MATCH PREVIEW: WASPS v NORTHAMPTON

Ashton's in town!
By Dobbin
October 22 2010

As I sat in my seat at Twickenham last May, watching Danny Hipkiss run through a stunned Saracens defence like a knife through hot biltong, marvelling at the self-belief and sheer bloody mindedness of a team who, like Wasps of yore, refused to be beaten, one ignoble thought bounced around in my head as I stood up and applauded: not flippin' Leicester again!

The question is, if the same thought is not to return at the end of this season, which of the Premiership teams is going to stop it? London Irish? Yes, yes, perhaps it could be them. They certainly have the ability, and this season's interpretations seem to suit them more than most. And let's not forget that they were in the final just two season ago. On the other hand, they seem almost genetically prone to ducking into the nearest hostelry and ordering several pints of the black stuff whenever they've got themselves into a position to challenge. Witness the lacklustre performance at Ospreys last weekend, a week after their well-earned victory over Munster.

If it's not to be Irish, then what about Bath? The west country team, newly bolstered by the wallet of Bruce Craig, had a great end to last season, and there's no doubting their try-scoring ability when they get it right. The trouble is, they came a cropper in the semi-final against Leicester and this season, once again, they seem to be a front five short of the full package.

Gloucester, then? Not consistent enough on the road. Wasps? So far (although it's early days, of course) we seem to be ensnared in the old win-loss hokey-cokey. Saracens, the losing finalists from last year? Ah yes, it could well be them but, well...how to put this politely? They're just not the ticket, are they? Very good and all that, well drilled, know their game-plan, but they just don't fit in, do they? All a bit...nouveau.

Which realistically leaves Northampton Saints. Current darlings of the media, the white knight of rugby salvation charging over the horizon (via a lift tower and bingo hall), ball in both hands, snarling up front, sizzling behind, singing interminably from the sidelines. Could it be them?

It could. They started this season like a train. Their home victories over Leicester and Bath were acts of precision warfare. Watching a rugby team firing on all cylinders is like watching something clockwork, something mechanical, because it all seems to take place without conscious effort. There's always someone on hand to take the next pass, there are always just enough forwards to hit the breakdown and secure quick ball, rucks flow across the ground like series of pre-planned, choreographed artillery hits. Scrums and lineouts are mere interruptions to the liquid continuity of a team working completely as one. Think Toulouse. Think the All Blacks. Think Northampton in that match against Bath.

The thing is, behind this thing of aesthetic rugby beauty is a lot of planning, a lot of drilling, a lot of thought and training and sheer hard work. And sometimes it doesn't function exactly as planned. Witness Northampton's away games at Harlequins and Saracens, and their home match against Castres. When a cog slips a fraction, or a gear seizes up a little, the machine starts to work slightly less efficiently, and that's where the bloody-mindedness of a Leicester comes in. If you can't win pretty, just make sure you damned well win.

So far, for the most part, Northampton have done just that. They won at Harlequins. They beat Castres. Last week, when an absolute stuffing seemed on the cards up in Edinburgh, they calmly hauled themselves back into the game and then smothered the Edinburgh challenge. In some ways, it was their most impressive win of the season, even if it wasn't their most fluent. Their only loss to date has come at Saracens on a miserable, rainy day in Watford on which they were simply tactically outdone. If there's a note of caution to be sounded in amongst all the Northampton flag-waving, it's that they have now been beaten by Sarries three games in a row, and two of those were at home, at the business end of last season. They didn't have what it took in May, even with home advantage – the question all Saints fans must be asking is, are we better equipped now, both physically and mentally, than we were then?

