ZP Preview: Our Friends from the NorthamptonSaints

Haskell splinters
By Caustic Sid
September 26 2003

On Saturday London Wasps travel to Franklins Gardens, one of the toughest venues in the Premiership. Last season we were well and truly beaten in the loose as Saints' tornado, Andrew Blowers, ran the show. This year their tyro is injured and the World Cup has levelled the playing field.

The key to winning at Frankles is to soak up the pressure without conceding kickable penalties as witnesses of our championship winning performance will agree. A near full-house will roar Saints on which will be worth a ten-point lead if Wasps' concentration slips as badly as last season. We must put up a better response to the usual rough, tough, physical confrontation this time round.

The last time the two sides met was at the end of a long, tiring season. A tired Saints team visited Adams Park for the Zurich playoff semi-final having scraped past Sale and Leeds with a stirring closing campaign. Wasps were on a roll, winning game after game but rarely killing off our opponents. The result went to form. Wasps won an edgy, scrappy match 19-10 with barely one try apiece. Expect much the same game tomorrow.

Saints began this season with some scintillating sevens form, however, coming second to Army at Henley's International Sevens and winning the Middlesex Sevens with something to spare. In the opening fixture, Sale had difficulty coping with Saints' slick preseason preparation. They did manage to peg them back and get their noses in front in the second half only to see Shane Drahm to kick a late penalty to seal the draw.

Bath did not do Wasps any favours by stuffing Saints by three tries to nil last weekend. Saints will play a much smarter game at home tomorrow even without the likes of Blowers, Budge, Cohen, Dawson, Grayson and Thompson. While their backs are in fine fettle, Saints' forwards, like ours, are in a state of transition. Injuries and absentees mean that Saints will rely on a mixture of old heads and recent graduates from their academy. Even so, they will test our newcomers Tim Payne, Martin Purdy and Jonny O'Connor to the full.

Northampton's RFU England Academy player, John Clarke, will make his first team debut on Saturday in Saints' first home game of the season. Wayne Smith has made four changes to the squad which lost so abysmally to Bath last weekend. As well as Clarke, Chris Hyndman, Rob Hunter and Robbie Morris will all start on Saturday.

Leeds gave our forwards an uncompromising going over before capitulating in the final quarter last weekend. Whilst it has cost us the services of Phil Greening (ribs), Will Green (shoulder) and Richard Birkett (knee), it was a useful rehearsal for the Franklins fight. Ian Clarke and Mark Lock make way for Paul Volley and John Hart as Warren Gatland rotates his squad.

Hard work brings its rewards. Ayoola Erinle gets a welcome start at 12 and Jonny Barrett, James Haskell and George Skivington join our seasoned pros on the bench. Game time will keep our youngsters keen. If they consistently help Wasps come up with four or five points then come December they'll be pushing our World Cup homecomers hard.

Our next two away games are the key to elevating our position in the league. Win and we'll be well set. Lose and we'll be slugging it out near the basement come December, as in previous campaigns. Over to you, lads.

And by the by, club rugby isn't about being side-tracked by garbled spin over the reasons for Sir Trev's availability or non-availability for Samoa's World Cup squad. Nor is it about the reason for seeking redress over Quins' illegal replacement for a sin-binned hooker. These are side issues for the Powers-That-Be to mull over (will they ever get things right?). The league is more important than that...

15 Tom Voyce; 14 Shane Roiser, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Ayoola Erinle, 11 John Rudd; 10 Mark Van Gisbergen, 9 Peter Richards; 1 Tim Payne, 2 Trevor Leota, 3 Craig Dowd (Capt.), 4 Simon Shaw, 5 Martin Purdy, 6 Paul Volley, 7 Jonny O'Connor, 8 John Hart.

16 Rob Howley, 17 Jonny Barrett, 18 Mark Denney, 19 James Haskell, 20 George Skivington, 21 Ian Clarke, 22 Sean Phillips.

Northampton: 15 Nick Beal; 14 John Clarke, 13 Chris Hyndman, 12 John Leslie, 11 Bruce Reihana; 10 Shane Drahm, 9 Mark Robinson; 1 Brett Sturgess, 2 Dan Richmond, 3 Robbie Morris, 4 Matt Lord, 5 Rob Hunter, 6 Mark Connors, 7 Darren Fox, 8 Mark Soden.

Bench: 16 Matt Miles, 17 Chris Budgen, 18 Jon Phillips, 19 Grant Seely, 20 Johnny Howard, 21 James Brooks, 22 Mark Tucker.

Related site: Opta Stats on Stains Offish site | Offish Site

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