Northampton Saints - Thoughts from the Chron

By Chris Gleadell
April 13 2007

After the highs of San Sebastian and the Heineken Cup victory over high flying Biarritz just seven days earlier it was back to reality on Sunday with the defeat at Kingston Park that still leaves us rooted firmly to the foot of the Guinness Premiership table.

Whilst we may have one eye on that HC semi final in two weeks time the stark reality is that by Sunday evening we could, as far as the GP is concerned, be out of touch and looking at playing in a different division next season. The 16-7 defeat at Newcastle seemed to be the same old story. A game that was there for the taking, one journalist commented that we could have won it twice over, yet we still fail to get points on the board. As ever consistency seems a major problem, beating Europe ’s elite one week but failing to put away a team that were until Sunday in threat of relegation themselves.

Sadly for this weekend our destiny is out of our hands to some extent and with Wasps sneaking that last gasp win over Sarries they will be doing us no favours as they will be going hell for leather to secure the points that will see them stay on track for the end of season playoffs.

The outlook at the moment may look bleak but it is far from over and London Irish look like they may be playing a major role in our future. The Exiles entertain fellow strugglers Worcester on Sunday at Reading after our game has finished (remember travellers our game kicks off at 12:15 for the Sky cameras). Should we fail to get anything at High Wycombe and the Irish fail to overcome Wuss then we are already down. However should our new best friends in the world manage to defeat Worcester then whatever happens between us and Wasps it all goes down to that last day of the season when we entertain the Exiles ourselves at the Gardens. It may be clutching at straws in some respects but there is still an escape route open, on the downside we might have to rely on others doing us favours to help us wriggle free. However going out and throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Wasps as though it’s the last chance saloon might just put the ball back in our court.

Whatever the outcome of this season, be it we escape by the skin of our teeth or drop a division, there does have to be the mother of all inquests into how and why the club find themselves in this position yet again. Whilst the vultures who thrive on the blame culture, and lord knows we have seen enough of them on the various message boards recently, think the simple solution is for XYZ to lose their heads without a by your leave, sackings will solve nothing. Rather they will just create another vacunm that we may not fill with the right personnel and be back to square one before we know it. Perhaps its time for those in power to stand back and take a long hard look at the club from top to bottom and look at the culture and systems at the Gardens throughout and to seek out solutions to get the club back where they should be. A good starting point may be an in depth look on how we have in three seasons failed overall to recover from the loss of Wayne Smith. Some hard decisions for some but clearly the club cannot continue as they currently are wherever we may be playing next season.

The HC or 2B or not 2B

Away from our own domestic strife the big news story over the last couple of weeks has been the withdrawl of both English and French clubs from next years European competitions. Given our current predicament it might not be our main concern at this moment in time but for the future of the club game in this country in my mind it is imperative that some kind of cross-border competition exist for English teams.

However before agreement takes place on the future of these competitions there looks like there may well be a lot of horse trading and a few heads needing to be banged together before a way forward is found. Clearly at the moment neither side looks like budging and with so much to lose, or indeed to gain, you can never see it going to arbitration. It looks like stalemate all round.

So were the English right to follow the French in pulling out? Well whatever the politics lets be blunt about it, outside of Scarlets, Ospreys, Leinster and Munster, especially given that two of those are already in the EDF Cup, there is little to tempt the English into taking part in a competition that is devoid of the French clubs.

From a purely selfish supporters point of view the French games are often the highlight of the season and the word is they may exist in some form or another next season anyway but that is hardly fair on the Celtic and Italian clubs who still may be left out in the cold. Whilst slightly siding with the clubs after the RFU went back on previous agreements I don’t think any party has covered themselves in glory over this.

I’d like to think common sense in the end would prevail but somehow I doubt it.

I jokingly mentioned an Anglo-Franco league in this column a few months back. Now I would not bet against it becoming a reality in some form or another.


And finally, a bit from last Saturdays Chron wot I wrote too...

Well it was all happening down in the Basque country last weekend. From incendiary bombs to anti-terrorist raids, to major flooding and avalanche warnings and even Jaques Chirac dropped in for tea.

However all this paled into insignificance for the locals in the Biarritz area when compared to what happened at the Stade Anoeta in San Sebastian on Sunday afternoon.

To say that Saints 7-6 victory over BOPB came as somewhat of a shock to them would be an understatement of some proportion. Not only was victory in the bag before the kickoff but so sure were the Biarrots of the invincibility of their team in this years Heineken Cup that shirts with ‘BOPB Twickenham 2007’ were widely available around town in the previous days. They say that pride comes before a fall but you did have to feel for some of the Biarritz supporters whose expectations were so abruptly dashed by Robbie Kydd’s late try. I happened to see Biarritz’s Robert Rabagny aka ‘Le Chef Indien’

(whoever edits this that is the proper spelling) shortly after the final whistle and he was a broken man. Looking like someone whose world had just ended he was slumped in the back of his truck, cheiftans head dress cast aside, shedding the odd tear or two. He was not alone in his tears but all credit to the Biarritz support they took the defeat well and on leaving the ground and in the subsequent days back in Biarritz many congratulated us on the victory. The owner of the Kirola Cafe perhaps summed it up best. “Yes we are sad, but you have come a long way to see your team, so we can be happy for you.” Given what else has happened in Europe this week and the animosity that clearly exists between some nationalities in certain other sports, I’ll second that.

The team were of course immense on the day and whilst those knowledgeable hacks in the national media who predicted a landslide for BOPB were trying to cover their tracks by saying it was all down to Biarritz losing the game rather than us winning it the Basques never really had one clear cut try opportunity all afternoon. By chance on Tuesday afternoon at a Euro U18 game I had a chat with a couple of the Biarritz coaching team (yes Namedroppers R Us) It’s a long story but with me mistaking them for groundsman at the Stade Aguilera and them mistaking me for a New Zealander (I said it was a long story) we struck up a conversation through an English speaker present. Away from the post match soundbites said in the heat of the moment they were full of praise for the likes of Dylan Hartley and Paul Tupai amongst others while one said Christian Labit keeps returning again and again to haunt them. The overall consensus was the game was won fair and square by a team that just did not let Biarritz play their usual game. There may not be a French equivalent to the phrase but it was clear they thought we did ‘a job on them’ and well done to Northampton for carrying out their gameplan.

How I do wish the likes of Jerry Guscott and Stephen Jones would take sentiments like that on board rather than sticking the knife in to fill column inches.

As for the Saints support they did themselves proud too. Perhaps not as many in number as in recent years and with most of us travelling in hope more than expectation everyone still gave it their all, my sore throat six days on is testament to that. Early on it was hard to hear yourself think let alone be heard over 30,000 Basques using all manner of implements to make a din. However as the game wore on and things did not go their way gradually that sound diminished and as the Saints lads stature grew on the pitch so did the rounds of ‘Oh Wendy’ in the stand. In the end I think we both complemented each other well and the day will go down in Saints legend and ceratinly live long in the memory.

A big well done and thank you also has to go out to both teams supporters clubs. There seems to be an increasing bond between the SSC and the Aupa-BO crowd each time we play.

On Saturday evening at the Kirola a good night was had by all at a night jointly organised by both clubs. Signed shirts and various other memorabilia were exchanged whilst badges and T-shirts were handed out gratis to all.

With a free buffet and it getting increasingly hard to pay for your own drinks without offers from the locals it was a very enjoyable night and just goes to show that yet again that we all might speak different languages but rugby can be a great at knocking down those perceived barriers between different nationalities. There may be no Heineken Cup for us next season but here’s too many more trips to the continent in future.