News: Aviva PremiershipMatch Preview - Gloucester v Saints
By Bonso
September 20 2013
So it’s off to Castle Grim for our Saintly Boys this weekend for what is usually one of the games of the season. The Tractor Boys have had an indifferent start to the season suffering 2 defeats in a row and one of the fastest sending offs in Premiership History when Burger head butted Nick Woods foot after 73 seconds last week
Aviva Premiership Round 3
Gloucester vs Northampton Saints
Kingsholm 21st September 3pm
I fully expect a backlash Gloucester are not a team that loses twice or even thrice in a row often and are going to be dangerous. To put it mildly they are going to be like an incredibly irritated wild bear who has had his honey stolen, been poked repeatedly by a sharp stick, and then been infested by the fleas of a thousand camels. Eventually I would expect Gloucester to start winning and climb the table however the real question for Northampton is whether it will be Saturday or not?
Saints have had a very good start with winning their first 2 games. The Chiefs leaving the gardens with nothing after an excellent 1st half gave Saints a bonus point and Saints showing that they were marginally better at Water polo than the Hairyqueens at the Stoop. This will be a different kind of test again for the Cherry and Whites will be baying for blood and some points. For me how we handle this will tell me a great deal on how to tailor my expectations for the coming season. A win and you know I might just start to hope a teeny weensy little bit more. So to the match ups.
There is no such thing as a poor Gloucester pack and with Vedic, Qera, Dawiduk, and the returning to full fitness Ben Morgan there is some talent there and it should not be forgotten it took Saracens a while to wear these boys down even with the loss of Wood last week. Also in Kvesic they have one of the smarter ball ferrets in the league, a rare thing these days a proper English openside. With the Shed howling them on Saints will have to front up and not take a step back, silence the crowd and certainly try and keep sir happy (incidentally Mr Garner one of in my humble opinion the better refs around). One other point is the more we have the ball the less they do. (More later about that) So what will Saints field against this. Well I won’t try and guess Big Jims selection but I think both 1st choice packs will be evenly matched however Saints have such depth on the bench now that it’s a tossup who starts or even who plays where. Will Big Sam play at 8 or lock and which Big Sam, will Calumn Clark get a trot out, will Dowson get a start? I think you probably have got the drift of it by now. Of the Saints 8 only Hartley, Day, Corbisero, and Wood could even remotely considered as near certainties and of those only Daisy really I would consider nailed on.
If we allow our Cider loving chums to actually get some ball and good ball at that they have the weapons to hurt us (hence my earlier remark) the ever fluid JSD, Sharples and Trinder are as an exciting a set of backs as any around with pace skill and guile. Also the impressive Burns and mercurial 36 can control the game as well. So best we don’t let them have the pill boys. On the other hand Saints also have danger out wide and in the centres with some class half-backs as well that can play in all conditions and the thought of North running at Sharples and JSD just gives me a warm glow, and that Foden bloke is pretty tidy as well.
One thing to me is obvious this match has the potential to be a real humdinger with two strong sides who like to play open pragmatic rugby ,however I think Saints might have too much but only just too much for Gloucester with the cavalry up front making the difference when the substitutions occur.
Saints by 10
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Many thanks to David for putting it up!