News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
By St Francis
February 1 2009
Following Robby Richmond's effective wind-up of our Harlequin supporter friends, one wonders how to present this one-eyed drivel whilst avoiding more hurt and anguish for our friends in Middlesex.
So pre-emptive apologies to all those who take offence at this report because it is insulting, obsequious, patronising, toadying, bland, complicated, long, short, boring, biased, even-handed, or simply too erudite for the audience...
Match Report Harlequins vs Saints 31.1.09
GP Round 19 - The Stoop Kick off 3:00pm
By Frank Chambers
Saints Comprehensively Lose a Dull Match
Or, to put a Mandelsonian spin on it:
Saints Prevent Quins from Gaining a Try Bonus Point
Harlequins 27 - 6 Saints
By Frank Chambers
Saints Comprehensively Lose a Dull Match
Or, to put a Mandelsonian spin on it:
Saints Prevent Quins from Gaining a Try Bonus Point
Harlequins 27 - 6 Saints
This was an eagerly-anticipated fixture (but aren’t they all?). Not only is the Stoop Memorial Ground (or the Twickenham Stoop as it is now called) a real rugby ground, it is also a pretty friendly place. There is now even a roof (well, a tarpaulin) on the South Stand! I have friends who are Quins supporters, and in the past we have got together before the game and tell the other that they are bound to win because “our team will be affected by injuries/international calls/poor form/general uselessness. And anyway, the ref will be biased towards your lot.” However, the form book (Quins 5 straight wins at home, Saints no away wins in the Prem) said that this should be an easy win for the Harlequins. And so it came to pass.
We have recent painful memories of this place. A couple of years ago, in our relegation year, the Saints helped Quins to end their post-ND1 losing streak by putting in such an abject performance that the opposition got a try bonus point (and we got some bad feelings about the rest of the season). But today was different. Saints had temporary bragging rights after their win at the Gardens (but don’t forget that Quins were tired after their wins against Stade in the HC), and despite a truly awful away record in the Premiership, hopes were high among the FG faithful. Secretly, we were rather hoping that history might repeat itself and that Quins’ heroics against the mighty Scarlets would have left them a bit tired and in need of a nap.
Before the match we had the NFL Cheerleaders to entertain us, jumping up and down and waving some tasselly things about. But they were far away and we quickly lost interest. Not having a lot of cheerleader experience (except for Nottingham and Doncaster last season), I can only assume that they were jolly good indeed.
And so to the game. First I have to add a disclaimer that we were sitting in the rather rickety North Stand in the back row, and the players were at the other end for most of the time (at least in the first half) and hard to recognise. So if you want a factual report with proper names and stuff, I suggest you go to one of the well-known websites that are good at that sort of thing.
The pitch was in good nick, the weather was clear, but there was a biting, swirling breeze that made accurate high kicking a bit of a lottery. And it got colder and colder as the game went on…
Finally, to add to our feelings of foreboding, the Saints were playing in their “unlucky” white strip today.
Quins kicked off, and after a few initial exchanges they switched their attack left, right and left again before the Saints’ defensive line ran out and Botha scored in the corner. In mitigation, Saints had a man down on the floor but it was disappointing to be a try down after just three minutes. Nick Evans got the conversion and it was 7-0.
The game settled down a bit from there, with Saints repelling a couple of Quins’ attacks in their 22, but not really stringing anything noteworthy together themselves. After 16 minutes, Quins picked up a penalty by the excellent Nick Evans to make it 10-0.
The second quarter was a duller version of the first, with most of the play taking place in midfield. Saints did produce a couple of nice moves, from Bruce and Digger,
but they seemed to be infringing an awful lot and the referee’s whistle was being heard much more than we would like. After 25 minutes Saints had a chance to narrow the margin but Stephen Myler missed an easy-ish kick (for him), the ball passing a foot to the right of the posts.
Just before half time, Nick Evans kicked a 35 yard penalty to put Quins 13-0 ahead.
To sum up the first half, Saints had one or two attacks of note near the line, and Quins had 2 or 3. There was no overall supremacy at the set piece, neither lineout looked particularly secure and the Saints’ scrum was surviving against the mighty Ceri Jones and his friends. However, one Saints supporter was moved to shout out “Saints, you’re rubbish… so far!”
