By Chris Gleadell
April 2 2010

Saturdays game against Wasps at the Gardens may have been in danger of being a case of ‘after the Lord Mayors show’ coming off the back of the LV= Cup final victory the week before but for me it lived up to, if not exceeded, expectations. A much improved Wasps side with a raft of returnees played much better than I expected and overall I did not think there was a lot between the two sides.

Indeed you might argue that you might only have got thinnest of cigarette papers between them but on the day I think the Saints wanted it just that little bit more and the rub of the green won the day.

Thoughts from the Chron

2^nd April 2010

It may not have been the cut and thrust, high scoring, end to end all action game we saw down at Worcester six days earlier but there was no doubting it was just as physical and well worth the entrance fee for the sell out crowd. A well worked Roger Wilson try was the only difference between the teams when referee Dave Pearson blew the final whistle but it was a late drop goal and penalty from Steve Myler that finally steadied the ship and the nerves after Wasps had edged into the lead with fifteen minutes left.

For Saints the win keeps the pressure on the top of the table while opening a healthy twelve point gap over the team in fifth place. With just five regular Guinness Premiership games remaining this season now the Saints would have to seriously implode to miss out on the playoffs now. On current form I would say we are looking good for that home play off semi final too.

There will no doubt be a few twists and turns in the Premiership yet though. I think that Saints and Tigers look like nailed on contenders for the semi finals but four other clubs, Sarries, Irish, Wasps and Bath could fill the other two places. This weekend could be a bit of a watershed for those clubs. Wasps and Irish are paired against each other while Sarries and Bath have tough away trips to Gloucester and Tigers respectively.

It is not just the playoff applecart that could be upset this weekend relegation could start to look a serious proposition for some clubs too. At the foot of the table just three points separate four teams and as the season edges towards the end some nervous times ahead for Newcastle, Sale, Leeds and basement club Worcester. Sale will be looking to put some daylight between themselves and Worcester in Stockport on Friday night while Falcons travel to a Quins team currently treading water in mid table hoping to pull themselves clear of the mire too.

The last of the quartet are Saints opponents as they take on Leeds up at Headingley on Saturday afternoon. As history has shown us in the past when we get to this desparate part of the season for some teams just about anything can happen. As with any team Leeds cannot be taken lightly especially as they have seen an upturn of form of late. A couple of months back they looked relegation certs but they have pulled things around of late and have wins over play off contenders Wasps and Saracen under their belts in recent weeks.

Certainly we will have to be at the top of our game to continue the momentum and with Munster looming on the horizon a week later we should be looking to continue that upward curve. Reports on the Headingley pitch are not good and it is suggested it resembles Scarborough beach more than a rugby field. That could be a great leveller but then with lessons leaned at the Costa del Sale a few weeks ago in the same conditions I am taking us to grind it out though I suspect it will be tough and anything but pretty.

TINY

Now I may be late with this already and who knows the backpage of this paper may well have the banner headline ‘TINY STAYS!!!’ but bear with me all the same. The talk amongst Saints supporters this week has not so much been on the rugby field but the will he, won’t he saga surrounding Soane Tonga'uiha’s prospective transfer to Saracens. When the move was announced there was a general gnashing of teeth and wailing in the streets that not only were we losing one an almost irreplacable player in the squad but also one of the most popular. Certainly a 100% favourite with the fans, and somewhat of a cult figure at the Gardens to boot.

Rumours, and at the time of writing they are still rumours, began to surface after the LV= Cup semi final against his future employers that he was having second thoughts about the move. To be honest I thought they were wishful thinking on the part of a few supporters and never really gave them much of a second thought. A Facebook campaign with over two thousand people signed up just continued the ‘myth’ that all was not well with the move. Things moved on apace however during the last week and certainly the last few days to an extent that the BBC felt compelled to report on the matter which in turn brought a response from Saracens claiming in no uncertain terms, hands off, he’s ours.

Reading between the lines it seems there may indeed be some smoke and some fire in this, especially when some notable names have commented on the subject, but I do think that Sarries Chief Exec Edward Griffith’s claim that (almost) the whole of western civilization will crumble if Soane stays put might be a bit wide of the mark. There have been precedents in the past. I can think of at least two players in the distant past who signed heads of agreement with Saints that never came to fruition because the players got cold feet and recently at the 11th hour Paul Warwick called off his move from Munster to the Exiles.  And what of Mark Connors, upped sticks from Australia after signing a Bath contract only for the West Country club to back out. So it has worked both ways in the past and I have no doubt it will again and at the end of the day if a player does not want to go is it really in your interest to take him onboard that does not want to be there?

When the move was announced Jim Mallinder commented that when he arrived at the club Tiny was unmotivated and unfit yet his turnaround at Saints has been remarkable. I am only guessing but isn’t there a chance that Soane might revert to that at Sarries if he went there against his will after having second thoughts?

Now don’t get me wrong if I was from Sarries I would probably be making the same noises but although I am of course biased in the Saints favour it just does not make sense to me to have a highly paid, probably demotivated guy on your books just to make a point about the order of things.

In the Saints community you would have to search very long and very hard to find someone who would not greet the news of Tiny signing on once more with nothing less than a dozen hoorahs and triples all round. He is part of the furniture at the Gardens and I along with a few thousand others are praying there is more to this than rumour and Tiny stays where he belongs, here, his home.