Saints v Bedford & Rotherham, 21st and 22nd August 2009
By Smurfomatic
August 23 2009
Finally, after what seems like forever (it's only three months since the ECC final though) there was rugby back at Franklin's Gardens. Saints kick off with two friendlies against ND1 sides - our local rivals Bedford, and Rotherham.
Saints decided to split their resources for these back-to-back fixtures, with the likes of Diggin, Geraghty, Myler, Hartley and Best playing against Bedford while Foden (Ben), Downey, Lobbe and Wilson faced Rotherham. Since these pre-season games involve masses of substitutions (made worse by Bedford replacing people with someone else wearing the same number), and a lot of experimentation, I'll not give a blow-by-blow account just a few key moments.
As could be expected, some familiar names in the Bedford team - Richmond, Tupai, Rae, Lewitt, Vass and Pritchard will all feel at home at the Gardens - and nice to see debuts for Pointer, Geraghty, Bonorino and Dowson.
Saints' first home try of the season went to the facially insulated flanker Neil Best. The home side had already been held up over the line before the Irishman drove over. This was followed soon after by a Myler penalty and Saints led 10-0. Bedford were on the defensive for almost all of this period, with several Saints try chances going begging before new club captain Dylan Hartley barged through under the posts.
Scrum half Alan Dickens darted through a gap in the Bedford defence a few minutes later (his first try for the club) and the half ended 24-0 to the Saints. The second half was more evenly balanced with both teams having their chances. A solitary Bedford try was all that troubled the scorer however, and the latter part of the half saw a raft of changes on both sides. It seemed Saints were playing more defensively in the second half, giving Bedford the ball and inviting the attack.
TEAMS: Saints
15 Grant Pointer
14 Paul Diggin
13 Joe Ansbro
12 Shane Geraghty
11 Chris Mayor
10 Stephen Myler
9 Alan Dickens
1 Regardt Dreyer
2 Dylan Hartley (capt)
3 Santiago Bonorino
4 Courtney Lawes
5 Christian Day
6 Neil Best
7 Mark Easter
8 Phil Dowson
Replacements:
Alex Waller, Matt Cairns, Soane Tonga'uiha, James Cannon, Liam Neale, James Ingle, John Brake, Christian Lewis-Pratt, Grant Anderson.
Bedford
15. James Pritchard
14. Luke Fielden
13. Brendan Burke
12. Ian Vass
11. Ian Davey
10. Brad Davies
9. Nick Walshe
8. Chris Goodman
7. Sacha Harding
6. Gregor Gillanders
5. Alex Rae
4. Paul Tupai
3. Phil Boulton
2. Dan Richmond (c)
1. Sam Walsh
Replacements: Chris Locke, Mike Guess, Alex Brown, John Harlock, Harry Spencer, Ben Lewitt, Will Chudley, Myles Dorrian, Liam Roberts, Duncan Taylor.
A lunchtime kickoff for the Rotherham match, a game preceded by the club's Open Day and a chance to meet the new (and old) members of the Saints squad. This is a very unusual game, I can't recall a Saints match that was free entry for everyone. A glorious day of sunshine meant the game was set for some good running rugby.
Saints were on the back foot from the start in this game, and conceded a penalty try after problems in the scrum. Soane Tonga'uiha broke through for an equaliser a few minutes later, and his fellow prop Alex Waller (who seemed to struggle in the scrum) added another before James Downey (who had already had time off the field after a knock) added a third with only first-half injury time remaining. Time enough for Everitt to chip over the defence, Ashton to catch the ball, and Roger Wilson to latch onto a solid Tonga'uiha pass to run in under the posts. 28-7 the half time score - not bad with Saints playing uphill before the break...
The second half was also entertaining, with Foden taking an unselfish pass from Ashton to score Saints' fifth. Chances from both sides came to nothing, before Rotherham came back with two good (up the slope) tries from Whitehead and Burrows. This was how it finished, 35-21.
TEAMS: Saints
15 Ben Foden
14 Nils Mordt
13 Jon Clarke
12 James Downey
11 Chris Ashton
10 Barry Everitt
9 Lee Dickson
1 Soane Tonga'uiha
2 Brett Sharman
3 Alex Waller
4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe (capt)
5 Juandre Kruger
6 Mark Hopley
7 Scott Gray
8 Roger Wilson
Replacements:
Regardt Dreyer, Joe Gray, Jon Vickers, James Cannon, Owen Giles, John Brake, Tom Foden, Liam Neale, Grant Anderson.
Rotherham
1. Anton O'Donnell
2. Nigel Conroy
3. Ben Prescott
4. Gregor Hayter
5. Matt Challinor
6. Andy Barnes
7. Tinus Du Plessis
8. Jon Skurr
9. Neil Chivers
10. Mike Whitehead
11. Pete Wackett
12. Nick Buckley
13. Tom Allen
14. Luther Burrell
15. Brad Hunt
Replacements: Ross Batty, Colin Quigley, James Kilbane, Ryan Burrows, James Craig, Matt Rhodes, Jonny West, Andrew Henderson.
Good performances in both matches, good debuts for Geraghty and Dowson, with some youthful promise in the guise of Waller, Lewis-Pratt and Tom Foden. Great to see Ashton playing well, there will be some tricky choices to be made for the starting XV against Worcester in a fortnight.
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dej
As for the slope...yawn-oh-rama.
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
Sounds to me like having a pet theory and making sure the evidence is presented in a way that backs up that theory.
Saint til I die
Quote:alan_b
Sounds to me like having a pet theory and making sure the evidence is presented in a way that backs up that theory.
Much like the "proof" that spiders have ears in their legs...
Clap your hands above a spider and it runs away, pull it's legs off and repeat the experiment and it won't ergo it must have ears in it's legs.
