Preview: Northampton Saints v NEC Harlequins

By Worried of Whitton
February 15 2007

After a three week break, the Guinness Premiership restarts this weekend coinciding with a week off in the RBS Six Nations Championships. Harlequins are away at Northampton Kick off at Franklins Gardens is on Saturday February 17th at 15.00.

The Premiership matches now continue through the remaining weekends of this competition, and there are a number of crucial matches for the clubs that occupy the lower half of the table. By the time the Six Nations concludes on March 10^th, it is possible that we may know who is to be relegated.

Despite a plea from Rob Andrew not to play any of the 22 players picked for England’s crucial away match in Dublin on March 24^th, those clubs in the lower reaches of the table are unlikely to sacrifice the potency of their squads as they fight to maintain their premiership position next season a number of clubs are in precarious positions and need to win this weekend, Newcastle being a prime example. Your opinion will depend on your club v country view point, but fortunately both Harlequins and Northampton supporters do not find themselves directly involved in this debate this weekend.

Nick Easter, who put in a solid first performance for England at Twickenham last Saturday, finds himself dropped from the England squad due to the return of Worsley however, I m sure we have not seen the last of him in a white shirt. During the break a number of other Quins were involved with England Squads, with great performances from Mike Brown and David Strettle, both of whom appeared on the score sheet, and Easter with the Saxons. In addition, Danny Care captained the England Under 20's with man of the match against Ireland, Seb Jewell playing alongside him. Congratulations to them all.

The rest of the squad, however, have not been resting, despite the break there was a continued need to train and maintain fitness levels It has been reported that the squad spent some time with the services over the last week with 24 hours with the army learning how to “play in the wet” followed by an even wetter day at HMS Collingwood learning how to prevent the ship from sinking and I’m sure a number of analogies can be taken from this! Serendipity shows that another Collingwood preformed very well last week. In his Mayo column Gavin Duffy wrote “Leadership and teamwork were the keys to success …with some choice words being yelled, accompanied by screams of ‘run for your lives’, the Navy officer who was present said the task had thrown up some interesting styles of leadership!”  however, as we could all testify, surely no more interesting styles than we occasionally witness on the rugby field.

Northampton have kept their fitness levels up with an equally punishing International match against Argentina, on February 7^th, however they took a heavy defeat by losing 17 -40. The result only served to compound an unhappy season for Northampton supporters. Their only highlight of a wretched season to date has been to qualify for the knock out stages of the Heineken Cup; however they can now draw on further cheer with the return to fitness of their talismanic captain. Bruce Reihana, who has been out of action for five months with a knee and hamstring injury, played the first 35 minutes of an “A” game earlier this week against Henley Hawks. The report from that match suggests he “looked like he'd never been away. There were several trademark runs - one almost ending in a try - a kick at goal (missed, forgiveable in the conditions)". He certainly has been missed this season and his return will be a huge confidence boost to the rest of the Northampton team. With just a short run out, this week I would assume that if selected, he is likely to start on the bench.

Northampton have lost five of their last six matches in the Premiership, and gained just six league points which is the poorest return from any club over their last six encounters. In addition Northampton have lost their last four games at Franklin’s Gardens since they beat Wasps 8-6 in December. This included a very surprising 9-10 loss to Worcester on New Years Day, not as surprising 8-14 to Bristol at the end of January. Northampton currently lie in 11^th place on 20 points but do have a game in hand due to their postponed away match against Bristol from early January. Northampton currently have the unenviable position of having the lowest points for and the second highest points against in the Premiership, combining to provide the worst points difference in the league.

In contrast Harlequins' who are in seventh place lost at Bath last time out which ended a five match winning run in all competitions. Quins have won twice away from home in the Premiership so far this season at Newcastle and at Worcester, and I m confident that Saturday will see a third away win. Harlequins beat Northampton 34-19 when the two sides met earlier this season at the Stoop, a score line which flattered the visitors as the were “gifted” two tries at the end of the match one Quins had collected a bonus point. The only negative statistic on the horizon is that Quins have not won at Franklin Gardens for almost a decade, since a 26-23 victory in the Premiership way back on 23 August 1997. In recent years the defeats have been wafer thin, with Harlequins losing 22-20 in the 2004/2005 season and by 19-18 in the previous season 2003/2004. 

The current Premiership table is reproduced below.

Harlequins will have targeted this match as a win, with the desire to pick up a bonus point. Such a win would almost assure Harlequins Premiership status for next season, however Quins know that they will have to play for the full eighty minutes plus and not throw it away like their last visit to Franklins Gardens in 2005. It was the result of that match that effectively sealed their fate of relegation. Northampton will provide strong opposition and not just because they are playing at home. Northampton have suffered relegation before and were so nearly down again in 2005 the year that Quins dropped. They are in a parlous position and that home defeat by Worcester provided a life line for the visitors that day. Whilst they have a match in hand, (away to Bristol), this will not be an easy game for them, and as such Northampton will also believe they can win this game to help turn their season around. The result is likely to be very close and hard fought with a bonus point to the losing side. As long as Spencer kicks as well as he did at the Stoop in October, Harlequins supporters will be happy. There is no team news available as this preview goes to publication so as yet, we do not know whether we will see  Mehrtens and Spencer line up against each other.

On Saturday Quin’s fans will also eagerly await the result from the Madjeski on Saturday, as Bath and London Irish, who lie in 8^th and 9th place, meet each other. The other match that day sees the top club Leicester travel to Worcester, another result that will be awaited with interest. The weekends’ other three matches take place on Sunday afternoon.

 

Fixtures February 17^th/18^th

 

Come on You Quins!