GP: Saints Leeds Preview


By Louisa
November 19 2005

Speaking after a Green Bay Packers loss, a wise chap named Lombardi once said, “it’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up”.

Heading into this weekend’s fixture against the Leeds Tykes at Headingley, his words hold a strong significance for the Saints. Although they have not won a match since the 22nd October, a win on Saturday could see them leaping as high as 8th in the Guinness Premiership table, helping many fans to sleep easier in their beds over the coming weeks. However, coming away from the match with anything less than 4 points could give rise to more than a few sleepless nights down Northampton way. It’s make or break and the pressure is on.

 

On the face of things, we are looking at two very similar sides – one only position separates the teams in the premiership table and in terms of points scored and conceded this season, Saints come second bottom only to (yes, you’ve guessed it) Leeds. However, look a little deeper and you’ll find that the similarities end there. Under the guidance of Budge Pountney and Paul Grayson, the Saints have adopted an exciting style of fast, expansive running rugby in recent months, which has proved the key to unlocking some of the tightest defences in the league. Although they have gone almost a month without a win, losing bonus points have been plentiful and some would argue that we could have beaten most of the teams, but for the rub of the green and the bounce of the ball.

 

Leeds on the other hand look to be in deep trouble, all at sea and rapidly swimming out of their depth. They find themselves rock bottom of the Guinness Premiership with only 2 points and not a single league win in 9 attempts. And if last week’s performance is anything to go by, their trouble is far from over. The Yorkshire Daily Post described the men in yellow as having “dreadful lineout, dreadful ball retention at the breakdown, dreadful kicking, dreadful organisation in attack.” So, “an easy 5 pointer!” I hear you cry…

 

… not so. At this point, might I remind you of two little words – ‘Powergen Cup’. The last time the Saints went into a game so supremely confident of a win against the Tykes, it ended in disaster. In recent times, our record against Leeds has not been good with only 1 win in our last 3 meetings. And what is to say that this weekend will not bring a 3rd win for the Yorkshiremen, after all, they have a vital resolution to our Achilles Heel: forward power.

 

The Leeds team for Sunday will be:

 

1. Kees Lensing

2. Rob Rawlinson

3. Rayno Gerber

4. Stuart Hooper

5. Scott Morgan

6. Jon Dunbar

7. Richard Parks

8. Jordan Crane

9. Justin Marshall

10. Gordon Ross

11. David Doherty

12. Chris Jones

13. Rob Vickerman

14. Andre Snyman

15. Roland De Marigny

 

16. Michael Cusack

17. Gordon Bulloch

18. Tom Palmer

19. Dan Hyde

20. Mark McMillan

21. Danny Care

22. Roland Reid

 

Heavyweight props, Kees Leesing and Rayno Gerber have been picked to start in the frontrow with Rob Rawlinson preferred to Gordon Bulloch at hooker.  The injured Chris Murphy is replaced by Stuart Hooper, who makes his first start for the club since injuring his shoulder in October. The Powergen Cup finalist is partnered in the second row by Scott Morgan. This week’s backrow will comprise of Jon Dunbar, Jordan Crane and old Saints favourite, Richard Parks. Former All Black, Justin Marshall maintains his no. 9 shirt with off-form Gordon Ross being preferred to De Marigny  at flyhalf, despite a having only a 54% goal kicking success rate. David Doherty starts on the wing and is joined by Andre Snyman who replaces the injured David Rees, and Chris Jones and Rob Vickerman have been handed the centre births, with Roland De Marigny  at fullback.

 

Northampton coach, Budge Pountney, delayed Sunday’s team announcement due to late fitness tests on John Rudd and new recuit, David Gerard, who can expect to be replaced by Seamus Mallon and Matt Lord respectively. With Sean Lamont and Ben Cohen away (and scoring) on international duty, Paul Diggin ruled out with a shoulder injury, the Saints suddenly find themselves perennially short of fit wingers, despite early season fears that if anything, we may have too many! Danny Richmond should maintain his starting place in the front row, possibly supported by Chris Budgen and Pat Barnard. If Mark Robinson starts at scrumhalf then we can expect to see a fascinating battle between him and his opposite number - Justin Marshall is widely known for having kept Sharky out of the All Blacks.

 

Ed's note: here's the team, published after Louisa wrote the preview...

 

15 BRUCE REIHANA (capt)
14 John Rudd
13 Jon Clarke
12 DAVID QUINLAN
11 Andy Vilk
10 CARLOS SPENCER
9 MARK ROBINSON
1 Chris Budgen
2 Dan Richmond
3 Pat Barnard
4 Damien Browne
5 Matt Lord
6 Darren Fox
7 SAM HARDING
8 Daniel Browne

16 Dylan Hartley
17 Luke Harbut
18 DAVID GERARD
19 Ben Lewitt
20 Johnny Howard
21 Seamus Mallon
22 Rhodri Davies

 

 

Time for a prediction. It’s not going to be easy – to borrow a phrase from under-fire coach, Phil Davies, Leeds will be ‘scrapping for their lives’ - another loss at Headingley and it will be hard to see the team maintaining their premiership status. Despite this, I honestly believe that we will be looking at a Saints win. 

 

Saints by 10.

 

I hope.