COYSDC end of Season Poll part 1
By Rob Richmond
June 6 2005
To start off, I'd just like to thank everyone for their input. We couldn't have done it without you and it's a testament to how much you care about the club. It's been a long hard season for everyone, the players and the staff, all the supporters old and new.
Way back in September if anyone had declared on COYS that the Saints would be in a dog fight for our lives at the bottom of the league, they would of been dismissed to sit in the corner with the other naysayers or, simply laughed at. Loudly.
Its funny how things work out isn't it? Not many of us could have foreseen Solly falling on his 'arris or Woody calling it quits with England or Wales raising to the occasion and growing to become a top class team. Even less so did many believe that our friends at Worcester stood a snowballs chance in hell of staying in the Premiership.....
If one word describes the season for the saintlyones it probably has to be 'Turmoil'. We've seen the destruction of the team bond set in place by Smudger and the band of brothers / saintsman go out of the window. Its funny how only Supporters refer to saints players as Saintsmen these days. we've also seen the cause and effect of too much change too quickly. It affected the players more than most supporters knew, until finally after setting a new record for league defeats of 9 on the bounce, Mr Solomans was asked to leave, probably before COYS regulars, Ajack and Mark H hired someone to do him over, it's amazing what you can learn when your hero is Cindy Beale eh Jacka?
Out of the opening turmoil followed even more turmoil, then some more, and eventually, some more. As the Saints looked battle weary and done in after only 12 games, Uncle Keith handed over the reigns to a man who every Saints supporter trusts implicitly. His name was Budge, and were we ever pleased to see him. Things were still very fragile but momentum was on the up. Finally things looked up as we went to Llanelli and won.
But still things were up and down like a fiddlers elbow, for every battling and brave performance there was another which was turgid. We began to pick up points against the other strugglers and then, later on we had some real highlights like the victory against the old enemy, the Tigers came to Franklin's and left licking their wounds and the impressive performance against a Gloucester team who though well below par, but still you've gotta be a good team to go to castle grim and win right? right? erm, apparently not....
In between we had more of the turmoil, the Kempson-gate rolled by, some were disgusted, others found it laughable. Sharky got caught doing something silly and was made an example of, so much so that it brought the season grinding to a halt. Shane decided to move on to pastures new, which created a rumour bonanza of epic proportions ending in the signature of Carlos Spencer. Corne decided he'd proved his point to everyone and was ready to call time on his career. This led to the management not only looking for a replacement for the legendary Andy Blowers but also this seasons skipper who had done very little wrong and behaved with great dignity and honour when he relinquished his captaincy following the departure of Solly. But then, some chinks of light came our way, Bruce decided that 3 more years at FG was a good idea. Ben too, after all sort of problems with Solly, remembered that home is where the heart is.
So judgement day arrived, Quins blew it as Sale saved our bacon and though everyone had a great day at Sixfields it still didn't help everyone feel that things could have and should have been better. That's the point of the poll, honesty is the best policy, just don't shoot the messenger.......
1. Saint Of The Season
MATT LORD 
There was a thin field this year, no Englishmen nominated at all either....
The mighty few...
Bruce Reihana, as popular as winning lottery tickets.
'I’ll settle for Bruce just ahead of Corne Krige with Lordy & Shane getting honourable mentions.'
'Probably Bruce Reihana - the only person to show a consistent level of class in a very poor season.'
'Bruce- boring choice, but the guy's in a different class'
Corne Krige made some new friends...
'Corne, not only for the way he played but for the way he kept his dignity under very difficult circumstances.'
'We wouldn't have stayed up without Corne'
Matt Lord's reputation grew and grew...
' Matt Lord - put his body on the line, every time.'
'Lordy, not the best second row in the world, but the guy gives his all week in and week out'
Overall the general consensus was that Lordy was the vicar's knickers, receiving 50% of the votes.
2. Best Match
THE TIGERS AT HOME
Again in a season in which we struggled so much, options were pretty short on the ground....
'The home game against the Tigers made everything alright' 
'Harlequins (away) in September. Easily the best performance although for drama, you could also have the home games with Harlequins & Newcastle.'
'I'll vote for Saints v Toulouse. To beat them in the middle of such a poor period for the team was a magnificent achievement.'
