News: Saints Secure Spoils at Sixways

Something went wrong with my Virgin Plus box on Boxing Day. I had set it to record the horseracing from Kempton Park. Kauto Star was trying to win his fourth consecutive, King George VI Steeplechase and we had to fit in luncheon before the day's main event - Saints trying to win their eighth consecutive match.

Guinness Premiership Round 11

Worcester Warriors v Northampton Saints

26th December 2009 Sixways K.O. 4:15pm

I wanted a reference in case my note-taking suffered as I got involved in the match.

Bruce was on the box giving his insight and no little support for Ashy and Ben. We had the cut-away interviews with the main men, who would rather have been doing something else. Spouting banal phrases for television's delight is part of the job description and Kauto's trainer and Jim Mallinder both did a fine job of paying respect to the opposition, taking nothing for granted and hoping that their charges would perform up to the standards expected of them. Both were in good form but had had to dig deep for the last victories.

For the underdogs, Mike Ruddock had been convinced that Worcester deserved to win at Franklins Gardens in September; Paddy Brennan was sure his mount, Imperial Commander, had beaten Kauto at Haydock. The scoreboard and the judge's photograph had it differently.

John Francome told us that it would be a good strong gallop and, to be fair, both teams tried to run the ball whenever they could. Worcester moved the ball from side to side, trying to stretch the Saints defence but it was Saints first on to the scoreboard. Myler had put a long diagonal kick towards the corner and Digger, for it was he - back from a long and tiresome injury, chased it down. Benjamin could only run it into touch. Saints moved it right and drove onwards. Several offloads later, back it came left. Sanderson off his feet, right in front of the posts and Myler slotted home the resulting penalty.

Worcester continued in expansive style but it was mostly played in front of the Saints defence. When a ball popped out from a maul, it looked dangerous but Hartley was the first to react and danger was averted.

Kauto Star was in control of his race - not doing the front running but staying handy. Few mishaps and those there were were tidied up by the industrious Dowson. One moment of misjudgement by Myler seemed to spell disaster but Lutui decided decapitation for Ashton was the best plan. The ball went to Benjamin, Ashton's head to Row B and the penalty went to Saints. Taking advantage of the field position, Saints attacked. Aggressive and quickly to the breakdown they built the pressure. Mr Debney signalled advantage then the penalty. Up stepped Myler to double the lead.

In the next Saints attack and once again, in front of the posts, Worcester infringed. The forwards had driven in and Ashton was waiting in the scrum half position. Whether the ball was about to come to him was irrelevant as something the size of the Express Lifts tower decided to remove him from his place. Among other things, Mr Debney described this as cynical. He invited Myler to make it 9-nil and Gillies to contemplate for ten minutes just where he had left his invisibility cloak.

Instinct suggested that without their totem, Worcester might become withdrawn. The opposite was the case. Walker's focus on the risk-reward equation made him take some more direct options. Territory was the name of the game and Saints found it difficult from deep to put any pattern on the play. They were not so much playing second fiddle as dancing to Worcester's tune.

Courtney Lawes, enjoying a dominant game, joined the pantomime troupe. Fielding a kick and responding to Myler's call gave a pass that was measured in metres rather than feet. It sailed over Myler and out of play. Saints response to this aberration was drive every tackle half a metre back from the last. Lawes's next action was to knock the stuffing out of his opposite number, Wood. How Saints failed to win the turnover from such aggressive defence was a mystery. With the ball seemingly available to be plucked, Fernandez Lobbe fell over the top of the ruck to give Walker the opportunity to put Worcester on the scoreboard.

Myler's challengingly short restart had unintended consequences. The ball broke to Gear. It is difficult to imagine the Crusaders winger of a few years ago failing to score with such a chance. Cover from Downey and Clarke backed up by Dowson coming across from the other wing snuffed out the chance. Saints' inability to clear their half enabled Worcester to keep up the pressure. A long penalty attempt by Walker drifted wide.

Another comedy moment arrived when a Saints scrum was won with such a speed that the ball was out by three metres before Dickson could recover. Arr dived on him; so did Wood and Sanderson but for something else altogether Mr Debney awarded the penalty to Worcester. Walker obliged and Saints lead was reduced to 6 - 9 as the half-time whistle blew.

