Saints Stumble at the Stoop
By Hoddros
September 10 2011
I haven’t written a match report for a few years so I thought I would have a go for this game. I am in Singapore and the game was not shown live but delayed by three hours to 6am. That delay is annoying but overall I cannot complain as I do get to see a lot of Saints over here thanks to Sky and ESPN.
Aviva Priemiership round 2
Harlequins v Northampton Saints
The Stoop 9th Sept 2011 KO 7:45
Harlequins 26 Saints 13
For Saints it was a second game in 5 days which is a big ask in such a tough league.
When Saints fumbled then fail to pick up the kick-off I saw it as an omen of what is to come. Quins pounded the Saints line for 4 minutes before Mujati got pinged for coming in from the side and so Nick Evans had an easy kick for a 3-0 lead. There was nearly 8 minutes on the clock before Quins decided to give up the ball when Evans kicked the it to Saints, but Tonks kicked it out on the full so once again possession was handed back. It was a shaky start for Saints. It didn’t get much better when Saints finally got the ball and tried to break down the Quins defensive line, Myler kicked the ball out on the full under no pressure and possession was given away needlessly again. There had been acres of room behind their line. This is poor stuff from Saints and the TV replays showed Jim grimacing in his Voldemort way.
Evans wasted no time in showing Smyler how to do it with a very clever punt down the line which bobbled awkwardly and left Tonks with nothing to do except watch it out on his 10 yard line. Evans always seems to have a calm O’Gara type smugness about him that can be grating when he is gracefully sliding penalties between the posts or driving you back to your own twenty-two.
After 16 minutes nothing of any particular note had happened. Neither team look like scoring and Healy and Ben Kay started talking anecdotes of previous commentating Colemanballs. Mujati was penalised for not rolling away, close to the posts so Evans slipped it over for a 6-0 lead. It seemed a harsh decision on Mujati but it probably had more to do with the ref catching up with a more lenient decision 2 minutes before.
Saints won a penalty on the Quins 22 but Myler ignored my screams and hollering to go for the 3 points and kicked it close to the 5 yard line. After Nutley took the lineout Saints picked and drove forcing another penalty but didn’t need it as Roberts dobbed under a tackle and nearly made the line. The ball was quickly recycled and Cato drew 3 defenders before a cut-out pass to JC and then onto Tonks who forced his way over for a try. Smyler converted from a difficult angle. Whoever made the decision not to kick the penalty would have been be patting himself on the back. That made it 6-7 after 23 minutes but as an attacking force that was just about it from Saints.
Manoa managed a big hit on Jordan somebody but Saints didn’t roll away later and gifted another gimmee to Evans. 9-7 to Quins. Saints again penalise at the side again inside Evans’ kicking range but unbelievably Brown tapped and went. Saints won the ball back but Quins are given another penalty after a foolish Armitage like swipe at Brown by Dowson, right in front of the posts. 12-7 and any momentum by Saints was fizzling out. It was not the sort of action one expects from Dowson and it would never of hurt Brown or put him off his game, so all round a daft effort.
The rest of the half sort of petered out although it seemed that our front row were beginning to establish control in the scrum. Unfortunately, too much of the first half had been spent waiting for the ref to shout ‘Pause’. Once I had time to visit the loo between his calls of ‘Touch’ and ‘Pause’ although in hindsight they might have been two separate scrums.
Evans attempted a drop goal as the clock ran down but it slid just by. The commentators tried to big up the excitement but in reality it was poor entertainment in the first half. Looking back over my notes, not much had happened.
Half Time: Quins 12 Saints 7
For me Saints stand-out players at that stage had been Manoa, Nutley and Roberts. Overrall though Quins had the edge and Marler and Wallace had dominated the breakdown areas. The overhanging threat of Evans’ kicking spoilt my half-time tea and Chocolate Orange wedges. Saints defence looked solid enough so they should trust each other more and stop giving away penalties.
Myler kicked off and another restart was collected by Quins. Saints scrummaged comfortably in the early stages but Tom May gave Quins their first penalty of the half, and I presume the message on penalties did not get through.
Saints’ defensive line was holding up well until the 7th minute when they left a gap the size of the Mersey Tunnel at a ruck and Dickson the Quins scrumhalf glided by Long before putting ex-Saint Joe Gray in for a run-in try under the posts. I remember a few years ago when Broonie used to eulogise about the up-and-coming Gray, did we miss out on him? Callum Clark left his knee in Gray’s back and a bit of handbags broke out behind the posts. Nick Evans didn’t care and he casually knocked over the conversion. 19-7 to Quins. The TV replay showed that Saints were criminally slow at closing the gap for Gray’s try.
Smyler’s restart fell lamely short but Quins grabbed it anyway. It seemed to sum up Smyler’s day, in fact the whole of the Saints day. The day seemed to follow a pattern of us unable to get the ball, kicking it away and then penalising in the tackle areas when we tried to prise it back.
Smyler converted a penalty to temporarily raise hopes. It was then 19-10.
Mr J P Doyle continued to wait an age before calling Pause and Saints couldn’t get the hang of it. He pinged the Saints for an early movement and another scrum went to Quins. This time Quins went early but the ref was too embarrassed to call it. Quins then swept across the pitch and Monye was left with a run-in try that even he couldn’t mess up. Evans converted and it was now 26-10.The TV replay showed the clever move between the Quins centres that opened up the space for Monye. Set piece work, but neat and tidy and worth 7 points.
Mujati took a small knock and was replaced by Tom Mercy. Thankfully it didn’t affect things too much as the scrum was the only area of equality we had with Quins.
Lamb came on for Myler on the hour. This change was probably always destined for this time and on this occasion it presented our only hope.
Quins went for an outrageous overthrow at a lineout on their 5 yard line and their No.8 fumbled it, Saints recovered it but messed up a scoring chance when Downey threw blindly to a Quins shirt and it was called back for a Saints scrum in front of the posts. Lamb eased it through for a 26-13.
From there-on-in the game just sort of petered out with little worthy of not, except at another Saints scrum the ball went all the way through and out the other side. I had never seen this happen before. For some reason the ref reset the scrum but it made me wonder if Roberts is the only scrum half in world rugby who feeds the scrum properly?
Saints were full of endeavour but very little guile. There was one point when an outside break looked on but Lamb hashed it up by throwing it behind Tonks, claiming the ball was knocked on by Quins. No-one believed him though and the cameras didn’t show it again.
Saints settled for rolling mauls which seemed to be making progress as they chased a losing bonus point. Eventually good position was squandered and it allowed Quins to wind down the clock in the annoying way that is somehow legal in rugby; legal but dull.
At one point the ref allowed Dickson nearly a minute to get the ball out of a ruck. All teams do this, including Saints but to me it equates to football players taking the ball to the corner flags.
So Quins won the game comfortably 26-13. This was a well deserved win for them. Saints were disappointing all round. Only the scrum looked as if we were on a par with them. The TV coverage stopped right at the end so I don’t know who was given MOM, I would have given it to Wallace or Robshaw personally, but I suspect Healy wanted to give to Monye just to add to the annoyance of the day.
On the bright side.... well actually I might have to think a while on that.
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And then when we looked capable of a BP in the last 5 minutes Tom ran down an alley and Roberts kicked the ball away so close to the line. Where was the composure? I think we deserved the BP and we should have got it.
On the wider front it was good to see Dicko out and about and Brett running around like a spring chicken. Also Sempere was warming up so he looks to be closer to a squad place.
Looking forward to the return, which may be rather different...
Saint til I die
Should be worth several pints
David L
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- Live wrong and preposterously
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