the food. There is a vegetarian menu available.
Tickets are Adults: £7 & Children (Under 12’s): £3. (Under 5’s are free)
To book tickets, call Adam on 0787 9401047

Talking of Lions, it is planned for there to be a pre tour night in early May for any of you (and me!) traveling down to New Zealand. It will be a chance to touch base with others as we know a lot of people travel down in small groups or on their own and it gives a chance to set up meetings and maybe share costs on the odd day of car hire etc. As they say, watch this space!

WEDS MARCH 30th 2005

Well if they say you make your own luck I think we used up our quota of ingredients in the last minute of the game against Quins on Saturday. Mark Tuckers last gasp try with Shane’s match winning conversion took the roof off the stands and edged the Saints a little bit nearer safety but with Leeds surprisingly beating the Tigers it still isn’t over till the fat lady sings.

We can now however put thoughts of survival on the back burner for a week or so as thoughts once again turn to Europe and the Heineken Cup. On Friday Saints take on Toulouse in the quarter finals of the premier northern hemisphere competition and despite just about everyone writing off our chances it still fifteen against fifteen and as we know from previous experience just about anything can happen in this competition at this stage.

It is of course still a tall order and Toulouse warmed up for the game with a 71-3 Top 16 win over Brive at the weekend and understandably also given home advantage go into the game as favourites but in these high pressure games you just never can discount the Saints chances as out of hand. On the day you just never know, so its crossing everything, finding that lucky rabbits foot (that wasn’t so lucky for the rabbit), avoiding ladders, touching wood and its off to France we go.

Again there are a large contingent of Saints supporters making the journey to La Ville Rose with the club having sold well over a 1000 tickets while many more have made independent arrangements to get there this weekend.

As always the games in France are a great social occasion for many apart from the rugby and I am sure we will be seeing gold black and green around the city all weekend. If you are travelling out and want a change scenery and some fresh air on the Saturday, English rugby league club Wath Brow Hornets, giant killers in this years Challenge Cup take on the Toulouse Olympique RL side in the competition kick off 6.00pm local time at the Stade des Minimes at 107, Avenue Frédéric Estèbe. Why not go along and give them a cheer.

If you want to pick up another union game while you are out there, a train ride on the Saturday to either Montauban or Albi will enable you to pick up a French second division game while more locally our friends in Toulouse tell us the Blagnac v Oloron game on the Sunday at the Stade Ernest Argeles - Chemin des Ramiers out near the airport is the pick of the action. See you there!

POOR OLD TOULOUSE

One Toulouse supporter made me smile last week when in all seriousness he was bemoaning the fact that Benoit Baby got a four week ban for headbutting in the Six Nations and misses Fridays game. The Stade fan was aggreived that their backline might now be Poitrenaud, Clerc, Jauzion, Fritz, Heymans
Michalak, Elissalde. Some international sides would kill for a back seven like that. Poor old Toulouse eh?

STICKY BEAKS

I am sure most of you will have seen or heard about Keith Barwell’s programme notes on Saturday. Quite rightly our chairman is up in arms about comments made by RFU press officer Simon Mills in an email before Budges ‘Landergate’ hearing to HQ stating that, “in my opinion the potential is there for a referee to be assaulted at Franklins Gardens”. Now of course Keith, ever the diplomat, has asked Mills for a right to reply but just exactly what has Mills based this judgement on?

Week after week we are commended by visiting supporters on our sporting attitude and fairness, here are just a couple of online comments from Quins supporters this week who, given the nature of our win, might feel disgruntled towards us, far from it as you can see.

“I really enjoyed the atmosphere at Franklins Gardens, the Saints supporters are amongst the best crowd I have seen this season. The passion they showed when they were behind and the respect showed when Arwel (Quins flyhalf) kicked was second to none.”, from another “As for the Saints. It is always a pleasure to visit a true home of Rugby Football. Franklin Gardens, I applaud you.” And finally “It was my first visit to Franklins Gardens and, result apart, I enjoyed the stadium, the facilities and the friendly Saints fans around me who commiserated at the final whistle”

Now does this really sound like the rabid bunch that Mills would have you believe we are or does he have some other agenda?

Now whilst yes the ref might get stick if a decision goes against a team this happens at every club, the chap claims to go to 50 games a season, I take it Gloucester, Leicester or Bath are never visited then? And as for the ‘booing’ at the start when the referee is announced, as KB said, this is a long running joke and almost a seal of approval in some respects and I have yet to see a ref not take it in the manner it is meant, even Steve Lander himself just shrugged his shoulders and smiled when this happened so what exactly is Mills problem?

But finally if the Gardens were such a un-hospitable place do you think Zurich Premiership referee Ashley Rowden would spend his days off on the Gordon Terrace watching our games, I very much doubt it!

As for Mr Mills, there’s 12,000 people queuing up to sue him for defamation of character. We deserve an apology.

A WORD OF SUPPORT FOR WALLY

The calls for Steve Thompson’s culling from the England team because of his perceived bad throwing became quite ridiculous by the end of the Six Nations.

