Saints Storm Agen Fortress In Euro Upset
By MarkH January 26 2004
December 28 2011
Mark H found this which was being searched for below. It was written for the old software, so I have recut it for todays software. Thanks Mark...
AGEN 9 - 19 NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
HEINEKEN CUP - JANUARY 2004
FROM THE ARCHIVES
On a night of high tension in the Stade Armandie, Saints went and did the supposedly unthinkable by not only winning in France for the first time in the Heineken Cup, but ending Agen’s 27 month unbeaten record in the progress, inflicting only a second home defeat in 54 games on the proud Frenchmen.
Correction - that’s now one defeat in one game. In front of a thousand strong travelling support, the Saintsmen produced possibly their finest performance under Wayne Smith to leave but one simple equation for next Sunday afternoon - beat Llanelli, it’s game on and the quarter finals, fail to do so and it’s game over and this performance will be wasted.
So how did it come about? Well, I think that we can lay a lot of the inspiration for the performance at the feet of a Frenchman. In his Perpignan career, Renaud Peillard never won at Agen, but on Friday afternoon, he dissected the French papers, told them that they had been written off as too weak and were not a threat, and then presented the players with the jerseys with the instruction to fill them. It would have been the sort of game that this proud son of Perpignan would have loved to have played in, given the physicality of the mind games in the front row. Instead, this adopted son of Northampton hit the perfect note, and won the mental mind games with his old foes by winding up Messrs Smith, Thompson and Morris to be the indestructible force that he himself used to be.
The first scrum of the game was always going to be a big one, and for it to come in the first minute made it all the more crucial. It may only have been eighteen inches, but the forward movement from the green clad eight put the marker down. Subsequent scrums may well have been more even, but that push told Jean Jacques Crenca’s men that this was going to be a tough evening. The fact that after having won a penalty after the second one for forcing Robbie to stand up, the Frenchman then stuck his head in Robbie’s face in exactly the same manner as he had done to Wally at FG was yet another moment of crass stupidity, and a very early indication that they were rattled. This time, however, he remained on the field. This wasn’t the first time though that something had been missed though (not bad in only four minutes!).
A Grays kick through was collected by full back Pepito Elhorga on the bounce, and he broke the first line of defence on the way to halfway. When he chipped the ball over Bruce Reihana, the Kiwi just turned his body into the onrushing jack rabbit and provided enough of a check to ensure that Ben Cohen got back to cover the ball and, ironically, win the penalty as Agen went off their feet. I have to say that looking up that touchline at the incident, Bruce could have had no complaints if a yellow card had been shown, but fortunately both Alan Lewis and his touch judge missed it and Saints escaped.
Ah yes, Mr Lewis. Part of the fun of the evening was trying to teach two female Agen supporters how to say “referee, you’re having a shocker” in English. When they asked what “un shockair” was, we could point to some of his decisions that were frankly debatable at best. What I can say though, however, is that just for a change it seemed like they were debatable in Saints’ favour, and that none of them had an impact on the result. That doesn’t change my opinion on him though.
It was Saints who got on the scoreboard first, Paul Grayson kicking a penalty on seven minutes after Agen had been penalised for not rolling away. Given the conditions - a saturated pitch that was cutting up just by walking on it, cooling conditions (although nowhere near as cold as we were led to believe it would be), and steady drizzle throughout the eighty minutes - it was amazing that anyone could hold onto the ball or even think of lying at the bottom of a mud pit, let alone produce a game that kept spectators enthralled for the full eighty. Indeed, on numerous occasions, some very astute shoelace and face wiping breaks, mainly from Grant Seely, just earned the right number of seconds for the rest of the team to gather and refocus for the next crunch forwards.
In fact, if Agen had been more creative then they may have caused Saints problems. Their rolling maul, although magnificent, had obviously been identified pre-match as a weapon of mass destruction, and the weapons inspectors clad in muddy green managed to come out of the trenches and disable the weapons time and time again. This was an immense defensive performance, real “in your face” aggression whilst remaining for the most part highly disciplined, and repeatedly the only option possessed by the Frenchmen was to kick the ball away and concede possession in the face of the onslaught.
