Awright moi babber, where be Franklin’s Gardens?
By Simon Hendy
January 12 2006
Living in Bristol, I am in an ideal position to be able to preview this game, having a local’s insider knowledge of the Bristolian opposition. Or at least I would be if I was a regular at the Memorial Ground or ever read the Bristol Evening Post…
Awright moi babber, where be Franklin’s Gardens to?
Preview of Northampton Saints v Bristol Rugby
European Challenge Cup
Saturday 14th January
Northampton Saints:
Bruce Reihana (co-captain), Sean Lamont, Jon Clarke, Luke Myring, Ben Cohen, Carlos Spencer, Mark Robinson, Tom Smith, Steve Thompson (co-captain), Chris Budgen, Damien Browne, Matt Lord, Ben Lewitt, Sam Harding, Daniel Browne
Replacements: Dylan Hartley, Brett Sturgess, David Gerard, Darren Fox, Mark Soden, Johnny Howard, John Rudd
Bristol Rugby:
Vaughan Going, Lee Robinson, Mark Denney, Manu Contepomi, Sean Marsden, Tommy Hayes, Jake Rauluni, Mark Irish, Saul Nelson, Wayne Thompson, Mariano Sambucetti, Ollie Hodge, Richard Martin-Redman, Craig Short (capt), Geraint Lewis
Replacements: Alex Clarke, Martin Rospide, Neil Clark, Gareth Llewellyn, Joe El Abd, David Lemi, Danny Gray
This game is a bit unusual, in that the two clubs met at Franklin’s Gardens in the Premiership only two weeks ago. The Saints came out top in that one – just. Listening to it on the radio, I don’t think there was a massive amount between the teams (weighted towards Bristol), and we were quite lucky to nick it late on.
The game is also unusual in that I’m going to it – my first trip to Franklin’s Gardens since April 2003 when we played, um, Bristol.
This being Bristol’s first season back in the Premiership after two seasons down in National Division One, they are rightfully focused on staying up. Their plan seems to be going well so far, having beaten arch-rivals Bath in the opening game of the season, and top-of-the-table opponents Sale and Leicester in the last six weeks. However, their record away from the Memorial Ground is less successful – a win at Newcastle in week 2 of the Premiership being their only success.
At this point in the season, they are 7th in the league with 24 points, which I do not need to remind Saints fans is 3 positions higher and 3 points more than us.
Bristol started their European Challenge Cup campaign with a fairly narrow defeat away to Narbonne, despite not fielding their first string, while Saints beat Viadana at home.
In round 2, Bristol beat Saints 36-28 in a hectic match at the Memorial Ground – both teams scoring 4 tries with Saints only missing out on an additional losing bonus point late in the game. However, the Bristol forwards dominated large parts of that game (Reihana-Spencer wonder-try excepted), and players like David Lemi caused us no end of trouble. It wasn’t until it was too late that Saints suddenly clicked and ran in 2-3 tries in very short time.
In the second batch of matches, Saints beat Narbonne home and (more significantly) away, while Bristol beat Viadana (sorry, in Bristolian that should be “Viadanal”) away and absolutely thrashed them at home. I saw the 89-5 drubbing (60 points by halftime, and the bonus point after 16 minutes) and while it was great fun to watch, I don’t think anyone really learned much from it.
As we all know, the Saints have been struggling with an awful injury list this season, and the highly promising pair of Rhodri Davies and Paul Diggin are the latest casualties. Diggin’s injury against Sale appears to have been made worse by the fact that he played on after he was first injured – and that was probably because of the lack of spare bodies on the bench. Is there a problem with their conditioning, or are we just the unluckiest team in the Premiership?
However players are starting to return, which can only help. Sean Lamont returned to the starting XV against Worcester, while Simon Emms (torn bicep) and Ben Cohen (cheekbone) were on the bench and both played. In fact, the backline against Worcester was the strongest we’ve been able to field for quite some time. The Worcester match also saw the arrival of Robbie Kydd – a real surprise as he was expected to be out for about a year (there were real worries that his career was over at the age of 22) and no-one seemed to have any idea that he had started training with the club and had signed a contract! Kydd is obviously not registered for the ECC, and will therefore be able to spend a couple more weeks in training.
