Billy's Blooper proves so Costly

  Due to various training commitments for the forthcoming Tour d’Ecosse, I decided to give Milton Keynes a miss and watch from the comfort of my own settee. The first thing that struck me as the teams ran out was, “Why are Northampton wearing those shirts?” I understand their desire to support Help for Heroes and commemorate ANZAC day, particularly with their connection to Gallipoli in this centenary year – a great article by Ben Foden by the way over on the Saints website.  But with a ‘special edition rip-off shirt’? Not sure about that, particularly one that was predominately white, knowing that Saracens would be wearing white shirts; it seemed destined to cause confusion at some point!  

This was a game that Saracens could, and perhaps should, have won – yet in the end were grateful to come away with a losing bonus point. In fact, they could easily have had the game done and dusted by half time. However, the match seemed to turn on two pivotal moments during the first period, both involving the behemoth that is Billy Vunipola. He has been outstanding for both club and country this season and must surely be in the running for Premiership Player of the Season, alongside George Ford and a revitalised Thomas Waldrom. I’m not sure it’s a coincidence that the latter two have found real form since leaving Leicester Tigers.

The first moment came on the half hour mark with Saracens holding a one point lead. Billy Vunipola charged down a clearance kick just outside Saints 22. The ball seemed to bounce favourably for him and he was well clear of the scrambling defence as he scooped to pick the ball up 5 metres from the line. Billy is a big man, a very big man, and it was always going to be difficult for him to fully regain his balance. He stumbled towards the line and tried to slide over from a couple of metres out. Unfortunately, in doing so, the ball bounced free from his grasp and the try was lost. In all honesty, I’m not sure there was a lot else he could have done - other than hold onto the ball of course!

This error was compounded moments later when he suffered an ankle injury during a ‘cheap shot’ shoulder charge from Samu Manoa. It’s hard to say that the challenge caused the injury, but at the same time, it certainly didn’t help the situation. Big Billy was forced out of the action to be replaced by Jackson Wray. Things then went from bad to worse as Wray suffered a concussion injury, courtesy of a head clash with Joubert in attempting a tackle just 3 minutes after coming on.

The game had started well enough for Saracens who took the early lead through a well worked first phase move from a lineout on Saints 22. Slick passing and excellent running lines created the space for Chris Wyles to score in the left corner. It was a dream start, made all the better for Hodgson’s conversion. The score galvanised the ‘home’ team into action and they soon forced a couple of penalties that Myler converted to give a 6-7 scoreline after 12 minutes. To say the penalties were ‘forced’ is perhaps overstating the case. Saracens were caught offside 25 metres from their own line when there was no real threat – sloppy, and costly, play from the men in white (& white).

They struck back immediately from the kick off though. Initially, pressure from Billy Vunipola disrupted Saints ball at the breakdown. This led to a floated pass from Fotuali’i that allowed de Kock to put pressure on Myler. The ball went loose, Kruis reacted first and a couple of quick passes later, Wyles was over in the same corner for another score. Again Hodgson was bang on target with the conversion and Sarries had a healthy 8 point lead. It was short lived though as superb arcing run by Burrell set up the third (and final) try of the game as Manoa ran in unopposed – and completed a hat-trick of tries for the USA. As with Saracens first score, it was simple rugby executed perfectly. From a Saracens perspective, Hodgson & Joubert both made abortive attempts to tackle Burrell and Brits made very little effort to track the supporting run of Manoa. Myler converted and we were back to a one point game.

Myler and Hodgson both missed kickable penalty opportunities but it was Saracens who claimed the final score of the half as Hodgson converted the penalty following Manoa’s shoulder charge on Vunipola. It gave a half time score of 13-17 to the ‘visitors’ but really felt like it should have been much more.

There was a notable change at the start of the second half – Saracens shirts had gone from white to black! Shirts that had been, we were reliably informed, express delivered from North London. The lead was extended on 47 minutes with another Hodgson penalty but even at that stage it was clear that the exertions of the previous week’s European semi-final was having it’s toll. Saints slowly gained ascendency, as much a result of weary Saracens legs as anything special by Northampton. They have been stuttering along in recent weeks and did not look like they had particularly improved in this game but they did recognise the moment and seized the opportunity through their renowned forward power. There were also a couple of other moments that concerned me. Firstly, Ma’afu hit de Kock with another ‘cheap’ late shot that on another day may have resulted in a 10 minute rest on the sidelines. He had an altercation with Kruis shortly afterwards and was immediately removed from the fray – more to prevent sanction from the referee I suspect than any tactical reasoning.

The other incident was an elbow by Hartley into Brits face whist the two tussled on the ground. Hartley was lying on top of Brits and put his elbow into the Saracens man’s face on two occasions – the second after the ball had cleared the ruck. Rugby is a tough, physical game and I have no doubt that all teams and players play to the very edge of legitimacy and what they can get away with. However, this incident seemed beyond the realms of acceptable, it was reminiscent of Goneva’s elbow on Barritt a couple of weeks ago. The matter was compounded as Saints were awarded a penalty just seconds later which Myler again converted.

Saracens were conceding far too many ‘soft’ penalties, one of which resulted in Itoje being sent to the sin bin for tackling Fotuali’i as he tried to take a quick tap penalty. Myler is an excellent fly half, much underrated in my opinion, but one thing he has consistently done is kick his goals. Four opportunities in a 20 minute spell during the second half, and Saints held the lead 25-20. It was now all too easy for a team that finally found its self-belief again. There was one final twist though as, with time expired, Myler had the opportunity to deny Saracens the losing bonus point. As Healey said in commentary, all he’s got to do is make sure the ball doesn’t hit the post to avoid giving Saracens a chance to score. So, right on cue, the ball bounced off the post into the arms of Longbottom. Unfortunately, Myler having done his bit, Saracens were unable to do theirs as they were unable to get more than 10 metres from their own line through several phases before the ball was fumbled.

Saints will be very pleased to get the win and confirm their place in the end of season play offs. Saracens will be disappointed to lose and look destined to finish no higher than third at best. The biggest winners this weekend might just be Bath. If results go their way they could well finish top of the pile, leaving the tantalising possibility of a Northampton v Saracens semi final – again!

A couple of other things to note. Great to see Longbottom return to action – not great to see him apparently pass out during a scrum. Even more concerning was that as Kelly Brown rushed to help him, Lawes pushed Brown on top of the collapsed prop.

Finally, I would hope that if Saracens are ever fortunate enough to have a player who scores 93 tries in 111 games for us, we would give him a welcome round of applause on his return to the club, rather than a torrent of boos. ‘Nuff said!!

Northampton Saints: 15 Ahsee Tuala , 14 Ken Pisi. 13 George Pisi. 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 1 Alex Corbisiero, 2 Dylan Hartley (Capt), 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 4 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 6 Tom Wood, 7 Calum Clark, 8 Samu Manoa  16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Sam Dickinson, 20 Jon Fisher, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Tom Stephenson, 23 James Wilson

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode; 14 David Strettle, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt ©, 11 Chris Wyles; 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Schalk Brits, 3 James Johnston, 4 George Kruis, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Ernst Joubert, 7 Kelly Brown, 8 Billy Vunipola.  16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill 18 Kieran Longbottom, 19 Jim Hamilton 20 Jackson Wray 21 Richard Wigglesworth 22 Owen Farrell 23 Chris Ashton.

 Scorers:

Northampton (25)  Try: Manoa  Conv: Myler  Pens Myler (6)

Saracens (20) Tries: Wyles (2)   Conv: Hodgson (2)  Pens: Hodgson (2)

Referee: Greg Garner

Attendance: 27,411