The frustration was really beginning to kick in, and on 25 minutes, it boiled over. Luc Laffourgue took exception to Ben trying to kick the ball through, and pinned him to the ground whilst getting in any number of short arm jabs right in front of the touch judge. With Lewis blowing the whistle rather too officiously, Ben threw a punch or two back to try and even up the score. Which he did, as they both got binned. It did seem at the time that Ben had been duped into it, but no matter, as Agen were more affected by the loss than Saints, even though it did look at times like we were playing without a full back.
The pressure was telling. Elhorga knocked on on his own line, under pressure from Robbie Morris, and with Saints pressing from the scrum and subsequent phases, the penalty was won, and duly despatched from Grays’ boot. 32 minutes, 6-0, and it was becoming apparent that there was no way that Agen were going to get the four tries they need to apply the pressure in the group. It did not stop them from trying though, and for the first time in the game they managed to put together some concerted pressure in the Saints 22. It was imperative that having enjoyed the balance of play, Saints did not turn around behind, and consequently played the sort of defence that is the stuff of champions, in not conceding ground, and then if you have to concede a penalty then losing three points is four better than conceding seven. And that’s exactly what happened, with an offence right in front of the posts giving Francois Gelez an easy three points. Not ideal, but composure was recovered quickly and Saints once again ended the half in the ascendancy, helped by the binning of Maher Kahla just before the interval for punching Mark Connors.
Forty minutes. Forty minutes of sublime stuff played, forty minutes of war ahead. The first battle was lost, Bruce becoming isolated when taking the ball forward and conceding a penalty for not rolling away which Gelez kicked for 6-6. Still though, it was green shirts that were going forward, and Bruce made up for the penalty with the run of the match, breaking tackles and jinking past defenders to take the ball forty metres up field before offloading to AB. When he was hit from the side by Conrad Stoltz, mere mortals would not only have surrendered the ball, but laid in a heap recovering. This immortal not only held onto the ball, but set it up for Sharky to feed Grays, whose kick to the corner bounced just the right side of the flag to a five metre lineout.
From the lineout, Agen somehow managed to knock the ball on, giving Saints a scrum five. With Kahla desperate to get back on, his ten minutes having expired, Grant picked up from the base but was held up two metres short. Darren Fox picked up and tried going forwards but was squeezed back. The ball appeared in front of Sharky. A quick pass to Grays, and he made an equally rapid decision to grubber kick into the in-goal area. And then… And then the roller coaster became swings and roundabouts. At Newcastle, Mike Stephenson benefited from Bruce going over the ball and failing to touch down to score a decisive try (or at least Ashley Rowden thought he did). In a Rowdenesque replay, Elhorga slid back and missed the ball completely, enabling Bruce on the follow to put a hand down and supply enough downward pressure before the ball went over the line for Alan Lewis to give the try.
There seemed to be two seconds of stunned silence, followed by an eruption of noise from every Saintly voice in France. Grays added the conversion, and there was a seven point lead with thirty minutes to go. But it wasn’t a case of running down the clock, even though Saints took every opportunity within the laws to gain seconds of rest. Why else would Ben get big cheers for taking ages to touch the ball down behind the posts? It was a case, however, of continuing to be big, continuing to dig. The lineout was working superbly, with nothing being lost until the 74th minute. All of the collisions were stopping Agen from playing, and the pressure was causing simple handling errors.
They even managed to knock on a quick tap from a mark following a Bruce kick, to give the ball back to Saints five metres short. From the scrum, the ball came along the line and Agen were penalised for hands in the ruck right in front of the posts. Peter Perfect (or should that be Paul Perfect, such was the game he was having) kicked the three, and it was 16-6 on 59 minutes. So just to really test themselves, Saints thought that they would make it harder. Following up a Reihana kick, Darren Fox barged late into Christophe Coro after the ball had been cleared, and he had the chance to recuperate for ten minutes.
If Agen were going to score at any point, it was now, against 14 men. The screw was really turned, with kickable penalties being spurned in favour of taps and kicks to the corner. Desperate tackling went in; one Robinson effort denied a try in one corner; Mark Tucker drove a man back in the other. A Grayson clearance was charged down in the in-goal area. Not quite seat of your pants stuff, but certainly enough to hold out and eventually force Agen to concede a penalty virtually on the Saints line.
