Thoughts from the Chron 17th September

After winning it at the death the previous week against Worcester the Saints almost starred in another late, late show on Saturday in the game down at Wembley against Saracens. Alas this time the get out of jail free card did not work.

After what can only be described as an uneventful first half the game suddenly sprung to life in the second with Saints gradually gaining the upperhand. But for Noah Cato's long distance breakaway try at the start of the half the defence held firm and gradually the focus shifted more and more upfield.

The media afterwards was all on Soane Tonga'uiha's disallowed score and how ultimately it cost us the game. Replays showed that Tiny almost certainly got the ball on the line before any other movement but Saints, given the territory and half chances we had in the second half, might well have had it sewn up long before the video ref tripped over his guide dog.

So what may have been four points in the bag ended up as solitary losing bonus point but there was a lot for Saints to take from this game. The scrum that creaked last week did not this time round. It became increasingly stronger as the game went on and with an impressive debut for big Brian Mujati the future looks good in this area of our game. By the time Euan Murray returns in a few months we should be in a position for this to be a dominant part of the Saints armoury.

The lineout too increasingly looks solid and assured. It had been a problem area of Saints game for years but not only do we look confident on our own throw now but our jumpers are increasingly stealing and disrupting the oppositions ball. Long may it continue.

So all in all despite the loss not such a bad day looking forward, sure there are things to be worked on and tightened up but I think rugby wise we are still heading in the right direction.

Of course Saturday was not all about what happened on the pitch, there was a lot to talk about off it too. It was a bit of a gamble for the Fezheads staging a game at the home of football and I admit I was one of the early doubters who thought they would maybe get around 20,000 max in the stadium with no more than a couple of thousand traveling south from Northampton. How wrong could I be, over double that number at 45,000 and I would guess at least around 10,000 there supporting the Saints. Indeed but for that incessant ‘Stand Up for the Saracens' played at every opportunity, yes even when we scored, you would have been hard pushed to know who exactly the home side were.

I traveled down by train, which fortunately did run this week, and it was clear from the packed carriages even before I boarded at Wolverton that we were going to have a good showing at the game.  There were pockets of gold, black and green in all the hostelries (no change there) and eateries as you walked through Wembley and it looked like lots of people were making a family day of it or had brought along friends for their first taste of club rugby.

It was Saracens main aim in this experiment to try and hook a few new punters back to their games at Vicarage Road, who knows in a small way the same might be said of Saints given the numbers we had there.

As for the stadium, well there was not a lot to fault if you stayed away from the bar prices. Easy access in and out, plenty of facilities, comfortable seat and a good view of the action albeit at a distance but then what stadium of this size, and I include Twickenham in that, gives you the close ups you get at the likes of the Gardens. It is a trade off yes but overall did not digress from the game too much.

So all in all, well done to Saracens. The experiment clearly worked and their marketing men have something to build on. Good luck to them.

GLOUCESTER

So away from all the glitz of Wembley it is back to the more austere surroundings of Kingsholm, Gloucester this week but I doubt there will be any less of an atmosphere. Despite a good showing Saints were beaten heavily in the same fixture last season and will be looking to make amends. Glos were well worthy winners in the opening weekend of the Guinness Premiership defeating local rivals Bath but the wheels certainly came off last week when they were put to the sword at Reading by London Irish, shipping forty points into the bargain.

If there is any vein of form it would suggest that given the closeness of our game last week and how Saracens had beaten Irish the week before then we should have the measure of the west country giants on Saturday. However this is Kingsholm and it could be a close one to call. What price another late, late show for the third week running for the Saints with the game going either way in the closing moments? I wouldn't be against it.

ARGENTINA

After years in the wilderness Argentina were finally invited this week to take part in one of world rugby's annual top flight tournaments. Should the Argentine Rugby Federation take up the option, and it be approved by broadcasters, then they will join New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the 2012 Tri-Nations going forward.

It could be a bit of a watershed for rugby in Argentina and certainly for their top class players. With the game still being amateur in their home country, and a domestic league viewed as not that sustainable as a professional entity, most players currently ply their trade in Europe, almost all in the Guinness Premiership and Frances Top14.

With the new ‘Quad-Nations' due to take place over nine weeks from mid to late August, and with the Autumn internationals taking place not so long after that, in reality clubs in Europe might not be seeing much of their players before Christmas. It may therefore come to a stage where signing top class Argentinians is just not a feasible option any more.

Allowances will be made for some Argentinian players to play in the newly expanded Super15 but whether that means the whole playing squad or a select few remains to be seen. If the latter, and that's more probable, then it could leave a sizable chunk of the Argentinian squad in limbo. Do you seek a contract in the northern hemisphere and put food on your family's table and forget international aspirations or return in some respects to civvy street but make yourself available for your country when, or indeed if, you are called up to the national squad.

It's a tough one and I am sure no one would want to see players placed in that position and the only real solution would be a truly global season, a view put forward by ex-Saint Wayne Smith this week.

Even then though, given that the money to be earned in the north outstrips what can be earned south of the equator perhaps we would start to see all that Argentinian talent trickle back to clubs up here.

I hope there is a solution and I may be being a little selfish in hoping that we do indeed see players from Argentina gracing our club scene in some way in the future. In recent years some of the biggest characters we've had at the club in the likes of Freddie Mendez, Martin Scelzo and Nacho Lobbe have come from South America. Whatever the Little Englanders say about foreign imports it would be a sad day were these types of players not to be seen here in the north anymore.