'The Bath home game, there was SO much optimism around the ground that day.'
At the end of the day, everyone seems to remember which way their bread is buttered. Best match was voted as the home game against the Tigers. Proof positive that little apples are sweet.
3. Best Home Match
HOME AGAINST THE TIGERS
The best home game was a battle between the two teams that recently fought out the Heineken Cup semi final, the Tigers and Toulouse.........
'The boys did us proud, it doesn't get much better than beating the tigers'
'Toulouse at home, the personification of bravery'
once again local pride took precedence over the cup winning the vote comfortably.
4. Best Away Match
TOULOUSE 
'Toulouse... What an atmosphere! What a team! What a chocolaterie!'
'Llanelli, Wally's try!'
'The away game at Sale - a good game against a good team, and even though we lost (we woz robbed!) I was happy with the way that we played.'
5. Best Away Trip
TOULOUSE
'The second visit to Toulouse, OK, we lost (again), but it was warm, I knew the City from being there previously, having a drink with the team on the morning before the game, and being in a Rugby mad City.'
6. Best Opposition
TOULOUSE 
'Toulouse - jam packed to the rafters with class, their wide expansive style or rugby was awesome to watch and their offloading in the tackle was just something else. Watch and learn please Saints!'
'Wasps yet again. Our lot were comprehensively dismantled yet again at Causeway Stadium. The only chance we have of winning there in the near future is to hope that we get them early in the season when they tend not to be so hot.'
'Wasps-Time & again, we go down to Wycombe & get caned & we appear to learn not very much from it from year to year. You can’t help but admire what they’ve achieved.'
'Sale - Hodgson and Chabal in particular.'
7. Worst Opposition
HARLEQUINS 
'There weren’t too many worse than ourselves this year.'
'Probably London Irish - a team seemingly devoid of much by way of positive play.'
'I have had an irrational hatred of Quins since they beat us in the Pilkington Cup in 1991 and doomed us to relegation 10 years ago - so I wasn't at all unhappy that they went down.'
'Leeds - horrible cynical bunch.'
'Quins, by a country mile. If any team tried to play a game on reputation alone...Dreadful...'
8. Academy Player of the Season
PAUL DIGGIN 
Impressed many....
'Paul Diggin's performance at Sale - a youngster making his first start (I think), live on TV against a very good team, and put in a really good performance.'
honourable mentions for Vilk, Starling and Ben Jones
9. Marks out of Ten for the Season
A POOR FOUR
'4/10 - and a lot of that is the fact that we qualified for the knock-out stages of the HEC'
'5/10, must try harder, see teacher afterwards for some lines, chiz chiz chiz.'
10. Marks out of Ten for the Players
A REASONABLE SIX
some pretty damning stuff...
'They simply didn’t cut it this year. You can make any old number of excuses about coaches, personality clashes, injuries, etc. but the plain fact is that they didn’t get the job done. You simply couldn’t imagine the likes of Gatland or Woodward tolerating the sort of internal dissent & ego-bashing that appears to have been present for much of the year.'
'Individually, there are a number of players who can take very little out of this season & a number of so-called senior pros whose reputations & careers have gone backwards, in some cases at ages when they should have been going forwards.'
'Can someone tell Wally there's more to being a captain than shouting at your team mates then fringing at the sides of rucks and mauls'
'They suffered from atrocious man management and a poorly balanced squad-can't knock them really'
'If you exclude Robbie Kempson, I'd say that their efforts under hugely difficult circumstances rate a 6/10. The Kempson factor takes it down to about 4/10. '
11. Marks out of Ten for the Management in
(a) the first half of the season
A BIG FAT ZERO
The first half of the season Minus several million. An apparent inability to bond and communicate with the players, an inflexible regime and no understanding of what it means to be part of the Saints.'
'1 (Poor communication with fans, tactics & bewildering lack of man management).'
'Do minus numbers count?'
'By management, I include the board, so overall 2 with the coaching side getting a 4 & the board as a whole getting a big fat 0. Too much emphasis on the marketing – they seemed to be in danger of forgetting that without a team to speak of, they don’t have a business to market.'
