Just when we thought all was well and good in the world, after the resounding win over Llanelli Scarlets in the Heineken Cup last week, than we are rudely brought back to earth with a bump with yet another loss in the ZP and at that yet another game we should have won.
Ten weeks into the season and we have already lost more Zurich games than we did in the whole of the last term. Our worst run since our relegation season of 94/95. The rumblings from some sections of the Saints support are again starting to gather pace with some calling for heads to roll before it’s too late.
That’s not something I would subscribe too in the current climate as we could well find ourselves in a worse position if any such action divided the club and the talk from some of a dream coaching team of ex-players could in the short term do more harm than good not only to the club but to those being thrown in at the deep end and any possible future coaching ambitions they may have. Much as some would like to believe that returning heroes could save the day the only quick fix can come from the personnel already in place.
One things for sure the spirit can be there by the spade full as we saw in the Llanelli game last week and yet again you cannot fault the guys effort but we still seem to struggle in getting the ball over the whitewash and at times we still seem bereft of ideas which is all the more frustrating given that Scarlets victory.
However being ever the optimist I’m still backing the lads to turn it round but there does now surely have to be a reappraisal of our season and its aims.
The harsh reality is that the Zurich championship is now almost certainly already out of our reach with six defeats so early on. Qualification for next years Heineken Cup now must surely be the main aim, but then isn’t it always? To not qualify would be a disaster not only on the playing side but also as a business and would any of those international players we are rumoured to be talking to be interested in joining a club in the secondary competition? If this were to happen I’m sure those rumblings about drastic measures would be heard above all else at season end.
We now go into a run of three ZP games before our attention turns back to Europe and a double figure haul of points at the very least must be the target. We start with London Irish at home on Saturday, again a must win game. Irish have always been a bit of bogey side for us, indeed they were the only side to win here in the league last year, but all past history means nothing, as does the previous six games, come 12:30 on Saturday we have to throw everything and the kitchen sink at them. We simply have to win, no ifs no buts or we could well entertain Worcester the week after as underdogs. That simply cannot be allowed to happen.
WASPS, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
Just what is it with Wasps and the Saints? Not content with Warren Gatland questioning Northamptons selection policies a few weeks back now shy and retiring Lawrence Dallaglio has got in on the act. The former England captain suggests that Saints are doing nothing for the England cause by having Corne Krige at skipper instead of Steve Thompson.
Not that it’s any of his business but just like his boss Dallaglio doesn’t look at himself and his own club before spouting forth. He suggests that Corne is blocking young England hopefuls getting skipper practice but guess who is captain at Wasps? Yes Dallaglio. Now he’ll never play for England again, having given the job up, so will he be standing aside to let a young English player get a grounding in the art of captainship at Wasps. No of course not, it’s a plain case of do as I say not do as I do and if you can disrupt another club into the bargain all well and good.
To his credit, when questioned Wally was very diplomatic on the subject and thanked Dallaglio for thinking so highly of him while making the point that he will learn an awful lot while serving as vice captain alongside Corne just as he had from Pat Lam.
Diplomacy has never been my strong point though so I’ll just put Dallaglio’s remarks down to someone talking out their backside.
THE FALLEN
Tomorrow, the 11th is Armistice Day and I make no apologies in repeating something I wrote about Edgar Mobbs a year ago. On Saturday there will be the traditional wreath laying and minutes silence at the Gardens before the reading of those few short lines that say so much ‘When you go home, think of us and say, For your tomorrow, we gave our today.’ Its always a very moving occasion and one of those long held traditions that still makes the Gardens that special. Every year my thoughts go not only to family members lost but to ‘one of our own’, Edgar Mobbs.
Having captained both Saints and England early this century Edgar was denied an officers commission because he was considered too old at 32.
However being a resourceful chap he went away and set up his own battalion, the 7th of the Northamptonshire Regiment more famously known as The Sportsman Battalion as many of its volunteers came from local sporting clubs, including the Saints. Despite being wounded on three separate occasions he always returned to action until the Third Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele in 1917.
The battle saw over 400,000 casualties. Colonel Edgar Mobbs was one of them. Attacking a machine gun post that was holding up his infantry he got within thirty yards before he was mown down in a hail of German bullets. Despite his injuries he managed to write down the location of the post before he died, an action that saved many of his men. It was his final act, his body was never found and he still lies where he fell.