At half time, the eagerly awaited NFL Cheerleaders came back on to the field to do their ‘thing’. You had to sympathise with them, it was bitterly cold and the wind chill factor must have been Arctic – you could see the goosebumps from Row W... But bravely on they came, in their bras and pants, and did all that jumping around with their pompoms again. I don’t know at what temperature silicone freezes solid, but I take my hat off to them for risking all. Well done ladies and have a safe journey home.
But that wasn’t all: another entertainment was laid on, as if prancing blondes in their underwear wasn’t enough. This time it was a large inflatable thing with the Quins’ sponsor’s name, Etihad, written on it (spookily, Etihad is an anagram of Apple Corporation’s new Personal Euthanasia Product, iDeath). Anyways, the idea was for some people to try and get their balls inside this inflatable thing and then to go away when the game finished. They did that and before we knew it, the second half was about to start!
The Saints kicked off and immediately went on the offensive, gaining a penalty around halfway which Myler hit short and wide.
A few minutes into the half the Saints were cheered by the sight of Neil Best taking the field. But could he instil some spirit, a spark, anything? As an encouragement, it was becoming apparent that it was now Quins’ turn to be repeatedly penalised by the referee, especially around the ruck area.
At 49 minutes, following sustained attacks by Quins, Botha had a try disallowed because the referee had temporarily joined the Quins attack and had got in the way a bit. Quins were given the Scrum 5 which they pushed right over the line, not touching down but getting a penalty try. With the conversion, it was now 20-0.
Straight from the kick off Saints attacked left, Quins infringed and Stephen Myler finally scored the penalty. 20-3. A couple of minutes later and it was the same again. 20-6.
Then the game reverted to deeply dull again. There were a couple of determined runs from Bruce, two from Digger, and Sean looked strong, but there was too little passing, too much going into contact and too much dropping the ball. And as for playing without the ball… tackling practice on Monday, I thin
k. Too many tacklers just dropped off the runner, sometimes it took several attempts to bring a player down. On the slightly brighter side, Juandre Kruger was a constant disruptive threat in the lineout, causing Quins to throw very long a couple of times to get over him. Unfortunately we didn’t have the nous to spot the lineout catcher breaking off the back of the line.
The last score of the day came from Quins as Jim Evans walked through a large gap in the line as the Saints appealed to the referee for offside, crossing, handball or whatever. The ref wasn’t having any of it and the other Evans added two more to make it 27-6. This was a pretty fair reflection of the game, I thought – the Quins weren’t good enough for a try bonus, and we weren’t good enough for a losing one.
With 10 minutes to go, Saints had all their subs on the field and our thoughts had gone from “We can still do this, come on you Saints!” to “Can we go home soon?”
The final whistle went, which was a relief to the travelling Saints supporters. Quins had played averagely, and had still managed to comprehensively beat the Saints. We were spark-free and predictable in our tactics and passing. It is easy to blame our absentees, but I do think that if both sides were playing full teams there may have been a closer contest. As it was, if we had had Carlos to run on after half time it would at least have given us something to cheer about. But that’s another story in another life.
We trooped out of the gate, over the mounds of cigarette ends and towards the station. It was a dispiriting afternoon.
Match Fact: they don’t do “quiet” for kicks at the Stoop, neither for the visiting kicker nor the home one. There is a constant hubbub of chatter that continues throughout the kicks and only gets a little louder if it goes over. Only near the end of the game did the chatter subside a little, allowing us to hear the Manfred Mann classic “Mighty Quinn” being sung by several people. What can they talk about for almost two hours?
Stadium fact: The PA speakers in the North Stand are so poor that you can’t hear much from either the announcer or the music he plays. For that reason alone I recommend it.
Attendance: 12,332
We have recent painful memories of this place. A couple of years ago, in our relegation year, the Saints helped Quins to end their post-ND1 losing streak by putting in such an abject performance that the opposition got a try bonus point (and we got some bad feelings about the rest of the season). But today was different. Saints had temporary bragging rights after their win at the Gardens (but don’t forget that Quins were tired after their wins against Stade in the HC), and despite a truly awful away record in the Premiership, hopes were high among the FG faithful. Secretly, we were rather hoping that history might repeat itself and that Quins’ heroics against the mighty Scarlets would have left them a bit tired and in need of a nap.
Before the match we had the NFL Cheerleaders to entertain us, jumping up and down and waving some tasselly things about. But they were far away and we quickly lost interest. Not having a lot of cheerleader experience (except for Nottingham and Doncaster last season), I can only assume that they were jolly good indeed.