Another big area of concern is the place kicking – while the club is struggling, we can’t afford to turn narrow wins into losses through missed kicks. Bruce Reihana says he’s made some changes to his style, and while he was more successful against Bristol in the league match, he still missed one or two easier chances in that game and the Worcester one. Carlos Spencer took two of the kicks in Worcester, missing a long penalty by not too much and slotting a harder conversion than Reihana missed. Robbie Kydd can kick, but his injury was to his kicking leg and I therefore doubt the club will risk using him just yet.
Our much-maligned pack performed very well against a Worcester unit with a far higher reputation – the Sky coverage started by saying how weak they were and finished by singing their praises. The pick and drive tactic certainly wasn’t pretty, but it worked and was suitable for the horrible playing conditions. It was quite evident that the drives were well-drilled, with one player always ready to support/push the next ball-carrier. It could be that this is a sign the coaches are adapting our style of play, as Paul Grayson has spoken of needing to adjust the balance between flinging the ball around in the backs and keeping it a bit tighter when that is more suitable.
Paul Ackford in the Sunday Telegraph hated how we played against Worcester, unfairly singling out Chris Budgen for criticism. Mr Ackford, the reason Budgen “fell over” every time after carrying the ball for 2-3 yards is because he was “tackled” by the opposition – that’s what happens in that situation. Being a former forward, you would have thought he’d have appreciated it, and I thought Budgen played well.
Our lineout is still flaky, which is a real shame as it was starting to look much better earlier in the season before Selborne Boome was injured. Steve Thompson over-threw a couple at Worcester, and one was stolen very cleanly. There weren’t many lineouts during that game, which surprised me as I would have thought that teams would try and manufacture more to exploit our well-known weakness.
There are few surprises in the Saints team, although there are only two backs on the bench. We appear to have picked as strong a team as we can, bearing in mind injuries and European registrations, although COYSDC’s own Luke Myring at inside centre is unusual.
As for Bristol, they have been doing well with regard to injuries – centre Sam Cox’s recent broken foot being their first serious injury to a leading player in two months. Richard Hill has the luxury of being able to pick pretty much whatever team he wants, lucky bugger.
Bristol’s last league game was away to Sale, and they were good value in a surprisingly close bonus-point defeat – out-scoring the usually prolific Sale 3 tries to 1 and going down mainly because of indiscipline. Charlie Hodgson kicked 7 penalties and Bristol were down to 13 men when Sale scored their try, as captain Matt Salter and fly-half Jason Strange were both in the sin bin.
Following that game, Bristol coach Richard Hill has taken 26 players on a mid-season training camp to La Manga. The fact that they only return to this country on Friday evening means that they will be deliberately fielding a weakened team. We mustn’t take this as an insult as they have done exactly the same in the first week of all three sets of ECC matches (field weakened teams that is, not go to La Manga). The weakened team means that we will see quite a few players who weren’t at Franklin’s Gardens two weeks ago.
Experienced Vaughan Going will play at full back, and Sean Marsden (top scorer in ND1 last year) is back on the wing after injury. Lee Robinson has been given a good run in the side on the right wing and seems to have cemented his place in the first team now, which makes it slightly surprising that we are seeing him this time – possibly the only bona fide first-teamer to be playing, and certainly the only one who started two weeks ago. He’s a big unit with speed, and when he makes decent contact he’s got a big boot, too. He’s young though, and other areas of his game might not be quite so sharp just yet. I actually saw him playing for Walcot in Bath (Jeremy Guscott’s original club) in 2002, when he was a real handful for the opposition. Richard Hill picked him up after he spent a couple of seasons in Plymouth, and he made an immediate impact in the first game of the season by scoring the winning try against Bath. He seems to be improving week by week, and the trip to La Manga might help him lose the tag of “the palest man in the Premiership”.
In the centres, Manuel Contepomi is back from injury, and lines up alongside ex-Wasp Mark Denney, whom I seem to recall scoring against us in the cup final in 2000. Denney doesn’t seem to be getting many chances in the first team, so this is a rare outing for him. Third-string fly-half Danny Gray has just re-signed for Bristol despite limited opportunities this season behind Jason Strange and Tommy Hayes, but only makes it onto the bench behind Hayes. Gray played against us in the return fixture (until he cracked a rib just before half-time), so he obviously knows a bit about how to control a game. He fully intends to keep pushing his two competitors for the starting berth, and will want to prove himself if he gets to play. He performed very well in Bristol’s first season in ND1, when he was player of the year. Jake Rauluni is in at scrum-half in place of David Perry – a man who is starting to gain national attention, much like our own Jon Clarke.
