GP: Bristol vs Northampton Saints Match Preview
By Simon Hendy
April 28 2006
This is the fourth time the Saints have played Bristol this season – the current score being 2-1 to the Saints, with the ECC spoils being shared in home wins and Saints just coming out on top in the New Year meeting at the Gardens.
What, we’re playing Bristol again?
Bristol Rugby v Northampton Saints
Guinness Premiership, Sunday 30th April 2006
Bristol Rugby:
Bernardo Stortoni, Lee Robinson, Rob Higgitt, Sam Cox, Marko Stanojevic, Jason Strange, Shaun Perry, David Hilton, Mark Regan, Darren Crompton, Mariano Sambucetti, Roy Winters, Matt Salter (capt), Craig Short, Geraint Lewis
Replacements: Mark Irish, Neil Clark, Alex Clarke, Richard Martin-Redman, Dan Ward-Smith, Danny Gray, Brian Lima
Northampton Saints:
BRUCE REIHANA (capt), SEAN LAMONT, Jon Clarke, DAVID QUINLAN, BEN COHEN, CARLOS SPENCER, MARK ROBINSON, TOM SMITH, Dan Richmond, Pat Barnard, Damien Browne, Matt Lord, PAUL TUPAI, SAM HARDING, Daniel Browne
Replacements: STEVE THOMPSON, Chris Budgen, DAVID GERARD, Darren Fox, Johnny Howard, Robbie Kydd, John Rudd
Bristol were justifiably delighted to have achieved their season’s ambition with three matches remaining – they are secure in retaining their Premiership place, which is always a tricky proposition immediately after promotion. Safety was all but secured with an excellent win away at Gloucester, and made definite against a poor/uninterested Newcastle team three weeks ago.
Northampton have had an excellent 2006, going from relegation candidates to having a very good chance of Heineken Cup rugby next season. Last weekend’s results in the ECC mean that 6th place in the Guinness Premiership will secure a Heineken Cup place, and as Saints are currently 6th, it is within their control.
As Bristol’s Premiership status has been secured, seven of their players who require surgery will be having it before the end of the season, and some have already had theirs. The seven include Sam Cox, Manuel Contepomi, David Lemi, Sean Marsden and Joe El Abd. I believe that Geraint Lewis and skipper Matt Salter are also on the list but they have presumably delayed theirs as they are both playing on Sunday. Cox has already had his very minor thumb operation (removing a screw), and has been selected in the starting XV. Having their operations now will give the players the chance to have a summer break as well as rehabilitate, which is jolly decent of the club.
This means that there have been a few changes to the team (although not as many as when Bristol played at the Gardens in the ECC) and it’s pretty much the strongest team Bristol can put out in the circumstances. I thought that some of the front row would have been given a rest (as has Llewellyn in the second row), but Hill has kept with the 103 club. Nathan Budgett is recovering after a nasty looking neck compression against Bath, but the club sensibly won’t play him until they are certain he is totally recovered.
Craig Short replaces surgery-bound Joe El Abd in the back row once again – he played a few games recently when selected ahead of El Abd, and it probably wasn’t just a coincidence that the penalty count against Bristol dropped during that time.
Shaun Perry is the star of the Bristol backs (and is one of the five nominees for player of the year, alongside Air Carlos), and is even more likely to feature in the England set-up in some way after the retirement of Matt Dawson. It would seem that Hill is hoping Perry avoids injury because there doesn’t appear to be any scrum half cover on the bench. Some of the fans would like to have seen Danny Gray given a run-out at fly half, but he’s on the bench.
Vaughan Going would normally be expected to play at fullback, but he has returned to New Zealand for personal reasons. Bernado Stortoni fills in for him.
Watching Bristol this season as a neutral, it has been interesting to watch the progress of wing Lee Robinson. He started the season very raw (which didn’t stop him scoring the winning try against Bath in the first game), but has improved week by week. In the last couple of games, he has started to take penalty kicks to touch, so they have obviously been at work refining his big boot. He is also showing some nice deft touches in addition to his combination of size and speed – his offloading has improved, and he has also been attempting the odd chip and chase.
After a few weeks seemingly out of favour, David Lemi has been back on the wing recently, and has been re-affirming his elusiveness and try-scoring ability. Remembering what he did to the Saints in the ECC match in Bristol, I’m glad he’s not playing – he’s having a bone spur removed from his heel. Marko Stanojevic takes his place – he’s the fastest player in the Bristol squad, so Sean Lamont needs to keep him closed down. The same can probably be said of Cohen with Robinson on the other wing.
For the Saints, Carlos Spencer has escaped the risk of a ban after clocking up three yellow cards for foul play (stamping, high tackle and fighting). Who would have thought he’d pick up more cards than Corne Krige? The fear that his compulsory one-week ban (which happily coincided with an off week – go figure) might be extended highlighted our current lack of spare fly-halves. COYSDC’s own Luke Myring is out until next season, so it seemed likely that Bruce Reihana or Robbie Kydd would have filled in.
The Saints don’t appear to have any new injury problems, although I noticed Daniel Browne wasn’t running very easily when he scored his try against Leicester. Having no game last week won’t have done him (or anyone else for that matter) any harm. I expect that a full-strength team will be picked, with Jon Clarke playing against his former club.
I think that Saints will win and could well pick up a bonus point, especially as Spencer is free to play. Bristol won’t be too far behind – just outside bonus point territory I suspect – and will keep going until the bitter end. They demonstrated this against London Irish recently – playing into the wind, they came storming back in the last 10 minutes when I thought the last Irish score had killed them off and were actually a little unlucky not to come away with more than a losing bonus point. Which is a lot more than we did when we played Irish a couple of weeks before.
Expect a fast moving game as both teams like to run the ball. The recent form of Pat Barnard and Tom Smith could help to give the Saints backs a good platform. Bristol have played very well as a unit over the season, and having to re-jig the team will not help their cohesiveness.
If other results over the weekend (Saracens v Leicester on Friday night, particularly) go the Saints way, then a win over Bristol will secure 6th place and that all-important Heineken Cup slot. That would also mean that the team don’t go into the last game against Sale having to win against someone at the top of the table.
As we reach the end of the season, more arrivals and departures are being announced around the league, so it will be interesting to see how the two sides have recruited. Bristol will be looking to consolidate and progress towards Heineken Cup qualification, while the Saints probably have slightly loftier ambitions.
Having watched about half of their home games this season, I think that Bristol’s prime concern has to be at fly-half. Jason Strange has done the job for them this season, but he has his limitations (an inability to kick drop goals amongst them) and I don’t know whether he has the ability to take them that much further. Dave Walder, just released by Newcastle, could well prosper under a coach like Richard Hill and may turn out to be a shrewd signing if they can get him.
Bristol also need to prepare for the future, considering the age of some of their key forwards. The veterans have done a fantastic job for them this season (the same front row trio starting 18 of 21 games so far), but you have to wonder how much chance there is of them all remaining fit for another full season.
Finally, after the game on Sunday, Bristol supporters will be taking on Bath supporters in the second “Moz Memorial Match” – a charity game in memory of Tim Morris from Bath’s ‘Ere site who died suddenly last year. If you are coming to Bristol for the game and have time afterwards, please try to stay and support the game. A certain A. Rowden from the RFU and sometimes of this parish has been persuaded to referee…
Money is being raised for MSF – Medecins Sans Frontiers. Please give generously, either at the game or via http://www.justgiving.com/mmm2
Simon Hendy (a socially challenged cyber-saddo sometimes known as shendy).