Make no mistake Wasps should have been well and truly swatted. The forwards outshone their opposite numbers in the set piece but when it came down to it we just didn’t have the nous to break Wasps down or it seems to vary our game to overcome or unlock their defence.
Despite running in ten tries in our first two outings we seem to have lost the touch and in all honesty on Saturday it did not look like we were going to cross the whitewash in a month of Sundays. So again its back to the drawing board as it’s clear the lessons of the Gloucester defeat have not been learned. These guys make or break our week and yet again there’s a lot of broken weeks out there. A most frustrating time to be a Saints fan.
LOOKING AHEAD
So on Sunday afternoon it’s off down to the Vicarage, (Road that is) as Saints again try and get their season back on the straight and narrow at Saracens. Yet again we have seen wholesale changes in Sarries personnel over the summer and reading between the lines and the noises coming from Nigel Wray about the expense of club rugby I get the feeling this is there last big throw of the dice before he walks. Despite an early win over Wasps they certainly do not appear to have mastered that double six yet.
If Saints can knit the forward dominance they showed on Saturday with some of their early attacking form they are in with a shout of coming away with the spoils but some mental demons will have to be overcome first after suffering a rare three defeats in a row. After losing their last home games to Leeds and being the first team to lose to Irish at Reading for ten months the Fezheads will be down in the doldrums too and also looking to relight their season. However I’m taking the lads to do some hard thinking this week in their few days off, return refreshed and show us doubting Thomas’s what they can really do and to restore some of that lost faith. Then its just a matter of doing it week in week out. This seasons already shaping into one long sprint!
The Saints Supporters Club will be running coaches to Saracens. They will be leaving Franklin’s Gardens VIP car park at 11.30am. Adults: £11 Children/Students/OAPs: £7
The game is also live on Sky Sports 2.
EMPTY VESSELS AND ALL THAT
That Warren Gatland's got some front hasn't he? The man from Waikato, New Zealand has the cheek to say the Saints are losing their English
identity because some of our squad hail from overseas. This wouldn't be the same Warren Gatland that was telling tales out of school undermining Englands efforts down under on the recent summer tour would it?
No of course not, different chap completely. It just couldn’t be
Warren because it seems the Wasps coach is now trying to promote himself as a
saviour to England's cause.
After Saturdays defeat he pointed out that we have players from here,
there and everywhere while trying to convince us that Wasps have only
Englands best interests at heart.
Well if this we're true I'd say well done Warren old mate, you worry about England,
we'll worry about Saints, but dig a little deeper and you will find Mr
Gatland's arguments don't hold much water.
Amongst others he mentions that we have two Australians in our side,
indeed we do Mark Stcherbina and Shane Drahm. However Shane is now England
qualified and if we are being picky about birthplace where exactly do
Dowd, Leota, Waters, Howley, Abbott, Van Gisbergen and O'Connor
hail from? Not an English born man amongst them whether they may or may
not qualify for England.
Then there is the question of quality. Again Gatland hinted that we are
importing sub standard product into this country to bolster our squad.
Correct me if I'm wrong but haven't the likes of Blowers, Krige,
Robinson, Reihana, Boome and Kempson all played at the very pinnacle of
the game for their respective countries? Could we say the same of Van
Gisbergen for New Zealand, Waters and Abbott for South Africa or
O'Connor for Ireland, all imported players to Wasps? Yes these guys now
have great talent and potential but surely a step down from what you
would call top notch when they first signed on the dotted line for
Wasps.
And as for true quality perhaps Warren should be reminded that at the
moment on the Wasps unofficial supporters website there's a discussion
about a Wasps player who a fair few supporters grade as the worst ever
to wear there clubs shirt. I cannot comment, I haven't seen him play but
one thing I do know is that he joined Wasps a matter of months ago from
Waikato, New Zealand. Is that not the pot not calling the kettle black
if these supporters are anywhere near the mark?
But finally if Mr Gatland really wants to help England perhaps he
should talk his skipper out of early international retirement while he's still in his
prime and maybe stop his scrumhalf from making media appearances on England
training days. Maybe too he shouldn’t let a player of the likes of Paul Volley,
the outstanding flanker in the ZP last year, be driven abroad because
his place was taken by an Irishman. If he did, some might start to
listen until then I'll just note it down as one of Gatlands many
soundbites which may return to haunt him come Six Nations and
international weekends. I'll look forward to it.
AND FINALLY……..
At last, some good news. The Wanderers (Saints 2nd XV) are again blazing all before them in the Zurich A League and really set their stall out on Monday night winning at Welford Road. They beat Tigers second string 20-14 in front of an amazing crowd of 9,209 a record for the A League. Well done lads, lets hope in some way it inspires the 1st XV to go about their business on Sunday.