In the pack, most of the “more experienced” members (as I shall diplomatically call them) are being given a rest. Mark Robinson’s good friend (no, really) Mark Regan is having a day off, so Saul Nelson will hook. It could be worth keeping an eye on him – he scored a stunning try against Viadana from the halfway line, showing a startling turn of speed, and did pretty much the same against Exeter last season. A better try than Steve Thompson’s against Llanelli last season, but not as important. Props Hilton and Crompton, along with second-row Gareth Llewellyn will spend Saturday with their feet up letting younger people do the hard work for once. Llewellyn in particular could do with this, as I think he’s not far off his telegram from the Queen. Mark Irish and Wayne Thompson are propping with Mariano Sambucetti and Ollie Hodge making up the second row.
Looking back at previous matches in the ECC, it seems that Bristol haven’t tended to rest the back row quite so much, but that has changed following the La Manga trip. Bristol have rested the trio of Skipper Matt Salter, Joe El Abd (brother of the Brighton footballer) and Dan Ward-Smith. They aren’t well known but are a good streetwise unit – who perhaps give away a few too many penalties. Geraint Lewis, Craig Short and Richard Martin-Redman fill the back row in their places. Short has been given the captaincy. Former Welsh international Nathan Budgett joined the club in December, but he isn’t ECC registered.
The nippy David Lemi on the left wing seems to look dangerous whenever he gets the ball – he caused havoc in the ECC match in Bristol, ripped Viadana to shreds, and caused us more problems in the league match two weeks ago – so I am quite happy to see that he’s rested. The fact that he seems to be a back-up scrum-half (although his stint in that position against Viadana doesn’t seem to support the view) means he is one of only two backs on the bench.
First-teamers Llewellyn and El Abd are on the bench, along with Argentinian Martin Rospide – a former amateur who has had to work hard to develop the necessary fitness and conditioning, but it’s said that he’s coming along nicely.
The Saints are the great under-performers of the league (having inherited that title from Saracens), and a full-strength backline of Reihana, Cohen, Lamont, Kydd, Clarke, Spencer and Robinson should scare the bejesus out of any opposition – including several national sides. Jon Clarke won’t have harmed his growing reputation with his performance live on TV against Worcester, and Carlos Spencer draws rave reviews from opposition fans wherever he goes with his deft touches.
On the other hand, Bristol are a generally solid bunch with occasional bursts of inspiration, who look like they might be performing towards the higher end of their current ability even when they are at full strength.
My prediction? As Bristol are not fielding anything like their full-strength side and we are fielding a strong one, I reckon that the Saints will win by something like 4 tries to 2. It probably won’t happen immediately, but the top-level experience we have compared to the less experienced side Bristol are putting out should exert itself as the game goes on.
Having said that, we mustn’t under-estimate Bristol as their “second string” contains many of the young players who did so well for them in Division One last season. They aren’t that much below the “first string” in terms of ability and they play well together as a unit. Their only real failing is being young and inexperienced at Premiership level. This so-called second team achieved good results at Bath in the Powergen Cup and in Narbonne, and they would love to spring an upset and take revenge for our win at New Year.
This then leaves us to visit Viadana next week, where we should win. Bristol host Narbonne next Sunday, and will probably be putting out a stronger team ahead of their next Premiership match. I’m going to that game and will report back on it.
If we beat Bristol, that will put us 3 or 4 points clear at the top of the pool, and barring a catastrophic loss in Viadana, we will qualify as group winners. If Bristol beat Narbonne, which I think they have a good chance of doing, then they should qualify as one of the best runners-up.
The ECC as a whole is going very well for the English clubs, with London Irish, Gloucester, Newcastle and Worcester all in with a chance of winning their groups. Bristol qualifying might well see all 6 English clubs in the quarter finals, possibly joined by two out of Bayonne, Brive and Connacht. Quite some achievement!
Out of interest, these are the teams that met on New Year’s Day so you can see how much things can change in two weeks:
Northampton: Reihana, Rudd, Clarke, Vilk, Diggin, Spencer, Howard, Smith, Thompson, Budgen, D. Browne, Lord, Seely, Lewitt, D. Browne.
Replacements: Robinson, Hartley, Noon, Gerard, Harding, Tupai, Patston.
Bristol: Stortoni, Robinson, Lima, Cox, Lemi, Strange, Perry, Hilton, Regan, Crompton, Winters, Llewellyn, Salter, El Abd, Ward-Smith.