News: North goes South to Send Saints to the Summit

By Ben_Dover
January 5 2014

“What say you Master Dover shall we take a sojourn this Friday evening to St James? I understand the intrepid Mr Hartley and the sturdiest of his contemporaries are entertaining a fine group of gentlemen from the city” And so it was with an eye for the excitement and sporting our warmest clothing that my dear son and I set forth on the glistening streets of Northampton with a raucous winter wind at our backs and made for the Gardens and its fine myriad of amusements.

Aviva Premiership Round 12

Northampton Saints 23 v 9 Harlequins

Friday January 3^rd 2014,

Franklins Gardens, KO 7:45pm

Saints of highest esteem in the league but one, where to take on the most direct of confrontations with a team which in recent incident have been performing near their greatest expectation. Harlequins! With much anticipation a crowd of not inconsiderable size, intent on bearing witness, had descended on the playing fields to the west of the county town. From the greyest, darkest, dampest, most rain sodden corners of the shire characters of every affect emerged in to the brilliantly lit circus to draw succour from the stalls purveying the homeliest of pies, the cosiest of beverages, and no less incidentally from the arena the liveliest of engagements.

Fortified by the last vestiges of Christmas cheer contained within my flask Master Dover and I assumed our customary attitude on the south east terrace to oversee proceedings first hand.

The adjudicator for the evening, a gentleman by the name of Garner made it of primary import to concede much of the first forty minutes of the evening to mediocrity where eight upon eight were repeatedly asked to re-join in the action of scrummaging. A most dull affair it was too! Even with respect to the inclement conditions and underfoot the instability of the sod which made the potential of an unblemished performance from either side remote, Mr Garner still saw fit not to implicate either in offences against the law but to reset the occasion at every turn.

From my distant position it occurred to me that the aforementioned Harlequins were succeeding in a plot to inhibit and vex Northampton who if permitted to would want to gain an advantage by raising the cadence of the confrontation. Mr Garner facilitated?

The evening commenced with abundant potential, both companies made fair gain with the ball and provided a stout struggle without. The London side in some ascendency after absorbing an early Saints tempest. Equally the Northampton men held firm against the try but acquiesced twice to the boot of the London men’s primary orchestrator Mr Evans.

But it was with honours even at six a piece that both teams entered the second half, after Quins spent the final ten minutes of the first half bereft of their No 6 for offences against the maul.

If the confrontation was in simile compared to the composition of the pre-match fayre then it was in the second half that the meat and spices were appended to the pie and the excitement amplified.

With four and forty minutes of the total confrontation granted to the clock young Mr North a Saints wing player took hold of a Harlequin clearance and proceeded to discomfit his opposing number a young Mr Walker to such an extent that once Mr Walker fell clear of the challenge North had unopposed possession to the line. Five of the finest points irradiated the scoreboard and Mr Myler even under sufferance of a leg injury added the compliment of two more.

The Northampton fifteen were in dominant possession but Harlequins with all tribute to their ambition stayed in touch and made a return of three in their first venture up the slope towards the soon to be redundant Club house. Mr Hartley instigator of the felony.

It was then with five and ten minutes of the encounter remaining that Mr Garner, as is now a rapidly occurring tradition saw fit to confer with his fellow superintendent on three incidents. That none of them were of any effect to the outcome of the game underscored both the profit and loss of such consultations. The multitude became restless and Northampton restored the advantage.

Mr Hartley made recompense for his earlier transgression by sealing the evening’s entertainment with but ten minutes to termination of the whole encounter. Northampton with a lineout which fought for equity throughout the match were well advanced on to the Harlequin estate yet lost prime custody of the device. Fate favoured the local leader though as the object bobbled free behind the city men and the captain crashed through the phalanx to acquire the winning touch. Strident celebration ensued.

Mr Myler added further distress to the Harlequin condition by bouncing over a conversion on no less than one leg!

A favourably navigated encounter and as fine an evening as the most experienced admirer of the game can enjoy.

Various participants and Mangererial functionaries offer their recollections and felicitous reasoning upon the events of the evening:

James Mallinder Esq.

My Lord Dickson and Mr Hartley:

News: North goes South to Send Saints to the Summit

Posted by: ComeOnYouSaints.com (IP Logged)

Date: 05/01/2014 10:22

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