GP: Leicester Tigers vs Northampton Saints Preview

It has been a bad news week for the Saints and COYSDC. Last Saturday’s defeat has knocked the stuffing out of us all. The board has witnessed highs and lows before, but over this last week there was great wailing. Friends fell out, others called for heads and many just stamped their feet in disgust. A new signing failed to cheer some people up, and particular angst was felt when one of our favourite sons signed for Brizz. We then discovered something which we all suspected, but wanted to ignore, that Wally needs surgery and a long recuperation. It’s not that we don’t have some quality cover in his position; it’s just desperately unlucky and worrying for him, in this World Cup year.

As so often happens in these dim days the start of the week is miserable, nothing seems right. The deep melancholy only begins to change on Wednesday evening, around 11.30, a few minutes after Howlin gets back from the Malt Shovel Music Night. By Friday we are all champing at the bit, full of hope and expectation, boosted by the sight of the team pasted on the board.

But where does this hope come from? It certainly doesn’t come from the league table or recent match reports. I think I know but am not eloquent enough to express it so I decided therefore to trust to Google and quotations to get me going. This following line seemed appropriate enough to the Saints this season.

“The deepest human defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the difference between what one was capable of becoming and what one has in fact become.” (Ashley Montagu)

This may seem somewhat negative but it hides a positive intent. When I look at our squad, I see genuine talent and endeavour. In years to come we may reminisce fondly of these individuals, forgetting the collective difficulties. It will be a travesty if this squad fails. The Saints players, management and supporters must keep the faith, believe in themselves and not surrender this opportunity. We are good enough. Confidence will come with victory, let us start now. This line-up has been given the nod:-

 15 BRUCE REIHANA (capt)
14 Paul Diggin
13 Seamus Mallon
12 DAVID QUINLAN
11 BEN COHEN
10 Stephen Myler
9 MARK ROBINSON
1 TOM SMITH
2 Dylan Hartley
3 SOANE TONGA’UIHA
4 Damien Browne
5 Christian Short
6 PAUL TUPAI
7 Darren Fox
8 Mark Hopley

Replacements:
16 MATIAS CORTESE
17 Chris Budgen
18 Matt Lord
19 Alex Rae
20 Johnny Howard
21 VAUGHAN GOING
22 Matthieu Bourret

I don’t see an individual weakness but it is the collective that counts. I cannot remember whether Quinlan and Mallon have played as a centre parting before, but it doesn’t matter any more. Just do it.

Here is the Leicester team.

15 Sam Vesty
14 Seru Rabeni
13 Dan Hipkiss
12 Ollie Smith
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Paul Burke
9 Scott Bemand

1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Gavin Hickie
3 Alex Moreno
4 Leo Cullen (capt)
5 Ben Kay
6 Brett Deacon
7 Shane Jennings
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 James Buckland
17 Michael Holford
18 Tom Croft
19 Luke Abraham
20 Frank Murphy
21 Ian Humphreys
22 Daryl Gibson

Okay, so not many weaknesses there either, despite the fact that so many of Leicester’s first choice will be at the starters and puddings in tomorrow’s feast. Pat Howard has to be congratulated in constructing such a strong squad. However, we have to hope that he may have just overstepped his determination to keep things “competitive”. Five changes to last week’s winning team may be one or two too many.

Amongst Saints supporters I probably stand selfishly alone in my indifference to the fact that we may get relegated this season. I have probably grown a little weary of trekking to many of the Premiership grounds, supping tasteless keg beer, surrendering on and off the pitch and then sulking for a week. I now yearn for the rugby to be blended with pints of Tribute and Exmoor Gold, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem and Kelham Island, victories and singing, and then the subsequent days being full of wanton gloating. The feeling of joy should not be confined to the last few days of the week, and I somehow see a season in ND1 as an opportunity to enjoy it all again.

This blasé attitude to GP life comes and goes. I would miss some things about life in the Premiership - I would miss seeing the top players and the top places like Bath, Bristol and Newcastle.  Most of all though, I would miss Welford Rd. Not the stadium particularly, or the city. I would miss the people, the build-up, the tension, the crowding in the Crumbie, the Swan and Rushes, the sinking feeling as the likes of Johnson, Back, Corry and many others come trotting down those steps. (The personnel may have changed, but the quality remains). This inferiority complex then gets mixed with the eternal hope and sudden belief when they all line-up for the kick-off. Our away kits don’t normally excite me greatly, but when all the players take their positions at Welford Rd and we all wait those few seconds before the whistle, the crowd bellow and I suddenly realise that this is why I do it.

You can keep the other dishes, I’m on a Main Course diet.