And so to the game. First I have to add a disclaimer that we were sitting in the rather rickety North Stand in the back row, and the players were at the other end for most of the time (at least in the first half) and hard to recognise. So if you want a factual report with proper names and stuff, I suggest you go to one of the well-known websites that are good at that sort of thing.
The pitch was in good nick, the weather was clear, but there was a biting, swirling breeze that made accurate high kicking a bit of a lottery. And it got colder and colder as the game went on…
Finally, to add to our feelings of foreboding, the Saints were playing in their “unlucky” white strip today.
Quins kicked off, and after a few initial exchanges they switched their attack left, right and left again before the Saints’ defensive line ran out and Botha scored in the corner. In mitigation, Saints had a man down on the floor but it was disappointing to be a try down after just three minutes. Nick Evans got the conversion and it was 7-0.
The game settled down a bit from there, with Saints repelling a couple of Quins’ attacks in their 22, but not really stringing anything noteworthy together themselves. After 16 minutes, Quins picked up a penalty by the excellent Nick Evans to make it 10-0.
The second quarter was a duller version of the first, with most of the play taking place in midfield. Saints did produce a couple of nice moves, from Bruce and Digger,
but they seemed to be infringing an awful lot and the referee’s whistle was being heard much more than we would like. After 25 minutes Saints had a chance to narrow the margin but Stephen Myler missed an easy-ish kick (for him), the ball passing a foot to the right of the posts. Just before half time, Nick Evans kicked a 35 yard penalty to put Quins 13-0 ahead.
To sum up the first half, Saints had one or two attacks of note near the line, and Quins had 2 or 3. There was no overall supremacy at the set piece, neither lineout looked particularly secure and the Saints’ scrum was surviving against the mighty Ceri Jones and his friends. However, one Saints supporter was moved to shout out “Saints, you’re rubbish… so far!”
At half time, the eagerly awaited NFL Cheerleaders came back on to the field to do their ‘thing’. You had to sympathise with them, it was bitterly cold and the wind chill factor must have been Arctic – you could see the goosebumps from Row W... But bravely on they came, in their bras and pants, and did all that jumping around with their pompoms again. I don’t know at what temperature silicone freezes solid, but I take my hat off to them for risking all. Well done ladies and have a safe journey home.
But that wasn’t all: another entertainment was laid on, as if prancing blondes in their underwear wasn’t enough. This time it was a large inflatable thing with the Quins’ sponsor’s name, Etihad, written on it (spookily, Etihad is an anagram of Apple Corporation’s new Personal Euthanasia Product, iDeath). Anyways, the idea was for some people to try and get their balls inside this inflatable thing and then to go away when the game finished. They did that and before we knew it, the second half was about to start!
The Saints kicked off and immediately went on the offensive, gaining a penalty around halfway which Myler hit short and wide.
A few minutes into the half the Saints were cheered by the sight of Neil Best taking the field. But could he instil some spirit, a spark, anything? As an encouragement, it was becoming apparent that it was now Quins’ turn to be repeatedly penalised by the referee, especially around the ruck area.
At 49 minutes, following sustained attacks by Quins, Botha had a try disallowed because the referee had temporarily joined the Quins attack and had got in the way a bit. Quins were given the Scrum 5 which they pushed right over the line, not touching down but getting a penalty try. With the conversion, it was now 20-0.
Straight from the kick off Saints attacked left, Quins infringed and Stephen Myler finally scored the penalty. 20-3. A couple of minutes later and it was the same again. 20-6.
Then the game reverted to deeply dull again. There were a couple of determined runs from Bruce, two from Digger, and Sean looked strong, but there was too little passing, too much going into contact and too much dropping the ball. And as for playing without the ball… tackling practice on Monday, I thin
k. Too many tacklers just dropped off the runner, sometimes it took several attempts to bring a player down. On the slightly brighter side, Juandre Kruger was a constant disruptive threat in the lineout, causing Quins to throw very long a couple of times to get over him. Unfortunately we didn’t have the nous to spot the lineout catcher breaking off the back of the line.The last score of the day came from Quins as Jim Evans walked through a large gap in the line as the Saints appealed to the referee for offside, crossing, handball or whatever. The ref wasn’t having any of it and the other Evans added two more to make it 27-6. This was a pretty fair reflection of the game, I thought – the Quins weren’t good enough for a try bonus, and we weren’t good enough for a losing one.
