News: Saints 22 - not a Happy Christmas for Bath 13
By Emma Brooker
December 24 2011
The Saints are in danger of making pundits who say “it’s a game of two halves” sound like they’re talking sense after yet another match in which each half produced a markedly different performance.
Aviva Premiership Round 11
Northampton Saints v Bath Rugby
Franklin's Gardens 24th December 2011
KO 3:15
Saints 22 Bath 13
Immediately things looked bad as the home side took to the wrong end of the field. I am never completely at ease when the Saints play down the slope in the first half! However, the captain Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes did their best to reassure, piling in to Bath #8 Francois Louw at kickoff and causing him to spill the ball. Things quickly moved to the other end of the field as Bath attacked through Dave Attwood who offloaded neatly to Matt Banahan, with the wing steaming forward at a rate of knots, but the ball was lost in contact.
Some poor kicking from both sides meant that the first ten minutes passed largely without incident, though the highlight was probably a tackle by Jamie Elliott on Banahan which had an element of the David v Goliath about it. Bath got on the scoresheet first, courtesy of Ollie Barkley, after the Saints were penalised at a maul, but the home side were back in the game shortly after. A lineout just inside the Bath 22 was taken at the back by Tom Wood and quick hands by Ben Foden and even quicker feet from Vasily Artemyev took the Saints close to the line. The ball was worked back across the field to the opposite wing where a lovely pass from James Downey found Phil Dowson who crossed in the corner. Lamb missed the conversion, but after 17 minutes the home side were in front 5-3.
Lamb was involved in the Saints’ second try as a chip off the outside off his boot, rather reminiscent of a certain C. Spencer, found George Pisi who raced clear and timed his offload to Tom Wood superbly, enabling the flanker to run over the line unopposed. This time the conversion was successful and the Saints were ahead 12-3.
Now, should you have feared that with no Butch James at Bath this game might be lacking a pantomime villain, let me introduce Mr David ‘Abanazar’ Rose. His decision to award Bath a penalty inside the Saints’ half was met with cries of “you don’t know what you’re doing” from those close to the action. He didn’t endear himself to the Bath fans much either when he sent Nick Abendanon to the sin bin following more great work from George Pisi. Pisi chipped and chased, and pounced on Abendanon who had gathered the ball. The Saints turned the ball over, eventually, and the referee decided that the Bath full back had been tardy in his decision to release the ball and sent him for a 10 minute sit down. Ryan Lamb kicked the resulting penalty for the Saints, and suddenly a relatively comfortable looking 12 point gap had opened between the two sides.
Bath’s tactic of passing the ball for three phases and then kicking it wasn’t working (or maybe it was, if the aim was to bore us all to tears), and the Saints kept pressing in search of try number three. Eventually it was Lamb who broke things open once more with a chip ahead that was well chased by Pisi and Downey. The ball eventually found its way to Jamie Elliott who reacted as if it were a hot potato and juggled it as he crossed the line. Luckily the large intake of breath from the crowd was enough to allow the ball to drop nicely back into his hands and the young winger touched down in the corner. The exhalation that followed the large intake of breath can be given most of the credit for Ryan Lamb’s successful conversion, though I suspect Lamb himself might beg to differ...
The home side almost had the bonus point wrapped up before half time as Downey broke through the Bath defence and raced towards the line. Unfortunately the Irishman was unable to offload to one of his supporting team mates and the ball was dislodged as he was brought down. Still, the Saints managed to score three tries in the first half this week, a vast improvement on the three points they managed against Castres!
Bath made one change at half time, with Nathan Catt replacing David Flatman in the front row, and they doubled their score almost immediately with another penalty from Ollie Barkley after just two minutes. The Saints, however, came back fighting and almost scored in the corner after some good work by Tongauiha and Pisi, but the Bath defence held firm. Abanazar Rose decided that some of their firmness was of an illegal nature and sent Kiwi Stephen Donald to the sin bin. The Saints had a penalty in front of the posts and opted for the scrum. Dickson darted towards the line but was stopped in his tracks by a tackle which dislodged the ball and resulted in a scrum for the visitors.
The next ten minutes saw the Saints press for the fourth try but get nowhere, while Bath’s decision to keep the ball in hand saw them continue to frustrate the Saints and gradually look more dangerous. They escaped Stephen Donald’s sin bin without conceding a point and shortly after he returned it was the Saints’ Samu Manoa who was told to leave, having only just come on, for bringing a player down at a lineout. This was not a popular decision, but the referee was booed and hissed at some more almost immediately after when James Downey was considered to have strayed offside while defending at the base of a ruck. He was also the recipient of one of Rose’s cards (perhaps he doesn’t trust Royal Mail?), and Bath were presented with a penalty in front of the posts. They opted to take the scrum and pushed their way over, the captain Louw eventually grounding the ball. Barkley added the two points and the visitors closed the gap to 22-13 with 15 minutes to play.
For a moment it looked as though the 13 men of the Saints might capitulate, but they managed to retain possession and even turn the ball over on a couple of occasions as Bath couldn’t make their numerical advantage tell. Indeed, the Saints almost extended their lead as Lamb missed a penalty and then chipped the ball over the line which was narrowly missed by a diving George Pisi.
With both sides on the hunt for a bonus point the last ten minutes or so became a nervous affair with neither side being able to keep the ball for long enough to string a decent set of phases together. The Saints came closest with a series of forward drives from 5m lineouts but the Bath defence held out, and indeed held them up over the line at one point.
In the end neither side was able to get the score that they were so desperate for, with the Saints failing to score at all in the second half of the game, which ended 22-13 to Northampton. George Pisi was awarded the man of the match honours by the watching Sky commentators, though Tom Wood was surely in with a shout. Bath’s tactics in the first half were disappointing, and even with 13 men I never really felt we would lose the game, but our desperation to score the fourth try led to some rather elementary mistakes. A win’s a win though, and for a few days at least we can enjoy being in third place.
A for the pantomime I will let you complete the cast of Aladdin yourselves – though surely Lee Dickson is the flying carpet and Claasens and Donald the Chinese policemen?
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year everyone!
And some great stuff from George Pisi:
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There was alo the matter of the 4th try that wasn't - or was it? Strangely, not a single Saints supporter thought the pass was forward...
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
Many, many thanks!
Saint til I die
But Howlin' please - Barnes?? banal????
Typo - surely you must mean Anal!
David L
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- Live wrong and preposterously