Saints go marching out with the points....

In all honesty, as I reflected on the day ahead over a bacon sandwich and coffee, it didn’t feel like this had the makings of the best afternoon’s rugby….it was freezing cold, the kick-off - due presumably to programming requirements by the channel formerly known as BT Sport – wasn’t until 16.30, and there was the fallout from Owen’s decision to withdraw himself from selection for the 2024 Six Nations out of concern for his family’s mental health and wellbeing – a decision that, for the record, I believe to be brave, honest and in the light of the grossly unacceptable level of abuse he received before, during and after the World Cup, entirely understandable.   I’ll say no more as I also believe this to be a private matter between the Farrell family and Saracens, which we should all respect by not indulging, as some have on social media, in ill-informed speculation and assumption.   We were pleased to hook up with a group of Saints fans we’d befriended in France and were, perhaps a little surprisingly given the relatively close proximity of the two clubs along the M1, making their first visit to StoneX (the sausage rolls in particular went down well) – everyone, we were assured, had made them welcome and there was much laughter about the fact that we were all wearing several layers more than when we’d last met in the shorts-and-t-shirt environment of Nice in September….

The Sarries squad was rather different to that which had edged home against Bristol Bears the previous week, with a notable absence being Owen himself, although this was due to having taken a knock during the Bears game – I suspect this happened when he went over for his try, as he did limp away after scoring and this must have been a factor in his much-criticised kicking performance in that match; Manu would be standing in at fly-half; Theo Dan was starting in a re-jigged front row; Maro was skipper for the day, and Lucio Cinti would be making his first start for Sarries, while Theo McFarland was joining Maro in a dynamic-looking second row; Tom Parton, who has settled quickly into life at StoneX, would again start on the left wing.

Saints were fielding a strong squad that included a Courtney Lawes in imperious form since returning from the World Cup, and thus far this season were proving a potent attacking force with, thanks to new defence coach Lee Radford, an increasingly impressive "wall". 

High up in the East Stand, the afternoon chill – well, freeze as the temperature hovered around zero – was briefly relieved by the warmth of the pre-match fireworks, and while Mrs Jonny enjoyed as always the smell of cordite, battle commenced.

The opening stages saw Saints taking the initiative, with Sarries defending calmly to create something of a stalemate as the sides tested each other.  Dan gave us the first chance to stomp our hands and clap our feet, as Noddy Holder would have put it, by making a characteristic break but the threat to the Saints line was nullified by an interception before Theo could find a team-mate in space  - I know I always say this, but that boy has so much of Schalk Brits about him…..  

It was to be nearly 20 minutes into a cagey game, the otherwise impressive Smith having already missed a penalty, before the first points of the game were racked up on the scoreboard when the fly-half Fin with just one “N” nailed his second attempt for 0-3 after 20 minutes.

Saints were beginning to put pressure on a creaking Sarries scrum now, and this yielded further success for the visitors as Smith slotted over another effort from the tee to take matters to 0-6  going into the last 10 minutes – no need to panic, and in fairness Saints had not seriously threatened our tryline, but Sarries up this point had seemed unable to make much headway against a well-organised and may I say Wolfpack-like defensive set-up.   

Sarries did rally following the second penalty, however, and were finally able to lay sustained siege to the Saints line in the latter stages of the half, although with Lawes prominent in the defensive set-up Sarries were restricted to just one real chance of a score, when following a penalty kicked to the corner and a rumble towards and over the the line, the ball was held up: the visitors were thus able to hold out and, unusually, the sides ran down the tunnel for a warming “cuppa” with Sarries having been “nilled” after 40 minutes. I was struggling to remember the last time this had happened at StoneX/Allianz Park.

 Although there was no sense of panic in terms of the scoreline, and the late-half rally was fairly encouraging, Sarries for me lacked any real threat and cohesion in attack, the scrum was struggling and despite the on-field presence of the likes of Alex Goode, Maro and Billy there seemed to be no real leadership apparent. My ongoing doubts about Manu remain as although hard-working and brave – and occasionally the scorer of fine individual tries – he doesn’t quite seem to possess the playmaking skills of a true fly-half…..maybe he’d be better in the centres?  

The crowd seemed a little restive and subdued, even when Owen was honoured with a ripple of applause after 10 minutes.

A warming Bovril made me feel a bit better, and here was hoping that a half-time chat with the coaches might remedy the game’s situation…..

In terms of the scrum, Sarries gave matters until the first few minutes of the second half before changing the front row, and we treated to the imposing sight Mako, Jamie and the man known as The Judge striding into the fray - this did shore things up.....and I would swear that the amount of steam coming off the scrum thickened....

Saints picked up the initiative in the early phase of the second half, and it was no huge surprise when a break from Furbank found Dingwall who set up Sleightholme (son of Jon) to go over for the first try of the match after 50 minutes  - Smith successfully converted to take Saints to 0-13 but again, no panic, we’d come back from worse, if we could only generate some pressure and find some inspiration.

Sarries did find a way back into the match, and in some style when on the hour and after upping the tempo of their game, working the ball one way and then the other to find a gap in the well-drilled Saints defence,  a lovely Owen-style long pass from Manu in his first telling contribution found Tom Parton out on the left to scamper over for our first score of the afternoon; the conversation hit the post and bounced away but with 20 minutes left Sarries had at least a toe-hold in the game.    

Saints were not going to cave in though, and just 7 minutes later an incisive run from deep by Mitchell found Goode isolated, leaving the Saint clear to sprint in to take the score away from Sarries again, with an unsuccessful conversion leaving it at 5-18.   

Moving into the last 10 minutes, it began to look like Saints would see the game out until a characteristic piece of quick thinking from Goode saw his clever “grubber” find Lewington in enough space to lift both the home fans’ hearts and Sarries’ score to within a converted try  at 12-18 following Manu’s successful conversion from out wide.

Did we dare hope???

Sarries fought hard to get something more than a losing bonus point out of the game, and it was again Lewington’s appetite for a kick-chase that took us closest, but in the end it wasn’t quite enough and although the second half had seen the scoring honours even at 12-12, Sarries had not found the inspiration or consistent level of threat to make more of a game of it in the first half against a formidably well-organised Saints defence, and couldn’t quite make up the lost ground in the second.    

With hindsight, and while on the day there was disappointment and indeed some speculation about low morale at the club, this game is perhaps best viewed as just a poor day at the office. We’ll go again.

TEAMS:

Sarrries: Goode; Maitland, Cinti, Tompkins, Parton; Manu Vunipola, Van Zyl; West, Dan, Clarey, Itoje (capt), McFarland, Gonzalez, Christie, B Vunipola

Replacements: George, Mako Vunipola, Judge, Tizard, Knight, Davies, Hartley, Lewington.

Northampton: Furbank (capt); Seabrook, Freeman, Dingwall, Sleightholme; Smith, James; Waller, Matavesi, Davison, Munga, Coles, Lawes, Pearson, Graham.

Replacements: Langdon, Waller, Mills, Mayanavanua, Scott-Young, Mitchell, Litchfield, Hendy.

Referee: Christophe Ridley