When the wheels came off - Season Review Part 2

By RK
August 26 2005

Leicester and Wasps beaten in the first two games, the dream start to our season. Then Robinson and Laporte came calling and it all started to go wrong. Why, how? RK looks back at the middle part of last season.

So two months into the 'marriage' between PSA and us and everything looked rosy.
We were top of the Zurich Premiership, into the second round of the European Challenge Cup and had lost just once, a 17-16 home defeat by London Irish.

But the hugely enjoyable 39-25 victory over Newcastle on Bonfire Night marked the end of the Frenchman's honeymoon period at Edgeley Park.
The irony is that PSA had been a victim of his own success as his recruitment had proved to be too successful for the club's slim playing resources to deal with.
The two Sebastiens – Bruno and Chabal – were the forgotten men of French rugby when they joined us with both having not played in international for over two years.
Needless to say a brilliant start to the season in which Bruno proved to be an unheralded success and Chabal carved himself out a niche as a cult hero brought Bernard Laporte to the door as he prepared for the autumn internationals.
Thankfully he would leave 'Seabass' with us for the time being, but Bruno was called up and with Titts on England duty our lack of hooking options was obvious to all.
Ally to that the fact that the 'usual suspects' were called up and Quates finally got the international recognition he had long deserved after being criminally under-used by Sir Clive Woodward and we were down to the bare bones.
Indeed the side for the first ZP game that clashed with the autumn internationals – against Bath – showed no less than seven changes in personnel, with French prop Sebastian Bozzi and former Wales international back Byron Hayward among the replacements having signed short-term deals in the week leading up to the game.
Unsurprisingly something of a scratch side was beaten 27-13 at the Rec, with Olly Barkley clocking up more points with his left boot (17) than the whole of our team.
Hayward, who had most recently been playing for Ebbw Vale, spent his first 80 minutes as a Shark looking on from the bench yet with Mike Hercus called up by the US he was handed his debut the following week as Harlequins travelled north.
Yet despite kicking eight points, the Welshman was far from impressive particularly when compared to opposite number Jeremy Staunton, who was flawless with the boot in helping Quins to a 19-13 victory, their second win during the autumn internationals.
PSA was understandably frustrated in the post-match press conference, underlining just how difficult his – and his players' – task had been.
He said: “When you lose your two first-choice loose-heads, your two hookers, your two number sixes, your two fly-halves, your captain, full-back and your wing, it's difficult.
“I think the players will learn a lot from this. For next year, we will need a new strategy about international players. But it's life and we must manage.”
Unfortunately 'managing' is not made particularly easy when the fixture computer throws up the small matter of a trip to Kingsholm when resources are stretched to (and perhaps beyond) the limit.
Hayward was again thrown into the fray – this time against his former club at full-back – in what would be his last appearance for the club with Jason et al due to return from international duty within 48 hours of kick-off in front of the Shed.
He drew first and last blood with his boot, but in between times things went the way of the home side (Chris Fortey's broken leg aside) as they ran out 24-14 winners, a result that saw them climb to fourth in the Premiership and boosted their title hopes.
Ours, though, had suffered a heavy blow during the international 'window' with three successive defeats showing the size of the task PSA had in turning us in to genuine title contenders both at home and in the Heineken Cup, his ultimate ambition.
For the time being, though, we had to content ourselves with the Challenge Cup, and back-to-back victories over Narbonne in early December – helped by something approaching a full complement of players – booked us our place in the quarter-finals.
And it was the returning internationals to the fore as they accounted for 28 first-leg points and 10 in the second as we cruised to a 58-25 aggregate success.
That set us up nicely for the visit of Plymouth as we began what we hoped would be the route back to Twickenham in the Powergen Cup.
As gallant as they were – they even led at one stage – Graham Dawe's men were ultimately outclassed by a Sale side that featured Quates in the unfamiliar full-back position, James Moore on the wing, Martin Halsall in the front row and youngsters Sean Cox, Jason Duffy and Matt Riley on the bench.
There was also a starring role a young back-rower by the name of Peter Anglesea, with the ginger-haired forward, known as ‘Big Red’ among in-the-know Cheadle Enders, crossing for two tries that indicated he could well have a future in the game.
The break from Zurich Premiership rugby that the two cups had given us certainly lifted spirits and helped contribute to a 19-10 victory over Bath the day after Boxing Day, a result that ended a run of three straight Premiership defeats.
Yet still there was frustration as we missed out on the bonus point despite racing into a 19-3 lead at the interval thanks to tries from Chris Mayor, Quates and John Carter, who played what in PSA’s words was “the biggest game of his career”.
Still, we had reached the turn of the year well placed – through to the quarter-finals of both the Powergen Cup and European Challenge Cup and sitting third in the Premiership having opened a decent gap between ourselves and our nearest chasers.
A losing start to 2005 was not part of the plan, though, and the manner of the 30-29 defeat at Newcastle – plus the fact it meant Jonny Wilkinson got another one over on Charlie – meant it would be a long while until the wounds were healed.
The game ebbed and flowed throughout from the moment Charlie slotted over a first-minute penalty to the decisive second three minutes into injury time when Wilkinson darted through a gap in our defensive line to score a try he would go on to convert to give the Falcons victory by a single point.
Charlie’s kicking game – from the tee at least – was perfect yet still it was ‘Jonny this’ and ‘Jonny that’ in the papers come Monday morning, with Rob Andrew leading the calls for him to be thrown back into the international fray for the Six Nations.
Fortunately Charlie was able to shrug the furore off and was again at his best just five days later as Agen were put to the sword 34-18 at EP in a game of two halves.
The French side used a backing wind – and a couple of dodgy refereeing decisions – to move into a half-time lead but tries from Magnus Lund, Quates and Steve Hanley ensured we would take a 16-point advantage across the Channel for the second leg.
It may not have been a convincing enough victory for PSA – he made much after the game that a 20-point lead had been his target – but it did turn out to be enough as the lads gritted it out in Agen, losing only 17-15 (and therefore winning through 49-35 on aggregate), with Charlie kicking us into our first semi-final of the season.
We would have the opportunity to repeat the dose the following weekend as we welcomed Bath to Stockport in the Powergen Cup quarter-finals…and when the clock ticked past 85 minutes with us in front it looked as if we would do just that.
Tries from Titts and Chris Jones, allied to some excellent kicking from first a flu-hit Charlie and then Mike Hercus, saw us enter added time with a 23-17 lead.
But then Matt Stevens crashed over and Chris Malone slotted over an incredible touchline conversion – with the last kick of the game – to end our involvement in the competition we had reached the final of in the previous season.
Not only was the manner of defeat so cruel, it was actually the THIRD time – after London Irish and Newcastle – we had lost in injury time in the campaign and questions began to surface about our ability to kill off games we had all but won.
Yet with games coming thick and fast it was something PSA could not dwell on, particularly with the Six Nations looming large on the horizon.
Our lack of depth had been exposed in the autumn and with games against Wasps, Leicester, Gloucester and relegation-threatened Harlequins still to come, along with those during the international window, the season was just getting interesting . . .