Despite running in ten tries in our first two outings we seem to have lost the touch and in all honesty on Saturday it did not look like we were going to cross the whitewash in a month of Sundays. So again its back to the drawing board as it’s clear the lessons of the Gloucester defeat have not been learned. These guys make or break our week and yet again there’s a lot of broken weeks out there. A most frustrating time to be a Saints fan.
LOOKING AHEAD
So on Sunday afternoon it’s off down to the Vicarage, (Road that is) as Saints again try and get their season back on the straight and narrow at Saracens. Yet again we have seen wholesale changes in Sarries personnel over the summer and reading between the lines and the noises coming from Nigel Wray about the expense of club rugby I get the feeling this is there last big throw of the dice before he walks. Despite an early win over Wasps they certainly do not appear to have mastered that double six yet.
If Saints can knit the forward dominance they showed on Saturday with some of their early attacking form they are in with a shout of coming away with the spoils but some mental demons will have to be overcome first after suffering a rare three defeats in a row. After losing their last home games to Leeds and being the first team to lose to Irish at Reading for ten months the Fezheads will be down in the doldrums too and also looking to relight their season. However I’m taking the lads to do some hard thinking this week in their few days off, return refreshed and show us doubting Thomas’s what they can really do and to restore some of that lost faith. Then its just a matter of doing it week in week out. This seasons already shaping into one long sprint!
The Saints Supporters Club will be running coaches to Saracens. They will be leaving Franklin’s Gardens VIP car park at 11.30am. Adults: £11 Children/Students/OAPs: £7
The game is also live on Sky Sports 2.
EMPTY VESSELS AND ALL THAT
That Warren Gatland's got some front hasn't he? The man from Waikato, New Zealand has the cheek to say the Saints are losing their English
identity because some of our squad hail from overseas. This wouldn't be the same Warren Gatland that was telling tales out of school undermining Englands efforts down under on the recent summer tour would it?
No of course not, different chap completely. It just couldn’t be
Warren because it seems the Wasps coach is now trying to promote himself as a
saviour to England's cause.
After Saturdays defeat he pointed out that we have players from here,
there and everywhere while trying to convince us that Wasps have only
Englands best interests at heart.
Well if this we're true I'd say well done Warren old mate, you worry about England,
we'll worry about Saints, but dig a little deeper and you will find Mr
Gatland's arguments don't hold much water.
Amongst others he mentions that we have two Australians in our side,
indeed we do Mark Stcherbina and Shane Drahm. However Shane is now England
qualified and if we are being picky about birthplace where exactly do
Dowd, Leota, Waters, Howley, Abbott, Van Gisbergen and O'Connor
hail from? Not an English born man amongst them whether they may or may
not qualify for England.
Then there is the question of quality. Again Gatland hinted that we are
importing sub standard product into this country to bolster our squad.
Correct me if I'm wrong but haven't the likes of Blowers, Krige,
Robinson, Reihana, Boome and Kempson all played at the very pinnacle of
the game for their respective countries? Could we say the same of Van
Gisbergen for New Zealand, Waters and Abbott for South Africa or
O'Connor for Ireland, all imported players to Wasps? Yes these guys now
have great talent and potential but surely a step down from what you
would call top notch when they first signed on the dotted line for
Wasps.
And as for true quality perhaps Warren should be reminded that at the
moment on the Wasps unofficial supporters website there's a discussion
about a Wasps player who a fair few supporters grade as the worst ever
to wear there clubs shirt. I cannot comment, I haven't seen him play but
one thing I do know is that he joined Wasps a matter of months ago from
Waikato, New Zealand. Is that not the pot not calling the kettle black
if these supporters are anywhere near the mark?
But finally if Mr Gatland really wants to help England perhaps he
should talk his skipper out of early international retirement while he's still in his
prime and maybe stop his scrumhalf from making media appearances on England
training days. Maybe too he shouldn’t let a player of the likes of Paul Volley,
the outstanding flanker in the ZP last year, be driven abroad because
his place was taken by an Irishman. If he did, some might start to
listen until then I'll just note it down as one of Gatlands many
soundbites which may return to haunt him come Six Nations and
international weekends. I'll look forward to it.
AND FINALLY……..
At last, some good news. The Wanderers (Saints 2nd XV) are again blazing all before them in the Zurich A League and really set their stall out on Monday night winning at Welford Road. They beat Tigers second string 20-14 in front of an amazing crowd of 9,209 a record for the A League. Well done lads, lets hope in some way it inspires the 1st XV to go about their business on Sunday.
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