(b) the second half of the season
AN HONOURABLE SIX
'6/10 - they kept us up.'
'7 (Regaining the spirit of the club, and survival)'
'Overall 5 with the coaching getting a 4 & the board getting a 6. Budge & Larry certainly sorted out some attitude but there was little visible sustained improvement in areas which cost us all season long (e.g. line out; penalty count). The board did put its collective hand up to getting it wrong & made the best of a bad job but the lack of foresight & planning on the team & coaching side is going to cost us for quite some time after that last game at Sixways. '
'Budge and Larry are true Saintsmen, they know what the job in hand entails, whilst I do not question their commitment for a moment, I feel that they have been pushed in at the deep end, with only Uncle Keith's water wings keeping them up....however, like a good wine, they will mature with age, and flourish'.
12. Best Opposing Player
No outright winner......
WILKO & CHABAL
'Chabal - the honey monster's evil twin. The guy was unstoppable.'
'Wilkinson's cameo - it's amazing how quickly you forget what a player he is. The pass for Noon's try was perfection.'
'Jonny Wilkinson - did more in 50 mins at FG than any other player'
'McRae, Glaws at home, he totally bossed the game'
honourable mentions for Thomas Castaniede, Pat Sanderson, Josh Lewsey and Jean Baptiste Elissalde
13. Performance of the Season by a Saintsman
WALLY AWAY AT LLANELLI 
'
Wally away at Llanelli for his captaincy that day & for that try. Because of the TV camera positioned in my sight line, all I saw of the try was him making a mug of a prop & a winger, then reappearing a few seconds later under the posts & then being obscured again by Andy Blowers leaping about 10 feet in the air despite having been substituted a few minutes earlier suffering with cramp. Brilliant!'
'Shane, for THAT kick against Quins'
'Krige vs Llanelli at home - the highlight of Solly's regime'
'Shine, for his professional attitude in the last game of the season.'
'Jon Clarke in Toulouse - playing at 15 with one eye.'
'Corne Krige in the Toulouse quarter final'
14. Who most personifies being a Saint?
ANDY BLOWERS
'Geoff Allen. After being accused of being an egotistical nincompoop with a microphone, or words to that effect in the Torygraph, his put down of this at the next match was pure class: “Having consulted with my lawyer, I’ve decided to…… plead guilty as charged.” Wonderful.'
'Matt Lord - not the best lock in the world, but one who tries his damnedest every time.'
'Difficult, but for diplomacy's sake, I will put down Keith Barwell.'
'Bruce - tries his best all the time.'
'The people who support week in week out, despite the rubbish they have been dished up.' 
'Bernie on the Saints With Heart Walk!!'
But as I open each E-mail from regulars one name just seemed to keep popping up, his name?
Andy blowers. It's nice to see how much people respect and appreciate how much he's give to us all.
15. Where will Saints finish next season?
5TH
'Unfortunately I think we’re going to have to aim to consolidate & build a platform & a real team spirit next year. 8th at best, possibly a run in one of the 2 minor European cups. We need to develop more weapons to hurt opponents rather than just relying on Bruce.'
'3rd. On paper that looks about the finest back line yet assembled in the premiership (regardless of any further centre signings)'
16. Biggest Disappointment
'THE WHOLE BLOODY SEASON'
'I was also disappointed at some of the behaviour from our crowd in the middle of the year when things weren’t going right although this did seem to improve towards the end of the season.'
'I was on holiday at the start of the season and saw the results of the Bath and Quins games and thought "here we go - is it our year at last?". Then followed the shock of narrow losses turning into bad losses, heads dropping, players appearing not to give a toss, leading to Solomons being given his marching orders.'
'AB, and Corne Krige leaving.'
'Signing Solly and the fact that no one at the club was smart enough to realise we needed a tighthead and a centre.'
'Robbie Kempson - I had such high hopes'
17. Most Memorable Moment
'Worcester away, Bernie winding up the Wuss mascot, and waiting three minutes to know the result from Quins'
'Shane's drop goal to beat Toulouse'
'Bruce Reihana extending his deal'
'I’ll go for the match at Llanelli & an honourable mention for whoever was in the Bernie costume that day. The antics were hilarious. The double act with the Scarlets mascot, Cochyn, was great especially when Bernie got Cochyn to turn round & then obscured the last three letters of Cochyn’s name written on its back! Not really one for the kids maybe but the locals loved it too.'
