Northampton Saints
Thoughts from the Chron 24th December
By Chris Gleadell
December 24 2009
On Saturday afternoon in a very chilly looking Stade Mongio the Saints completed their own version of the Italian Job. Unlike the legendary 60’s Michael Caine film instead of a team of Mini’s hurtling around Turin, snow ploughs and diggers (no not Paul Diggin) were more the order of the day in wintry Treviso.
Thoughts from the Chron
December 24th 2009
That the game even took part at all is a testament tothe Treviso club and their army of willing volunteers including a couple offamiliar faces in our own Paul Shields and Nick Johnson who helped clear thepitch of snow. Caine and his team only had to carry out some dangerous drivingstunts, deal with the mafia and blow some blinking doors off on their way to completing their task, the pictures of the snow shifting on the clubs officialwebsite this week made the Treviso version look like a much harder job altogether,there had to be literally tons of it.
Logging onto my computer on Saturday morning back herein England there were doubts from first light that the game was going to goahead from those out there.
The way things sounded with the depth of that snow andthe freezing temperatures that accompanied it that the travelling support hadmade a wasted journey as far as seeing any rugby was concerned. Then by ‘Twitter’the news filtered through from Saints Chris Wearmouth that a pitch inspection would follow once the snow had been cleared and the covers removed from thepitch. Those on the ground still sounded pessimistic given the amount of thewhite stuff about. Indeed by the wonders of technology a couple of friends were asking me via text to find the local rugby bar on the internet so they could go off and drown their sorrows so I jumped to the wrong conclusion that they might be in the know and it must just be a formality now that that the game was off.I was therefore somewhat surprised arriving at my local to ‘watch’ the game tohear that it was to go ahead an hour later than originally planned.
A further slight delay got us back in blighty again wrongly surmising that perhaps all the work behind the scenes in Italy had beenin vain but a large dose of respect to all that made the game happen as theplayers ran out for the game around an hour and a half after the scheduled kickoff on what looked a near perfect pitch.
It just goes to show that with a bit of cooperation between all parties, the two teams and the officials, what can be done whenthere is a common goal. Whilst others might have been happy to give up the ghost, complain about the conditions, then head off into the town for pizza,all concerned just got on with the job and made it happen. A big well done to all concerned.
As for the game itself well by the admission of our own coaches and players it was not exactly the day at the office they had envisaged. Getting a consignment of gold bullion out of gridlocked Turin looked a far simpler job than bringing five points home from Treviso. There was sometalk after the game by some supporters about conditions and the disruptions surrounding the kickoff time being a factor but as these affected both teams equally they did not hold much water. Quite simply by our own high standards sofar this season it was an off day. But then again you have to be thankful andtake the win with both hands especially given that margin of victory. It could after all have been a real banana skin result and our Heineken Cup campaignwould have been over before the final two rounds of pool games. As things standwe are still in it with a shout either as group winners or best two runners up.
Going into those final pool games it now looks like atwo horse race between ourselves and Munster for the automatic qualification spot for the quarter final stage.
Taking that equine metaphor further, after Munster’semphatic win in Perpignan on Sunday you would have to put them a good furlongor two nearer the winning post than us. But then again we can hope that the race is a steeplechase and Treviso, who have troubled both Saints and Perpignanout in Italy, are the Irish teams very own Bechers Brook, a stumbling block if there ever was one. On Munster’s Sunday form that would be a tall order but stranger things have happened and don’t discount Saints coming up on the rails in that final game in Limerick next month.
With Perpignan all but out of the competition now Saints have to capitalise on that in the game between the two sides at theGardens in a few weeks potentially setting up that winner takes all game with Munster. Then again all is not lost if we do not prevail in that final decider.We are still well in with a shout of a best runners up berth but as a fall back if we are edged out the Heineken we may well find ourselves back in the Challenge Cup quarters as one of the next best three from the main event.
So still plenty of European action to look forward to yet and in one last Italian Job comparison we are certainly far from hangingoff a cliff with nowhere to turn. In fact we might well still be in the huntfor some bullion of our own for some time to come yet.
WORCESTER
Thoughts of European glory have to be put aside for aweek or two now as it time to go back to the bread and butter of the Guinness Premiership. The Boxing Day trip down to Worcester is first up and the ladswill be looking to cement that top four play off spot going into the new year.
You have to feel somewhat for the Wuss support, a friendlier bunch you could not wish to meet and it is always one of the better days out in the Premiership, for the way their club has progressed over the last few years. They have done the hard part by getting out of division one and cementing themselves up with the elite but they have never made that further step up. They are the only current Prem side never to have played Heineken Cup rugby as year on year they just seem to flirt with relegation or tread water in the places just above the trapdoor. Of course there is no magic wand or tried and tested formula but they must surely be overdue a season of relativesuccess.
They have put some dogged displays of late and as yet are the only side to hold current table toppers Saracens but I am taking us to continue our current run of victories.
Last season we finally seemed to have shaken off Warriors as our bogey side with wins both at the Gardens and at Sixways, thelatter being our only GP win on the road last term. It may be a close run thingbut I think we will have enough to notch up another win on the road then look forward to the big clash with London Irish at the start of 2010.
AND FINALLY…
So as we enter the festive period it just leaves me to wish you and yours all the very best of the season. In my letter to Santa Iasked for more of the same from the Saints, a new stand for Uncle Keith and an England cap for Chris Ashton. Last year I asked for a train set, he didn’t deliver, this year I think I’ll be much nearer the mark.
Have a good one!
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No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
If Santa really is a Saint, he will oblige.
Come on you Santas...
*I could agree with you - but then we'd both be wrong...*
Happy New Year with lots of little try bonus points.
David L
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- Live wrong and preposterously
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