As Wally sad himself, if the throw goes wayward they say it was down to him but if it hit its target it was a good catch. However at tournament end the stats for the competition told a totally different story. Far from the cows backside and banjo thrower Messrs Butler and Guscott would have you believe England were actually only one percent off being the top lineout side out of the six teams on their own throw. Now as Steve was hooking for the majority of time do these stats not shoot these doubters down in flames once and for all?

Ireland 89%
France 89%
England 88%
Scotland 84%
Italy 83%
Wales 82%

WEDS MARCH 23rd 2005

So after a week out for everything to get done and dusted in the Six Nations its back to the real business this week and Saints next ‘cup final’ against Harlequins at the Gardens on Saturday. It is again a must win game and a victory could all but see us safe should Leeds go down at home to the Tigers on Sunday. Of course I am not counting any chickens just yet, the job still has to be done, but that scenario, whilst given Leeds still a mathematical chance, would I am sure see us playing Zurich Premiership rugby next season.

Quins have themselves been edging to safety but have yet to win a game on a non-international weekend. Like us though they are scrapping for their ZP lives and cannot be taken lightly but I’m taking the lads to take the form from the Gloucester victory into this game and come away with the spoils.

Should we prevail another bonus from this is that it could see us still within striking distance of a wildcard place something that was unthinkable a month ago. Whatever the outcome it looks like we have something to play for right up to the very last week of the regular season.

Indeed with just four games left every team in the ZP has something to play for, not only making every game competitive but adding spice up to the very end and interest for all supporters. That being the case I am surprised the spectre of ringfencing of the ZP has reared it ugly head again in recent weeks.

Now don’t get me wrong I have great sympathy for any club that faces the drop, (indeed it could still be us this season), after they have invested heavily in facilities and staff but I do feel a decision which would cause the ZP to be ringfenced by whatever means would be a business decision over a sporting one. Simply a protection of own interests over the spirit of competition.

Call me old fashioned but I still believe promotion and relegation are the very lifeblood of our game and doesn’t the end of this coming season just prove that with a handful of clubs in both the ZP and National Div One still fighting it out for death or glory?

Now obviously the bigger the game the bigger the interest and the more people through the gates. Already it looks like there will be a lot of disappointed punters for Saints final four games of the season and only the lucky few will get to see the final game at Worcester such is the demand. Were the ZP to be ringfenced would this be the case?

Should this ringfencing happen you could easily see some clubs season over by February at the latest. Would there really be this demand for tickets if this were the case, with supporters knowing that whatever happened their team was safe to fight the next season and would we really be interested in turning up to watch two teams go through the motions at season end?

And lets face it if it’s about business decisions would there not be a danger that some clubs, knowing they were not in with a shout with a couple of months to go, maybe ending a few contracts early to save a few shillings hence unbalancing the level of fairness across the whole season?

Remember results by those fighting the drop have in recent weeks affected things not only at the base of the table but those scrapping it out for the championship and European places. Would it really be fair all round for four or five teams at season end to have nothing to play for but pride while those lucky enough to play them at season end having a distinct advantage over rivals further up the table who may have played them when they had something to play for?

But more importantly is ringfencing really fair on the clubs in divisions below who aspire to join the elite. Would it not kill the real sporting competitiveness of National Div One at a stroke? Remember not too long ago we were one of that fold.

Now I am sure some of you will think I am just being a doom merchant but cast your mind back five seasons and this scenario has already happened. With a promotion/relegation playoff system then in place it was clear with several weeks to go that Bedford were going to end up bottom of the pile. By their own admission they ‘prepared for the playoffs’ sending out second string sides for the intervening weeks. Bristol that year missed out on a Heineken Cup place by a single point a situation that might have been very different had Bedford been competitive to the very end. How would we have felt about Bedford had that been us?

So if people are making business decisions would it not be better to preserve a system that not only bred a World Cup winning squad which increased interest in the game as a whole in England but also a system that puts bums on seats at every ground till the end of season and pounds shillings and pence in those clubs coffers. Rather this than a stale competition for a large section of supporters at season end.

Perhaps the real business decision should be how do we make Div One stronger to make movements between the top two divisions more seamless.

BUDGE

Well done to Budge, he’s certainly learning to handle the media. It seems that our new coach has changed tack after his recent fine and ban for his outburst at Steve Lander and injected a bit more humour in his missives to the press. Two soundbites this week I am sure raised more than a few smiles. On talking about Matt Lord extending his current contract Budge commented “Lordy is a fantastic player both on and off the pitch, and has been a vital part of our squad for the past few seasons. The only thing we have any doubts about is his hair do!”

To top this, our friends in France pointed out an interview with French media this week ahead of the Toulouse game in which Budge was asked if had a plan to beat Stade (as if he would tell them the grand masterplan?).

Budge simply replied that we would pay off the referee. Luckily he told them he was joking which may be a good thing should the lads perform miracles and scrape a win a week on Friday.