Robbie Morris’ reaction told the story, punching the air when the decision was made - he wasn’t the only one. Chris Budgen replaced Robbie with ten minutes to go, coming on as Foxy returned, and Robbie had words before he came off which were something to the effect of “you are not losing this”. Immediately Budgen was driving forwards in the Agen half - this was now getting heroic, with every man playing a part. Bruce collected a kick through and almost got all the way up the touchline, the smallest of pushes from Crenca forcing a foot to touch the line.
And as the effort somehow went up, so did the volume - les Agenais had been silenced, this was now Anglo-Saxon voices singing loud. The flying wedge, so successful in their first game against Borders, came into play twice. Still the wall did not buckle, even in the face of being penalised for offside. From a quick tap, Mattieu Lievremont went for the line. The ball squirted out, and Matt Lord was the first man to dive on it. With the ball being forced backwards, we all expected a kick from Grays to clear the danger. What’s he doing he’s passed it…go Bruce go!! Reihana kicked past a couple of defenders, and with the help of Ben Cohen got the ball almost to halfway. Time was running out. An immense tackle from AB left his opponent in a heap, and produced gasps from both sets of supporters. Still with Agen forcing the issue, the wall blocks. More increase in volume. Tam charges down a kick, but we’ve knocked on. Still Agen try and run it. A poor kick through is gathered by Sharky…offside Lewis!!! Penalty Saints! Grays takes the time and kicks it for 19-6 and we are well into injury time.
Finally Agen look to have lost it, when Gelez’s kick off fails to go ten metres. With some last time-wasting replacements, Saints bag up the four points ready to go through the checkout. And that was that. The final whistle went, and Saints had triumphed on an overseas field for the first time in five years of European Cup competition. The supporters thanked the team; the team thanked the supporters, wherever they were in the ground, and sportingly, the Agen supporters stayed to salute a great team effort. Respect on all sides was oozing out.
Immediately after the match, the players and coaching staff were very happy. Wally said the pitch was up there with the worst he’s played on. Grays, when asked if anything had been done differently to keep the ball in hand, said that there was no great secret, the team was just getting better. Both Rats and Smithy had big words of praise for the part that the huge support had played, and equally big grins, but even they were nowhere near as big as John Leslie’s, once again a huge influence in the Saints midfield. Man of the match? You must be joking. Saints scored 19 points, one for every man who put his body on the line on that pitch. As such, they were Herculean equals - it would be unfair to single any one out when the team ethic, the band of brothers, conquered all.
We have commented a number of times on what would happen if Saints played for eighty minutes.
We now know.
No more Lost in France.
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Brought back memories - especially Bruce Reihana running over the mud like it was a cinder track, while everyone else was up to their ankles in glue.
Also the memory of what a good reporter you are!! could do with some reprises from you now that Mathew lets you sleep - How about Falcons this week end??
Once again - thanks
David L
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- Live wrong and preposterously
One other thing I found whilst looking was the review of 2003/04, which looking back really was the calm before the storm, even if it didn't feel like it at the time.
What a read from way back when!
A great weekend.
We remember coming down on the train running late and Laurie pacing up and down the train unable to do anything about our arrival. Luckily another fan booked taxis for the 6 of us on the train from our hotel and was waiting for us with tickets and a free beer, because Agen didn't get the tickets to FG in time.
Then the match, then meeting up with all the team and coaches in a bar in town. So memorable.
In 2011/12 sitting on the ball with your bottom is not considered grounding the ball and neither was it in 2003/04 at KP!
To my dying day, I will always believe I made the right decision and unlike 99.99% of people in the stadium, I was very close to the incident ...
A lot closer than Bealer who told me "Ash, that was a f**king shocking call" to which he got back "Nick, you were at least 20 yards away, I was about 3 yards, you were in no position to say whether I was right or wrong" ...
Great read by the way Mark ....
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
Tetleys Block F E143
Quote:Lesley K
I bet you don't remember much of the post match celebrations that day Tim in Agen??
I blame the copious amounts of wine drunk on the train on the way down.....
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
Tetleys Block F E143
What goes on tour ETC!
As soon I get back to work, I will stop drinking Wine....
Quote:His Retiredship Mr Norling senior
you were at least 20 yards away, I was about 3 yards, you were in no position to say whether I was right or wrong" ...
Goodness me - I wonder how many times that position has been reversed.
but with the same outcome.
David L
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- Live wrong and preposterously
Thanks for digging it out.