'For all the wrong reasons:- Sharky's red card for the Regan incident - crippled us in this key position'
'You mean apart from losing 9 on the bounce? Of that horrible losing run, I'd have to pinpoint waking up the morning after our Bonfire Night loss to Leeds and getting that horrible sinking feeling when I realised that we'd lost.'
'What about Wally's try against Llanelli?? Convinced that we'd lost I had my face buried in my hands when suddenly I hear my father yelling and I look up to see Cap'n Wally, charging down the pitch and searing towards the try line. Suddenly I'm on my feet and yelling at him to pass the ball, he's going to fall over... or drop it... or... and he's under the posts. As Larry steps up and slots the conversion to clinch a famous victory in the dying seconds, the whole household goes crazy and the feeling's fantastic!'
18. Try of the Season 
BRUCES WONDER TRY AGAINST BATH 'Don't make me laugh, Rob, it's a no brainer, Bruce at home to Bath..'
honourable mentions for Wally saving the day at Stradey Park and Tucks saving the day against the Quins.
19. Have Saints done better, worse or than you expected this season?
WORSE
'Don't be silly, worse much worse'
'Worse'
'I didn’t expect that we’d need to rely on a missed kick at another game to avoid trips to Doncaster, Sedgely Park & Otley next year (no disrespect to those clubs at all though – in a way it would have been great to visit more proper rugby grounds!)'
20. Is there anything that can be done to improve the "Matchday Experience" at FG?
ranged from booze issues...
'More space at the bar! (Win more games?!?!)'
'Real ale would be nice'
'Pre pouring of pints of Guinness a la Worcester, saved hours of waiting, a really professional set up.'
'More flags, balloons and banners. Cheaper beer.'
To the issue of actually watching the game
'Stop people leaving five minutes before the end, and walking in front of us. Create an underground tunnel to the car park so they can leave and not obstruct views.'
'Fewer stewards along the front of the Tetley's stand towards the end of matches...we're not a soccer community,please let's not be treated like one'
'Shut the bar's half an hour before the game starts and don't open them until 15mins after match has finished. Stops late arrivals, loo visits etc.'
To the issue of being made welcome...
'I think we need to improve three things. Firstly we need the players to be in the bar meeting the supporters more often and we need the club to help the supporters club and finally we need post match entertainment.'
'A ma-hoo-sive flag, Toulouse style in the Tetleys stand when the players run out. More songs.'
To almost having a rant.....
'Stop referring to it as a “Matchday Experience”. You have to hand it to Allan Robson – he’s doing a terrific job but I just hate the expression. We do need to focus on the rugby itself though or else there won’t be a product for Mr PS to market.'
21. Best Opposing Supporters
WORCESTER
With Toulouse running them a close second...
'Worcester are a lovely bunch'
'by far and away, Worcester'.
'The Worcester fans by a country mile, true rugby supporters who make their great club what it is.'
22. Best Away Ground
SIXWAYS
strangely folks seemed to enjoy Castle Grim when they're winning...
'Kingsholm - quaint little ground full of charm!!'
23. Least Favourite Away Ground
VICARAGE ROAD
though many others don't like the concept of grounds without roofs...
'The Rec. A crappy hole. By far and away the best location in the Premiership, but they are completely stuffed by the NIMBY locals. What they need to do is put in a good "U" shaped stand clad in Bath stone, do a good job on the architecture drawing on Roman influences (make it look like a coliseum?) and it would look superb.'
'Bath, great location, crap facilities. Move em to Trowbridge!'
'Mad Stad - even with the biggest Premiership crowd it still felt like a half empty football stadium. There's only so much you can do with drums (I hate drums, especially when attached to Saracens' fans).'
'Tough, but the concrete mausoleum the Sarries hang out at, with it's pizza madness moments, and screaming DJ, wins by a short head over the dump that Wasps infest.'
'Sorry Sarries STILL!!! that toilet Vicarage road!'
'Vicarage Road - a soulless football stadium... ouch!'
Rob
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