The half-time chat was all about Saints needing to control the ball better. Their attack was patently more potent but if they were content to kick the ball downfield simply to reduce pressure, they were not going to win. The front-runners were still taking the field on at a good gallop. With one circuit to go, Francome once again assured us that Kauto Star would really begin to race as he turned for home. With three-and-a-half furlongs to go and three fences to jump is when Kauto's class would tell.

With a leap to be compared favourably with any champion steeplechaser, Kruger stole the first lineout of the second half. What followed was ten minutes of the scrappiest play of the game. Anything positive done by either team was undone by inaccuracy or determined defence. Sky tv's statistics showed the Saints racking up the turnover count only to promptly concede one of their own.

Walker had a chance to level the match but he dragged a straightforward chance to the left of the posts. The crowd groaned. Ruddock made changes - the luckless Walker was one of those to go. His replacement, Jones, could only find Dowson as he tried to drop a goal. Saints started to get a bit more field position. Kauto was suddenly alongside the long-time leader.

Arr, from just outside his 22, put up a box-kick for Benjamin to chase. Under pressure from Downey the ball bounced away from the Worcester man into the arms of Ben Foden. No respecter of reputations, Foden went for the small gap between Sanderson and Tuitupou, he handed off the first and left the second grasping at nothing. He veered. Clarke went to the left shoulder and Ashton to the right. The pass was slipped inside to Ashton and Wendy announced her presence in the stands. Myler added the conversion from under the posts and Saints were ahead by ten.

Best came on for Nacho; Lawes into lock. To celebrate he stole another Worcester lineout. Forgetting he was in the second row now, he was in the process of securing another turnover on the floor when referee awarded him a penalty. Kauto Star was really motoring now. Lineout a formality, Myler made a half-break. The pre-planned move had Ashton there for the offload. A little more sympathy with the pass would have led to an inevitable result as it was he could not hold a pass of that pace.

Clarke went on the charge. What would have happened if he had not cut to the right? Digger was on his left and ready for the offload. Scrum to Worcester and power from the Saints pack drove it back over the line. Arr had to be quick to touch it down before Dickson.

Saints lined up with their centres on the narrow side. Wilson picked up and drove open. Dickson picked up the ball and fired it out to Foden. Foden? Try!

Wendy had been joined in the stands by Jimmy! Big Jim sent on all his backs replacements. Geraghty was the last challenger to Kauto Star but he was having trouble getting the Queen's horse on terms. Old Dicko came on for Young Dicko and Mayor for Digger. Kruger was replaced by Day. Sharman enabled the skipper to take a rest and an ovation from the travelling faithful.

Mayor's first action was almost his last. A step inside Gear and the former All Black reacted instinctively. A high swinging arm took Mayor across the jaw. Geraghty kicked to the corner while Gear got ten minutes to think things through.

Old Dicko had been given a new trick for Christmas. A neat little flick behind his back put Dowson in through a gap for the third try. With forty-five seconds to go and no chance of losing Saints were bound to run the restart. They did. In no time they were inside the Worcester 22 probing for an improbable bonus-point try. Ashton was in space on the right; Geraghty chose the forward pass option. Instead of keeping the ball in hand he went for the killer chip. Apparently, not all magic tricks work.

Kauto Star had turned the race into a procession in the last half-mile. Ears pricked and alert, as soon as he got in front, there was only ever one winner. The only question was by how much. Like Saints he will be looking for bigger prizes later in the season.

Post Scriptum

There was a terrific piece of by-play between Ashy and Ben in the post-match round of interviews. Believe it or not, Ashy doesn't count his tries. Ben does! He's turned provider this year. That's because all he can hear, whenever he gets the ball, is Ashton in his ear asking for the ball. If the coaches ever asked why he misplaced his pass he just has to say that he heard Ashy calling for it. It explains everything.

On a bit of a downbeat note, Sky then went for a Rugby 2010 preview trailer. Despite not having the Six Nations, they finished with a view of the England captain. We had just seen Courtney Lawes play at a level, doing the sorts of things that do not feature in the captain's armoury. We have seen the future. Bring it on.