A look at the Northampton squad doesn't reveal too many weaknesses. Up front, Soane Tonga'huia continues to be the embodiment of the modern prop: fierce scrummager, great ball carrier and all round renaissance man. On the tighthead side, the much improved Brian Mujati continues to keep Euan Murray out of the starting line-up, even when it's not a Sunday. Dylan Hartley completes the front row trio - still prone to the odd moment of madness is the kiwi-Englishman, but then he's a hooker, isn't he? In the second row Christian Day has smoothly filled the gap left by the departure of South African Juandre Kruger, and Courtney Lawes continues to impress. As with so many teams, it is the back row that provides Northampton's beating heart. Phil Dowson, Roger Wilson and ex-Worcester boy Tom Wood are a formidable trio. Wood in particular has been a revelation this season – at six foot four he is not your traditional openside flanker, but the shift in refereeing emphasis this season has played into his hands. No longer, perhaps, is snaffling the ball on the deck the main remit of your number seven. Better to have a big strong tackler who can stop the opposition on the gain-line, as well as carry the ball into contact. In effect an auxiliary blindside.

Behind the scrum, the usual Saints suspects need no introduction. Foden, Ashton, Clarke, Downey and the underrated Dickson have been at the heart of Saints' efforts for the last couple of seasons. With the influential Bruce Reihana injured, the livewire Paul Diggin will probably fill in on the other wing, but the team will lose nothing in mobility for that.

Which brings us to the fly-half. If Saints have any kind of chink in their armour, then the received wisdom is that it's at number ten. Actually, they have a great fly-half at the club – the trouble is that he's made up of two different people. Shane Geraghty and Stephen Myler have come in for quite a lot of criticism this term, mostly due to goal-kicking, it's true, but also, in Geraghty's case, because of his game management. Geraghty is the attacking option, so the theory goes – the ball-in-hand man, the try-making man. Myler is the conservative option, the tactical kicker, the points accumulator. Combine the two and you have a Dan Carter, but with just one of them on the field Saints are always going to be limited one way or the other. That's the theory. Perhaps there's a grain of truth in it. Geraghty is not the man you want standing over the ball in the dying seconds with a penalty out wide and a two point deficit to overcome. And in Myler's case, there's been a degree of inconsistency in performance that didn't seem to be there when he first joined the club. Nevertheless, he didn't seem to do too badly last week up in Murrayfield., did he?

Like Northampton, Wasps come into this game off a Heineken Cup victory over a Scottish side. Maybe it's churlish to find fault with the win over Glasgow last week, given that we picked up a try scoring bonus point and didn't let Glasgow have anything, but probably the victory should have been more clear-cut than it ultimately turned out to be. While the defence was generally sound, Glasgow did seem to make yards whenever they took the ball into contact, and missed tackles accounted for at least one of their tries. With the current paucity of turnovers, hitting your opponents hard on the gain-line, upsetting their platform and making them hurry plays, seems the best way of disturbing the opposition's rhythm. Force them into mistakes. Force their forwards to seal off the ball, potentially leading to a penalty. Wasps will need to tighten up this area of the game if they are to contain the likes of Tonga'huia, Foden and Ashton on Sunday.

In attack, last week was a big improvement. The set-piece was largely stable (another crucial element against Saints) and the try opportunities, in the first half at least, were taken clinically. Perhaps one thing follows the other. Up front, scrummaging will be a test, and the back row has to match the Saints trio around the park. Tom Rees will hopefully be recovered from his ankle knock, and the pace of Powell and Ward-Smith would, you'd have thought, be ideal for this game. Behind, Joe Simpson looks back to his best, gives Dave Walder space to work with, and that in turn should give the centres more chance to show what they're made of. Perming two from Flutey, Waldouck and Jacobs hasn't been an easy task this season, and none of the combinations has yet set the world alight, but when it happens...well, let's hope it does actually happen. Varndell and Lemi are the likely wingers, with Haughton probably just shading it behind, given the pace of the Saints back three.

There are some seriously mouth-watering match-ups all over the pitch this weekend, which is perhaps inevitable when you're playing one of the top teams in the league. Saints have never won at Adams Park, but there's no doubt about it, at the moment they are serious contenders for the Aviva Premiership title. If Wasps can't be the ones to steal the Tigers' crown, you wouldn't bet against the white knights of the East Midlands, would you? Even if they have got a seriously irritating song.

MATCH PREVIEW: WASPS v NORTHAMPTON

Posted by: DrunkenWasps.com (IP Logged)

Date: 22/10/2010 11:42

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