Northampton Saints - Thoughts from the Chron

By Chris Gleadell
February 16 2007

So after a two week Guinness Premiership break it’s once more into the breech dear friends as Saints continue their upward battle against Harlequins at the Gardens on Saturday.

Let’s hope the rest that the majority of the lads have had has done them the power of good as we enter a critical part of the season for the club. It’s clear that Saturday is a must win game, not only will it keep some distance between us and Worcester at the base of the table but maybe the victory will start gaining some ground on those above especially given that Newcastle, just four points to the better of the Saints, are travelling down to the Memorial Ground to play high flying Bristol.

Harlequins, as with any other GP team, will be a tough nut to crack though.

Despite losing the first five games of the season (from a Saints point of view we will not mention game six) they have gradually turned things around and sit just three points off a potential Heineken Cup place. However I think if the team can match the physicality they showed against Bristol they may just pull this one out of the bag.

The injury list is still of course a concern but it was good to see skipper Bruce Reihana making a return to the game at Henley on Tuesday night without it seems any ill effects. It may be too early to rush him headlong back into GP action though a very welcome return could see Stephen Myler returning to the fold. It may be time to reinstate him at flyhalf giving Carlos a freer role outside him again. It might just be the cure for that white line fever we desperately need.

ARGENTINA

Though the event might not have quite lived up to its original star billing I am sure like most I still enjoyed the friendly club v country game against Argentina at the Gardens last Wednesday night.

We may not have seen the 1st team squad strutting their stuff nor seen the top rank Argentinians, apart from the extraordinary boot of Juan Martin Hernandez, but I thought the game was better for it. Both sides fielded a team that contained a lot of players with something to prove to their respective coaches giving the game a competitive edge it might not had done otherwise. At times it was anything but a ‘friendly’ as both sides gave it their all and certainly you would not have put any money pre-match on the Saints pack steamrollering the much vaunted Pumas pack for two pushover tries.

Although the lads were run out of it in the end in a 40-17 defeat considering the Saints had five players making their debut I think they made a fair fist of it and certainly there was no disgrace in the defeat.

ENGLAND MATTERS

In recent weeks young Dylan Hartley has really had the bit between his teeth for both club and country.

In the GP game against Bristol he was all over the place and perhaps had his best game in a Saints shirt and he continued that form for England A in Belfast on Friday night. Dylan was again all over the shop making a nuisance of himself in both tight and lose and the highlight was standing up the winger before going outside him for a well deserved try. On this form he will not only have Steve Thompson’s Saints shirt long term but also his England one too and the battle for the hooking spot can only be good for the Saints.

Flicking between channels on Friday night you could also catch snippets of Phil Hoy and Charlie Beech playing their part in the England Under20 victory over Italy in the mire at Bath . Charlie scored a well taken try, sliding in at short range in about a foot of mud and it raised an extra cheer from those at ComeOnYouSaints.Com who are sponsoring him this season.

Well done to all three and it goes to show that maybe the clubs investment in young English talent is not quite as bad as some will have you believe.

AND YES THE USUAL OLD NUGGET

Sadly the club v country issue raised its head yet again in the aftermath of last weeks Six Nations games. As far as I am aware release dates for players are agreed well in advance but in another attempt at moving the goalposts mid-season this week both Rob Andrew and Brian Ashton requested that clubs do not play their England players in the forthcoming round of GP games. Ashton even went as far as naming his squad a week early to put further pressure on the clubs involved. Of course the clubs can say no but then, yet again, they will no doubt be portrayed as the bad boys of the piece, yet again hindering England ’s advancement. Directly this does not affect the Saints however indirectly, should Leicester decide to follow this directive, we could see Worcester gaining ground on us by beating a depleted Tigers side. (Note: Of course when writing this I forgot we are playing them next week with zero internationals available.)

Now all this could become a thing of the past if you believe Francis Baron. The head honcho at the RFU says the club v country spat will be over for good by June. On reading the RFU’s much awaited ‘The Way Forward’ document this week he is either wildly optimistic or dafter than we first thought.

It might be well wrapped up in consultant speak but there appears to be more potential sticking points than points of agreement on first reading. One issue that really caught the eye was centrally contracted England elite players will be loaned back to clubs as the England hierarchy see fit. All well and good you may think until you come to the consultants conclusions about the Heineken Cup. The consultants point out that although the HC is a high grade competition, just a step down from international level, not all the England elite players are playing in it.

So how do you remedy that? Well they do not spell it out but it is pretty clear where they are heading.

In my mind if they run with this then there are possibly just two options

A: England players will not play for their clubs in Europe unless that club is in the Heineken Cup. The other elite players will be ‘loaned’ to other Heineken contenders. Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson for Leicester anyone? or

B: The Heineken Cup will be competed for by regional squads selected by Club England which for want of a better word is franchising by the back door. Fran Cotton finally gets his wish.

To be fair to Baron though he did not say which June he was talking about...