Tigers Claw Away at Saints' Play-off Hopes
By Nick Batley
April 15 2006
The old East Midlands derby has been going on for a fair few years now, and whatever the result, the game is always sure to be a cracker.
Tigers Claw Away at Saints' Play-off Hopes
Friday night's game was no different. The Tigers fans may have been complaining that they don't do evening games/don't play well in white/forget their lucky underwear on Fridays, but the men from Leicester pulled off a sterling performance, outscoring the Saintly ones 24 points to 19
It's not that Northampton didn't play well. They played superbly. The forwards have come on leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season. Pat Barnard is now being touted as the new Garry Pagel. Lord is still an amazing workman. It was just that, as shown time and time again from the Saints this season, we seem to never finish off easy chances. I counted at least five overlaps we had that were wasted. If the Saints want to challenge for the playoffs next season, they will certainly need to sort this problem out.
I thought I wouldn't have to watch the game to know what kind of game Leicester would play. Having read the programme, I knew that the Saints made more metres than any team in the Premiership and the Tigers made about half that. I assumed that they would simply stick it up their jumper, maul the ball down the field and wait for us to pull it down. As I have been with Lou's Lottery many times this season, I was overwhelmingly wrong.
In the first minute, Geordan Murphy caught a missed touch-kick from Spencer and Leicester started to mount an attack, but they quickly got “Gregor Townsend Syndrome” and passed it to nobody, and then into touch. Their disappointment lasted fully two minutes though, as big man Alex Tuilagi barged Clarke out of the way, leaving Leicester ample room to send speedster Varndell over for a relatively easy score. Vesty converted the difficult kick to leave Saints in a bit of a pickle at 0-7
Things worsened for Saints three minutes later when Spencer and Rowntree decided to have a little scuffle off the ball. Unfortunately for both of them, Spreaders spotted them and promptly sent them away to mull over what they'd done for ten minutes. Barnard was also given a slight ticking off for stamping.
Amazingly, the Saints came back firing and went right up the other end of the pitch after a scything run from JC. It all went to waste though, as Dan Browne delivered a high pass to Tupai, which was knocked on. Tupai was also perhaps lucky not to give away a penalty as immediately afterwards, he high-tackled Varndell. Mind you, Spreadbury isn't one for blowing up every time something goes wrong and he prefers to let the game flow a bit more.
It didn't take long for Saints to score though, as on the eleven minute mark, Moody was pinged for offside and Bruce slotted a penalty over from in front of the posts. Score: 3-7
Not too long after that, Saints began to get a bit of momentum and six minutes later, Spreaders told Leicester that they were not rolling away, and Reihana slotted another relatively easy penalty to bring the score to 6-7. And what's more, Spencer had returned to the fray
Leicester, despite dropping two of their key players, played some inspired rugby, and that Scott Bemand is a right little speedster, weaving his way round our defence, and it took a determined shaggy-haired lock (Lord) to stop him diving over for a well deserved try. But now it was the Saints' turn to attack the opposition line and on half-an-hour they got a try, and what a smashing one it was. Lamont delayed his pass to DB2, who cut a line that Brucey would have been proud of, leaving that big Tuilagi bloke for dead. Reihana converted from under the posts and the scoreline was looking a bit healthier at 13-7.
Of course, it wan't going to last that long. Five minutes later, Leicester got a turnover and despite a dodgy pass that Lamont could easily have intercepted, Tuilagi picked the ball up and rampaged fifty metres down Lamont's now vacant wing to dive over near the posts. Vesty converts leaving the score at 13-14, which is how it remained till half-time.
During the break, there was a nice little presentation where Uncle Keith gave Peter Wheeler and Matt Hampson's sister the money raised from the 125th anniversary celebration games last month. The total raised was some £18,000 and a bit, all of which is going towards the Matt Hampson Trust Fund. Good effort people, well done, and get well soon, Matt.
Now back to the rugby, and Saints started as they meant to go on, again attacking the line of Leicester and forcing Vesty to hold on. Brucey again converted the penalty, leaving the score at 16-14. Saints may have been able to get another try a few minutes later, had Big Ben Cohen not forward passed on an overlap.
Not to worry though, for a couple of minutes later, Leicester were pinged yet again for not rolling away and guess what? Yes, Brucey converted, maintaining his 100% record for that night., and bringing the scores to a slightly more comfortable 19-14.
However, the injection of Gibson seemed to excite Leicester and after a Brucie clean run, it was all Leicester. Saints were penalised for holding on and Vesty converted. Score: 19-17.
Then Leicester brought out their not-so-secret weapon: Goode replaced Healey and showed what Leicester were now planning to do; pin Saints in their own 22.
Personally, I think it was a mistake to bring Tupai off for Lewitt. Tupai was playing well, and whilst Lewitt's a nippy little bloke, he isn't as strong as the Samoan and we needed strength to combat the new Leicester game plan.
Another disaster on the hour mark: Barnard went down injured. And though he tried to carry on, he went off a couple of minutes later, and whilst Chicken is a good 'un, he simply doesn't have the power or technique of Barnard.
Then the killer blow, on 63 minutes. Vesty made a scintilating run, albeit aided by Goode's block on Daniel Browne. Phase after phase got Leicester tons of space, and Varndell, with a four man overlap, dived over in the corner. This is the kind of player England needs. Cueto and Cohen simply aren't fast enough any more, and while Tom needs to work on his defence, he will be a star of the future. Goode converted from the touchline to make the score 19-24
Well, that just about finished it for Northampton. As I said before, we have trouble converting our chances, and that became very apparent here. We had many chances, including Budgen bludgeoning up, but he lost the ball and conceded the scrum. Not even Michael Holford being sin-binned in the 77th munte for killing the ball could help Saints get over the try line, and as Saints were turned over yet again, Goode booted the ball backwards and the game was over.
All credit to Leicester, they seemed to want it much more than us, and whilst we seemed stuck for ideas half the time, they kept going and deservedly got their three tries.
Don't think I'm being pessimistic though. As Grayson said, there is nothing wrong with the commitment of the players, just the technique, and that's something he is able to sort out. I'm confident that if we keep playing this expansive rugby, we'll certainly get back in to the big time for next season.
Teams:
Northampton Saints –
Reihana (co-capt); Lamont, Clarke, Quinlan, Cohen; Spencer, Robinson; Smith, Thompson (co-capt), Barnard (Budgen 62mins), Damien Browne, Lord (Gerard 68mins), Tupai (Lewitt 58mins), Fox (Harding 58mins), Daniel Browne.
Leicester Tigers –
Murphy (Smith 40mins); Tuilagi, Hipkiss (Gibson 51mins), Vesty, Varndell; Healey (Goode 55mins), Bemand; White, Chuter (Buckland 40mins), Rowntree (Holford 41mins), Cullen, Kay (Hamilton 66mins), Deacon (Holford 9-18mins), Moody (Jennings 62mins), Corry (capt).
Scorers:
Northampton Saints –
Try: Daniel Browne; Con: Reihana; Pens: Reihana (4).
Leicester Tigers –
Tries: Varndell (2), Tuilagi; Cons: Vesty (2), Goode; Pen: Vesty.
Yellow cards:
Spencer (7mins)
Rowntree (7mins)
Holford (78mins)
Guinness Premiership man of the match:
Louis Deacon
Attendance:
13,493