Saints take all five points against Bath

Deso, solid match
By Rich on the spot
September 22 2002

A beautiful afternoon and a big crowd at Franklins Gardens should have set the scene for a cracking game between two of the biggest names in English rugby. However Bath were blunt in attack and weak in defence but Saints lost their focus when annihilation was on the cards.

There was warm applause at the start of the game for referee David McHugh, taking charge of his first game since being assaulted by a thuggish Springbok supporter. Mr McHugh had an indifferent afternoon and looked rusty, his touch judges also struggled to keep up with play but more of that later.

In true ‘Hats on Wheels’ style Saints were running everything at Bath and their line was breached on 6 minutes by Gardens favourite Oriol Ripol. The try was created by a Dawson break and good distribution from Budge Pountney gave ‘Raspberry’ far too much space and he cantered home. Grayson stepped up and converted to make the score 7-0.

Things continued to go well for Saints as their lineout looked very solid and Ripol threatened every time he got the ball. Unfortunately he was unable to find his support runners on at least two occasions. The pack was very dominant and Bath must have been kicking themselves that Connors was playing against them.

On 22 minutes Peter Jorgenson, restored at outside centre, got the first of his two tries. This was a proper team effort involving forwards and backs and is surely the style of rugby that Wayne Smith is expecting from his team. Grayson missed the conversion making the score 12-0.

Jorgenson scored again on 29 minutes in another multi-phased passage of ‘total’ rugby. Grayson converted to make the score 19-0 and the crowds delight and expectation continued to grow. Surely the floodgates were about to open.

But no! The next team to score, predictably through the boot, were the visitors. Olly Barkley slotted a well-struck long-range penalty. This would have been cold comfort for the travelling fans though as Bath looked to have no answer to the Saints pace and power.

The score at half time remained 19-3.

Into the second half and it appeared that Saints had lost their appetite for the contest. Bath spent almost the entire third quarter fruitlessly in the Saints 22. The one positive from this period of the match being the Saints defence held firm as the visitors tried to step up the pace.

The match wasn’t helped by the officials. McHugh was possibly the most inconsistent referee I have ever witnessed at the Gardens. He pinged the bath scrum half, Cooper, for feeding the scrum in the first half and then ignored this offence for the rest of the match. The breakdown was a joke with players allowed to join at any angle they chose and then being allowed to lie around preventing quick release. Several knock-ons went unnoticed because his positioning left him plainly unsighted and his touch judges were reluctant to help out. He pinged Jorgenson for not releasing as soon as he went to ground and then allowed others an age to roll over and present the ball. The icing on the cake was when Dawson took a quick tap and was tackled by a player after taking just four steps. McHugh waved play on. Bath also have their cause to complain with the official as he sin-binned Mike Tindall for a deliberate knock on when that same offence was overlooked for the Saints earlier in the match.

Finally the Saints remembered that they ought to get the bonus point and stepped up a gear in the final quarter. Robbie Morris joined Tindall in the sin bin during this period for stamping. The luckless youngster seems to be a marked man as it would have been difficult not to step on any number of Bath players lying around near the ball. If nothing else though, McHugh does not seem to have lost his nerve to dispatch offenders.

With time running out Beal, who had a part in most Saints good work put Cohen into space and Kingsthorpe’s finest needed no second invitation to score the try and seal the try bonus. Grayson missed the conversion and that was about that!

The match just seemed to fizzle out as both teams tired. Bath were so weary that they felt the need to use five forward replacements in the second half. Final score Saints 24 – Bath 3.

So Saints failed to impress once again but at least this time they got the bonus point to secure third place in the Zurich Premiership. Wayne Smith in his post match interview spoke of his dissatisfaction with the second half performance and trawled about the party line about 24 hours to celebrate before addressing the deficits and more hard work in training. I think it’s more likely, given that the players didn’t emerge from the dressing room until 5.45, that Smudger has already told everyone what he thinks.

On the positive sides there was evidence of improvement. The lineout was as good as I’ve ever seen from a Saints side, with Mark Connors immense. The same goes for the re-starts that had been a cause for concern.

Beal had a fantastic match. Aided and abetted by Bath’s insistence on kicking it to him. He ran everything back with authority causing the Bath defence no end of problems. Dawson had a much better game and continues to use his mouth a lot less. Oriol ‘Raspberry’ Ripol is a major find. When he gets used to his teammates and they learn how best to support him and he finds his confidence at this level, the tries will come flooding in. Jorgenson too, stated his intentions to ‘own’ the 13 shirt.

One of two things will happen now. Saints will trip up against better sides or (and this is my vision of the future,) the mistakes will reduce, the playing standard and accuracy will rise and somebody this season is going to be totally thrashed.

Job Done!