Gunned Down - Saints 47 Edinburgh 17

Krige’s contribution wasn’t the telling one though, as a weakened Edinburgh line-up was predictably beaten (but not disgraced), by the Saints “development” team. Indeed, if John Rudd does not start next Saturday’s game against Bath then I will eat my hat. Two more tries from the new man from Wasps to make it four in two and assists on two more, and suddenly, there may be whispers as to whether or not Ben Cohen will start next week (for what it’s worth I think he’ll be on the bench as he’s limited to only 40 minutes).

It took Edinburgh eleven minutes to get into the Saints half. In that time, we saw one pushover try denied by a late knock on, then a marvellous jink in, then cut outside to score between the posts. The fact that the try was scored by Robbie Morris, his first for the club and reminiscent of that run at Saracens last season, just made it sweeter.

As expected, Krige was being singled out for some “special” attention - get used to it folks, it’s going to happen all season - and he had to disappear for some running repairs to a blood injury on 14 minutes. What impressed me most about him was that he was sticking his head in where it hurt to get the ball, regardless of what was going on around him, and the countless turnovers that he won by doing just that is a promising sign for the months to come.

What’s also encouraging is that the style of play seems to be, as WMS put it at the interval, so diametrically different to that of last season - where the ball went into contact last year, now it’s offloaded before contact, and if you have the players with the skills to pull that off, it produces a much faster game. That was something you couldn’t really say about Saints last time around, that the game wasn’t as quick as others, and credit at this early stage must got to skills coach Frank Ponissi for giving the players the confidence to do that.

One man who looks to be benefiting is Rudd. The Rhino scored after being freed by Tom Smith’s long pass (looking and passing more like a scrum half every day) to extend the lead to 14-3 (Phil Godman, Edinburgh’s best player throughout, having kicked a penalty in between the two tries), and then added to it after Wally bulldozed his way through to set him up for a try in the corner. The omens of a large victory were there very early.

Edinburgh came back into it though with a breakaway try from Michael Pyke after a few handbags on halfway (reward for the small but vocal Edinburgh support who had flown down on the morning of the match), but the gap widened again when Tom Smith profited from a rolling maul after a lineout to score his first try of the season. 26-10 at half time, with three Grayson conversions, and all was right with the world.

Unsurprisingly the changes started at the half, with Morris, Soden, Human, and Stcherbina (looking like the aggressive boshing centre that some have thought was needed) being replaced by the Reverend, Seely, Cohen and Hyndman. It didn’t affect the balance unduly, and three more tries followed in fairly quick succession. Tom Smith set Rudd away, and just as he was being enveloped by two Gunners, managed to offload to Mark Tucker who ran away from the defence to score. Tucker alongside Stcherbina looks a very promising partnership indeed, especially as Tucks appears to have bulked up considerably from last season.

The best Saintly tries were saved for last. First, the team move, with the forwards dynamically setting the ball up with quick hands to set Tucker free, and he was aware enough to produce a reverse pass for Bruce to run onto the ball like a gazelle who’s eaten too much chilli and dive across the line to score. Then came the reappearance of a Ben Cohen who hadn’t been seen like this at the Gardens for about 18 months. He caught a clearing kick just inside his own half, beat two fast approaching defenders on the outside before cutting inside and speeding to the posts. 47-10 after an hour, and it was a question of how many.

No more actually - more changes were made and it did, this time, affect the continuity somewhat, allowing for a late penalty try to be awarded to Edinburgh for a kick even though they had scored further out, and 47-17 was that final result. Satisfaction that all had got through in one piece; anticipation at the style shown.

The only area of worry for me was that a few tackles were missed by players out of position, but the pace of the side managed to cover for all but one of these (the Pyke try), and if we’re going to play with pace this season, then I’m willing to forgive a few missed tackles. All of the new signings look promising; Selborne Boome looks to be a strong presence in the lineout, whilst Stcherbina and Krige play with that kind of commitment that the southern hemisphere players have. Rudd looks full of promise, and could well be one of the stars of the season.

Roll on next week.