With 10 minutes to go, Saints had all their subs on the field and our thoughts had gone from “We can still do this, come on you Saints!” to “Can we go home soon?”
The final whistle went, which was a relief to the travelling Saints supporters. Quins had played averagely, and had still managed to comprehensively beat the Saints. We were spark-free and predictable in our tactics and passing. It is easy to blame our absentees, but I do think that if both sides were playing full teams there may have been a closer contest. As it was, if we had had Carlos to run on after half time it would at least have given us something to cheer about. But that’s another story in another life.
We trooped out of the gate, over the mounds of cigarette ends and towards the station. It was a dispiriting afternoon.
Match Fact: they don’t do “quiet” for kicks at the Stoop, neither for the visiting kicker nor the home one. There is a constant hubbub of chatter that continues throughout the kicks and only gets a little louder if it goes over. Only near the end of the game did the chatter subside a little, allowing us to hear the Manfred Mann classic “Mighty Quinn” being sung by several people. What can they talk about for almost two hours?
Stadium fact: The PA speakers in the North Stand are so poor that you can’t hear much from either the announcer or the music he plays. For that reason alone I recommend it.
Attendance: 12,332
Pictures Simon Robinson
Teams:
Northampton
15 Bruce Reihana (c)
14 Paul Diggin
13 Jon Clarke
12 James Downey
11 Sean Lamont
10 Stephen Myler
9 Lee Dickson
1 Soane Tonga'uiha
2 Paul Shields
3 Barry Stewart
4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe
5 Juandre Kruger
6 Mark Easter
7 Scott Gray
8 Mark Hopley
Replacements
16 Brett Sharman
17 Tom Smith
18 Courtney Lawes
19 Neil Best
20 Alan Dickens
21 Barry Everitt
22 Chris Mayor
Harlequins
15 Mike Brown
14 David Strettle
13 de Wet Barry
12 Jordan Turner-Hall
11 Tom Williams
10 Nick Evans
9 Andy Gomersall
1 Ceri Jones
2 Gary Botha
3 Mike Ross
4 Ollie Kohn
5 George Robson
6 Chris Robshaw
7 Will Skinner
8 Tom Guest
Replacements
16 Aston Croall
17 Mark Lambert
18 Jim Evans
19 Neil McMillan
20 Junior Poluleuligaga
21 Chris Malone
22 Seb Stegmann
News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: ComeOnYouSaints.com (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 09:33
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Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: St Marlowe (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 11:15
Good one St Francis.
The usual hyperbolists on the Quins board have labelled it "insulting to the ground and supporters" So strike 1!
The usual hyperbolists on the Quins board have labelled it "insulting to the ground and supporters" So strike 1!
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: SAINT_aitch (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 11:22
Excellent reporting sir. You captured the entire spirit and atmosphere very well.
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: FinchQuin (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 11:58
Hey guys, as a Quin I may be going against the tide a bit but good report. Have to agree with the chatter at kicks, unfortunately it seems to eminate from the kids in the South stand and it annoys most home supporters I talk to.
Thanks for not really turning up yesterday, we needed the points and what a shame there was no Carlos, it would have been great to see him one more time, a wonderful player.
Good luck for the rest of the season.
Thanks for not really turning up yesterday, we needed the points and what a shame there was no Carlos, it would have been great to see him one more time, a wonderful player.
Good luck for the rest of the season.
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: ClaireJ (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 12:41
Great report St Francis - a perfect description of the match and the matchday experience. My friends at the game were all neutrals bar one and all thought match was utter tripe with Quins just the least worst of the two teams.
The kids in the stand behind me in the second half weren't watching the rugby, it seemed to be more fun to throw each other about or try and start a mexican wave or chatter throughout the game. It made for an odd experience because the noise I was hearing was so disconnected from the match I was watching.
ClaireJ
RedHatPhoto.com review of 2015 photos here...
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The kids in the stand behind me in the second half weren't watching the rugby, it seemed to be more fun to throw each other about or try and start a mexican wave or chatter throughout the game. It made for an odd experience because the noise I was hearing was so disconnected from the match I was watching.
ClaireJ
RedHatPhoto.com review of 2015 photos here...
