Saints Happy and Victorious but not too Glorious!

By Jonathan Stockham
September 7 2006

A curate’s egg of a match in which Northampton Saints narrowly defeated Newcastle Falcons, (complete with J Wilkinson esq.,) to secure 4 valuable premiership points on a blustery Sunday lunchtime.

Northampton Saints 25, Newcastle Falcons 23

Guinness Premiership Round 1, Sunday 3 September 2006

On a day and at a time when most good folk would normally have been tucking into their Sunday roast (or nut cutlets) and I would normally have been sleeping off the over-indulgences of my birthday, 13,500 rugby fans assembled at a sunny Franklins Gardens for the long awaited opening blast of the 2006/07 campaign. Saints won the day with a forward dominated performance but only just scraped the win after the Falcons backs showed some real class in carving through Saints suspect defence in a second half comeback.

 

First, the forward domination. Saints front row tucked in to their Sunday lunch with some glee. Chris Budgen was a late replacement for Pat Barnard but such is the level of skill and experience of our Chicken (were you watching MrAckford?) that it didn’t matter a jot.

And the first course was devoured by Tom Smith and his colleagues when, after 3 attempts to settle a scrum 7 metres from the Falcons line, Saints drove the visiting pack off their own ball to win what used to be called “A Scrum Against the Head” (Rugby watchers under the age of 25 will need to ask an old person for an explanation of this vintage rugby terminology).

 

The Saints pack drove forward, the Falcons front row were leaning backwards like some dodgy piece of Italian multi storey construction and the ball was collected by Mark Easter at No 8. He ran left and popped a beautifully weighted pass to Dave Quinlan who thundered over for the try beside the posts.

 

Brroonie, Rob Richmond and even Piggy Powell could be heard weeping above the roar and praising their gods for a vision that had not been seen at FG for many a year. Bruce added the conversion to the try and an earlier penalty kick to make it 10 – 0 after 17 minutes.

The Saints pack continued to rough up the Falcon’s forwards in the set piece but on 26 minutes, referee Rob Debney, decided the he could not stand to see such bullying going on and penalised the Saints front row for being….well…..just too strong and repeating the forcefulness which had been making the Falcon’s front row pop up all match. Odd! Also odd was the latitude given to Falcon’s persistent infringements at the tackle / ruck zone. Debney had warned the Newcastle skipper as early as the 14^th minute but then did nothing even remotely approaching a yellow card when the visitors committed similar fouls later.

 

Falcons had also worked out that their defensive line could creep a couple of metres off side unnoticed by any of the three officials and this helped to close down the space that Carlos Spencer had to operate in.

 

Admittedly, Saints were fortunate that the ref’s lenience extended to the high and very late tackle by Paul Tupai and Johnny Howard’s serial tap dancing on prone Falcon’s players who made the cardinal error of lying on the wrong side of rucks. Toops and his back row comrades were an annoying source of penalties conceded to Falcons and discipline in both technical and foul play areas needs to be improved.

 

 

At half time the score had ticked up to 13 – 6 after Bruce kicked a penalty after Falcons again infringed after a tackle (still no yellow card!) and Jonny Bravo Wilko had opened his account with a couple of successful spot kicks of his own.

 

The desert course arrived in the form of the second half and the familiar frame of ex-Saint Robbie Morris, brought on as tight head to see if he could outwit and out-perform Tom Smith at the set scrum. ……………..What do you think?!

 

Too much Sauternes had obviously been consumed with the Sunday pudding in the home dressing room, as they turned out like sloths on Mogadon. Within 12 minutes of the restart, Falcons led 13 – 18 after two well worked tries created by the quick thinking and running of the Newcastle backs. The second was a classic as Toby Flood nearly broke through to the line but managed to pop the ball up to Jonny Wilkinson following up superbly to score by the posts.

 

Shortly after, Howard and Browne were subbed by Sharky Robinson and Matt Lord and Saints upped their game, winning a series of penalties and working the ball forwards along the left touchline. An attacking line out 10 metres from the visitors line was taken by Lordy and the ball was driven forward again.

 

After numerous picks and drive, the ball seemed to be somewhere near the try line but the ref decided that the man with the very quick and clever video machine ought to have a look. “No Try” awarded but Saints didn’t give up and from the resultant scrum 5, the pack slowly inched forward, well in control. Sharky watched the back row shepherd the ball over the line and dived in to secure the try.

 

Unfortunately Bruce missed the conversion to leave the scores level at 18 – 18 after 20 minutes.

 

Saints worked the ball up field and camped on Falcons 5 metre line, driving the ball inches forward until the backs were released. The ball moved swiftly to the right with attackers committing the defence and Foxy making the extra man to release Ben Cohen, who squeezed over in the right corner. Scores level and a big kick needed from Bruce on the touchline.

 

Bruce took his time and the ball did likewise, finding a favourable breeze to sail perfectly between the sticks. Saints retook the lead at 25 – 23 with 6 minutes of playing time left.

 

More drama was to follow, as JW took a kick at goal after Hopley had been penalised 25 metres out from Saints line. What looked like a dead cert for Jonny sailed well wide to huge gasps of relief from the FG faithful and Flood’s attempt at a drop goal shortly after veered off target.

 

As the clock told us that there was only a minute left, Falcons lost the ball forward as they attacked again and Saints kept things tight enough long enough for the visitors to commit about 6 simultaneous off-side offences in sheer frustration. The crowd counted down the closing seconds loudly enough to be heard in Cape Canaveral. Penalty to Saints, time had run out and the ball was hoofed into the Rodber Bar to get the drinks in. Job done.

 

Phew! Saints forward dominance, at scrum and line out was the factor that won the game but the penalty count, leaky defence and general lack of structure apparent in multi phase attacks will be our downfall against sides who are stronger than Newcastle up front.

 

The Falcons backs, directed by JW looked sharp and will undo many sides if their forwards can win some ball.

 

Finally, a word for Jon Clarke. We had the sad sight of Jon being helped from the field towards the end of the first half with a broken ankle. In what many supporters (and JC himself) must have hoped would have been a major season for his club and international aspirations, the news that he could be out of action until Christmas is a cruel blow. Get better soon JC.