So on Saturday when Geoff Allen reads the time honoured tribute just pause and spare a thought for those hundreds of thousands of Edgars from all walks of life that never made it home.
Ten weeks into the season and we have already lost more Zurich games than we did in the whole of the last term. Our worst run since our relegation season of 94/95. The rumblings from some sections of the Saints support are again starting to gather pace with some calling for heads to roll before it’s too late.
That’s not something I would subscribe too in the current climate as we could well find ourselves in a worse position if any such action divided the club and the talk from some of a dream coaching team of ex-players could in the short term do more harm than good not only to the club but to those being thrown in at the deep end and any possible future coaching ambitions they may have. Much as some would like to believe that returning heroes could save the day the only quick fix can come from the personnel already in place.
One things for sure the spirit can be there by the spade full as we saw in the Llanelli game last week and yet again you cannot fault the guys effort but we still seem to struggle in getting the ball over the whitewash and at times we still seem bereft of ideas which is all the more frustrating given that Scarlets victory.
However being ever the optimist I’m still backing the lads to turn it round but there does now surely have to be a reappraisal of our season and its aims.
The harsh reality is that the Zurich championship is now almost certainly already out of our reach with six defeats so early on. Qualification for next years Heineken Cup now must surely be the main aim, but then isn’t it always? To not qualify would be a disaster not only on the playing side but also as a business and would any of those international players we are rumoured to be talking to be interested in joining a club in the secondary competition? If this were to happen I’m sure those rumblings about drastic measures would be heard above all else at season end.
We now go into a run of three ZP games before our attention turns back to Europe and a double figure haul of points at the very least must be the target. We start with London Irish at home on Saturday, again a must win game. Irish have always been a bit of bogey side for us, indeed they were the only side to win here in the league last year, but all past history means nothing, as does the previous six games, come 12:30 on Saturday we have to throw everything and the kitchen sink at them. We simply have to win, no ifs no buts or we could well entertain Worcester the week after as underdogs. That simply cannot be allowed to happen.
WASPS, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
Just what is it with Wasps and the Saints? Not content with Warren Gatland questioning Northamptons selection policies a few weeks back now shy and retiring Lawrence Dallaglio has got in on the act. The former England captain suggests that Saints are doing nothing for the England cause by having Corne Krige at skipper instead of Steve Thompson.
Not that it’s any of his business but just like his boss Dallaglio doesn’t look at himself and his own club before spouting forth. He suggests that Corne is blocking young England hopefuls getting skipper practice but guess who is captain at Wasps? Yes Dallaglio. Now he’ll never play for England again, having given the job up, so will he be standing aside to let a young English player get a grounding in the art of captainship at Wasps. No of course not, it’s a plain case of do as I say not do as I do and if you can disrupt another club into the bargain all well and good.
To his credit, when questioned Wally was very diplomatic on the subject and thanked Dallaglio for thinking so highly of him while making the point that he will learn an awful lot while serving as vice captain alongside Corne just as he had from Pat Lam.
Diplomacy has never been my strong point though so I’ll just put Dallaglio’s remarks down to someone talking out their backside.
THE FALLEN
Tomorrow, the 11th is Armistice Day and I make no apologies in repeating something I wrote about Edgar Mobbs a year ago. On Saturday there will be the traditional wreath laying and minutes silence at the Gardens before the reading of those few short lines that say so much ‘When you go home, think of us and say, For your tomorrow, we gave our today.’ Its always a very moving occasion and one of those long held traditions that still makes the Gardens that special. Every year my thoughts go not only to family members lost but to ‘one of our own’, Edgar Mobbs.
Having captained both Saints and England early this century Edgar was denied an officers commission because he was considered too old at 32.
However being a resourceful chap he went away and set up his own battalion, the 7th of the Northamptonshire Regiment more famously known as The Sportsman Battalion as many of its volunteers came from local sporting clubs, including the Saints. Despite being wounded on three separate occasions he always returned to action until the Third Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele in 1917.
The battle saw over 400,000 casualties. Colonel Edgar Mobbs was one of them. Attacking a machine gun post that was holding up his infantry he got within thirty yards before he was mown down in a hail of German bullets. Despite his injuries he managed to write down the location of the post before he died, an action that saved many of his men. It was his final act, his body was never found and he still lies where he fell.
So on Saturday when Geoff Allen reads the time honoured tribute just pause and spare a thought for those hundreds of thousands of Edgars from all walks of life that never made it home.
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