Buy photos from RedHatPhoto
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: St.Rich Joe, Niamh and Sam's Dad (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 12:41
Great report but I'm sorry James Burridge clearly referred to a player called Dreyer all match. He was a think a forward because he kept taking lineout ball. How could you have been there and not seen this chap?*
*I am aware of all current theories as to the pronunciation of Juandre Kruger
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
*I am aware of all current theories as to the pronunciation of Juandre Kruger
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: ernie b (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 13:20
Very well put I don't think I could have written anything about the game yesterday as it was absolutely and totally uninspiring from both sides. I have to admit that at 1minute 30 to the final whistle I got up and walked out on the basis that had there been another 1hour 30 they wouldn't have scored a try.
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: Quin Kong (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 13:33
Interesting report, good luck for the rest of the season.
QUIN KONG
QUIN KONG
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: E-Quin (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 15:06
Seems a fair report as far as I'm concerned. It was a fairly indifferent game, which we were always going to win, not helped by the referee seemingly unprepared to give anyone an opportunity to release the ball in the tackle before whistling but at least he was consistent and penalised both sides equally.
You seem to have spotted the fact that it is a blessing not to be able to hear the infantile ramblings of the idiot on the microphone and clearly picked up on the fact that our supporters (if you can call those who come to the game to do anything but watch the rugby supporters) don't do silence but prefer endless chatting. We could learn a lot about the "matchday experience" (as the marketing folks wish to call it) from you at FG but, unfortunately, a significant proportion of our attendees wouldn't want to learn how to support a team.
Good luck for the rest of the season and best wishes to all - except the village idiot who wrote your preview obviously.
You seem to have spotted the fact that it is a blessing not to be able to hear the infantile ramblings of the idiot on the microphone and clearly picked up on the fact that our supporters (if you can call those who come to the game to do anything but watch the rugby supporters) don't do silence but prefer endless chatting. We could learn a lot about the "matchday experience" (as the marketing folks wish to call it) from you at FG but, unfortunately, a significant proportion of our attendees wouldn't want to learn how to support a team.
Good luck for the rest of the season and best wishes to all - except the village idiot who wrote your preview obviously.
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: Howlin (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 15:06
Well done mate must have been a difficult one to write up. I think at least 20% of teh Quins crowd agreed with your view of teh game as they spent the entire 80 mins walking past where we were sitting , stopping for a chat etc. showing very little interets in teh match itself or consideration for the people who were actually trying to watch. Quins deserved their win. Saints performance was very poor.
Saint til I die
Saint til I die
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: ernie b (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 16:04
Howlin you missed out a very, it was very, very poor!
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: Harley Quin (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 16:43
Yes, good report. Not much to argue with there - except the final score!.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:02:01:16:44:51 by Harley Quin.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:02:01:16:44:51 by Harley Quin.
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: tedge (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 19:17
It was the first time ever that I left a match early, almost embarrassed to run the gauntlet of Quins' fans as we left the West stand. Their lack of ribald remarks suggested they were equally embarrassed !
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: Phil. (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 19:20
Quote:Harley Quin
Yes, good report. Not much to argue with there - except the final score!.
Why would you want to argue with the final score HQ, you won didn't you (lack of BP notwithstanding)?
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: Quinten Poulsen (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 19:27
Good report apart from -
Your lineout was far superior to ours, and our scrum ripped you a new one.
Quote:There was no overall supremacy at the set piece, neither lineout looked particularly secure and the Saints’ scrum was surviving against the mighty Ceri Jones and his friends
Your lineout was far superior to ours, and our scrum ripped you a new one.
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: Undersizedprop (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 22:23
Exactly as I remember it, well through the cold induced brain fog anyway. Hoping for better back home against Sarries.
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: Sarge (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 22:31
can anyone explain what the Penalty Try was awarded for? I think that it's the first time I've seen one awarded from the first set of a scrum.
I'm doubly confused as the scrum was for the Ref's obstrcution rather than from the Saints giving away a penalty.
I'm doubly confused as the scrum was for the Ref's obstrcution rather than from the Saints giving away a penalty.
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: Quinten Poulsen (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 23:46
I think the PT was awarded for a Saints player booting the ball from the scrum.
Re: News: Saints travelling woes continue - Match Rept
Posted by: smurfomatic (IP Logged)
Date: 02/02/2009 06:37
QP is right, as I understood it a Saints player kicked the ball away from a Quins player who was about to score.
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