Up for Sale?
By Mark H
October 13 2004
Spirited. Passionate. Full of self-belief. Confident of getting the right result. Organised. But that's enough about the Saturday morning walkers looking to raise over £10,000 for the British Heart Foundation.
In the afternoon, it's Saints versus Sale and, to my mind, the pivotal game in Alan Solomons' reign so far. Win, and just perhaps a corner may have been turned before the European campaign starts. Lose…and you can pick the fate according to your own mood at the time. If it were on current form alone, he'd walk into the team for the Autumn internationals, but instead it looks likely that Hodgson will have to hope for injuries up in the north east over the coming weeks, especially so now that the man in front is captain. There's no doubt that whilst he was injured and out of the game for nearly ten months, Hodgson was a huge loss to a team that last season relied on its backs for many of its points. The latter half of the season, as he found his form and, more importantly, his confidence were difficult ones; at times he seemed to be taking his time to get the ball away and therefore giving the opposition a chance to get to him - witness Phil Dowson's winning try for Newcastle in that cup final, a Hodgson kick charged down that he would, on top form, have stuck into the crowd that second earlier that makes good players great. Going on the summer tour down under though, being first choice in the fly half spot, and being one of the few players to emerge with any credit, has been good for him. Hodgson has started this season like a train, and has kicked the last points in every one of the five Sake wins so far. It’s worth noting that where he has beaten us before with a drop goal, that right foot has not changed, and such is his confidence at the moment that the ball is going over from any angle and any distance. He will be the key player in this game from a Sale point of view. Saint-Andre has transformed the Cheshire set upfront though. There was always the grunt with Andrew Sheridan and Jason White, and the pace of Chris Jones, but the Frenchman has added his fellow countrymen Sebastien Chabal at number eight and Sebastien Bruno at hooker, as well as World Cup winner Trevor Woodman into the front row. Woodman is another missing this weekend through injury, but with Chabal playing with the strength of two men, and making a huge impression on his new surroundings. The match up between him and Andrew Blowers will be fascinating, and Chabal will be another man that Saints will have to keep in check if the elusive win is to come. No team news from Sale as yet, but Solly has shuffled the pack (or as someone cruelly suggested to me today, dropped the pack on the floor, then picked the team suggested on this site). The Saints team:- 15 John Clarke Only two personnel changes, bringing back Ben Cohen and introducing Chris Hyndman, but it’s the positional changes that are the most fascinating. Only Sharky Robinson amongst the backs starts in the position he started in last Sunday’s nightmare, yet the pack is unchanged - Robbie Morris and Damien Browne in particular would have very strong arguments to be included from the start (and I haven’t even mentioned Chris Budgen. It has, to me, all the indications of the dice being thrown for the last time; a total change to try and get something, anything sparked amongst a back line that to be frank have looked clueless once too often over the past few weeks. It did need it, in my opinion; there will be people who feel that Shane Drahm should have remained, so that we had greater kicking strength, but it seemed to me on Sunday that if he isn’t firing at fly half, then it’s difficult to make a case for him being on the field, and perhaps Solly’s mistake on Sunday was to leave it so late to bring Rudd on, and then not move Clarke to full back at the expense of Drahm. Saturday will be a difficult day; we all need to be strong in the face of an attack from the north. To go into the European campaign on the back of five straight losses is as unthinkable as it is unacceptable; however, has the confidence that has undoubtedly been lost over the last two weeks in particular come back to transform the home players. If it has, then finally this wretched run may be at an end. If it hasn’t, then it could be a longer afternoon after a long morning. A friend who cares deeply about the club said this to me today:- I don’t necessarily agree with his comments, but I know where he’s coming from. I’m afraid to say that I’m in the glass empty (let alone half empty) camp. Sale by ten.
For the first time in a number of years, an opposition team will be coming to the Gardens expected by a the majority of experts to win. Saints' failure to knock off an understrength Wasps side and a Saracens team getting only twenty five per cent possession does not bode well against a side that, along with Leicester, have found try-scoring easy and who, under Phillippe Saint-Andre, are starting to get that clinical look about them.
Sale have built well from the turmoil of last season. Any side whose year goes with Steve Diamond leaving to take up a coaching role at Saracens; major speculation over Jim Mallinder's role at the club; uncertainty over your key player's injury; a run to an epic cup final that ended in narrow defeat; half your team departing to Vicarage Road; missing out on a Heineken Cup spot despite scoring three tries in five minutes at Kingsholm; Saint-Andre joining; Mallinder leaving; and finally getting an influx of useful players would probably settle for a quiet season the year after rebuilding.
Saint-Andre instead has done what he did during his time at Kingsholm, in starting to build a side that can look to the future and challenge for a long-awaited first trophy. There has always been quality at Edgeley Park (but then I am talking football here, and you wouldn't believe that if you'd seen the disorganised rabble that is Stockport County this season). Sale's second season at my footballing Mecca has seen crowds rise again, not a surprise if you look at what was there already. Jason Robinson is, was, and will always be one of the most electrifying full backs in any code of rugby, and has assumed the captaincy this season. Add to him in the back three Mark Cueto and Steve Hanley, and you have the fastest back three in the Premiership. Hanley is sadly (but not from a Saintly point of view) missing from Saturday's game due to the broken thumb that forced him off at the break last Friday night, but whilst the other two are there, there is always danger.
Pulling the strings is the man who will this generation's Stuart Barnes. By that, I don't mean that he'll be fat, opinionated, and make a complete fool of himself whilst inflicting ill-judged opinions on the nation on Sky each week, but as Barnes was perpetual number two to Rob Andrew, so it seems that Charlie Hodgson may well be deputy to Jonny Wilkinson more times that he'd like to be over the next few years. There is another obvious exception - Hodgson is a much better player than Barnes ever was.
14 Wylie Human
13 Marc Stcherbina
12 Chris Hyndman
11 Ben Cohen
10 Bruce Reihana
9 Mark Robinson
1 Tom Smith
2 Steve Thompson
3 Robbie Kempson
4 Selborne Boome
5 Matt Lord
6 Darren Fox
7 Corne Krige (captain)
8 Andrew Blowers
16 Dan Richmond
17 Robbie Morris
18 Damien Browne
19 Grant Seely
20 Johnny Howard
21 Shane Drahm
22 Mark Tucker
“A couple of years ago they (the club) were offering in December season tickets for the remainder of season to watch Saints bid for glory (that of course failed). So when we lose on Saturday do you think they will offer to refund season tickets as Saints will then have no chance of glory?”