And Now The Reality: Saints 48 Tykes 24
By Oopnorth on 23/11/2003
November 23 2003
It all began so well, but was over as a contest by half time to all but the most optimistic of Tykes fans. Tykes entered the game without an away win this season but with Saints having conceded over 40 points in each of the their last two games the optimists could be forgiven for thinking of a win.
The weather had been foul all day although the rain did ease and wind was not a noticeable problem. Despite this the crowd of 11000 was a very creditable one given the weather and the other attractions that day. Not many Tykes fans could be seen but clearly the home club had had a well attended morning watching the World Cup triumph and there were lots of kids eating their chips and wanting to see the Tykes get theirs.
Tykes had the better of the first 15 minutes and it all looked very promising after a Ross penalty was quickly followed by a foray into the Saints half finished by a nice defence splitting run by Liam Botham for him to go in near the posts. However on their first real attack Saints split the Tykes defence and Reihana crossed the line. This looked ominously easy as we yet again showed a paper bag defence in the centre, and was followed up shortly with a similar easy score with Drahm just ghosting through the Tykes midfield.
Whilst it was not all one way traffic and Tykes did manage periods in the Saints half the greasy conditions and poor handling conspired to undo the packs progress upfield. When Saints did press into the Tykes half again some smart play by Drahm and a short grubber let John Leslie in.
Pressure was telling on the Tykes and in the next Saints break out to the Tykes line Ross was sinbinned presumably for killing the ball near the line. Soon after Scarborough joined him in the bin (I do not know why) and we played out the least 5 minutes of the first half with 13 men. Saints were playing far too smart to waste this opportunity and more pressure resulted in a stretched Tykes defence and a neat kick to the corner and a bonus point try. Add a couple of penalties during the half and we were 31-10 down at the interval.
We had also picked up injuries to Christophers and Alabanese to cap 25 minutes of misery. One bright spot was the debut of Snyman who showed some power in his first run to nearly put Rees away.
To their credit Tykes began the second half depleted but with a purpose and fleetingly it looked like a bonus point or two might be possible when the pack after a great effort got Dan Hyde over in the corner and Ross managed the conversion. Whilst the conditions did not favour it the Tykes tried to run the ball but were generally held up in midfield by a very sound Saints defence. Effectively the game ended when one Tykes move resulted in a Saints chargedown and a race to the line.
Despite this Tykes did not give in a scored a late try through a good backs move which Scarborough finished off. However to show how much it was the Saints backs day this again was topped by a Reihana touchdown in injury time.
Although the pack had generally competed reasonably against a strong Saints eight the backs had been outsmarted by a Saints unit which out-thought and out-played them in poor conditions with some very intelligent and well crafted back play.