Had we had the rub of the green (yes that old chestnut), we may well have come away with the result but there were still a lot of pluses to take from the game. The pack look like they are turning the corner and the suspected going over by the Gloucester forwards never materialised. With the front eight being bolstered further by the arrivals of Sam Harding, Pat Barnard and a further lock (**note: insert name David Gerard if the club confirm signing**) and youngsters like Mark Easter stepping up to be counted this area of the team is beginning to look like the unit we all hope will more than hold its own as the season progresses. I also suspect we have started to see the real Selbourne Boome, who played like a man possessed when he came on.
In the backs Carlos is starting to show those deft touches we know he is capable of (the chip and catch ahead of Wally’s try was worth the entry fee alone) and week on week there is more of an understanding in our back division. So despite being edged out there are signs of a lot of hope in Saints season.
ON UNCONCONTESTED SCRUMS
Saturday’s game also courted controversy with all manner of accusations aimed at Saints after the uncontested scrums saga. We hear so much about the welfare of players being paramount but as soon as Saints advised the referee that we no longer had a fit front row due to injury and yellow cards the sanctimonious and the misinformed pipe up with all kind of nonsense.
The presenters from Sky, especially Stuart Barnes, were chomping at the bit about rules and laws having to be changed to prevent uncontested scrums happening. Are these guys for real? They were even suggesting Steve Thompson should hook despite being made aware he was carrying a neck injury. In fact if they had taken note in the first half that Dan Richmond had replaced the yellow carded Dylan Hartley instead of Wally logically moving from back to front row then they might have engaged brain before bleating about cheating. It also has to be said that Sky’s pitch side correspondent, Graham Simmons was helping matters not a jot with his antics, rushing between Dean Ryan and fourth official Chris White inflaming things further.
They are there to report on the game, not influence it.
Now from an officials point of view surely if someone tells you a player is injured you must take that at face value or it opens you up to all kind of problems. Very few, probably none, of the people commenting on the situation are medical experts yet by some of the comments made in the media and on various websites by supporters of other clubs this week you would think the NHS doctor shortage could be solved at a stroke as all and sundry seem to know the condition of both Wally and Dylan just by looking at their television sets.
Some would argue of course that the present system is open to abuse and will be used by unscrupulous coaches to prevent their team from further punishment when on the back foot. Well maybe so, although I don’t think this happened on Saturday. I don’t know what these people suggest is done, do they really expect a referee to force people to play after a declaration of injury, putting them in danger of complicating the injury or worse? Even a medical practitioner cannot make snap decisions like that, remember James Percival’s injury, it took a couple of days before it was discovered he had broken a bone in his neck.
In my mind it is better to keep a system that’s not perfect, and have this problem rearing its ugly head every now and then than one where an untrained person may make an error of judgement on a players fitness and both suffer the consequences.
ON REFEREEING
The uncontested scrums were not the only point of rugby law that was open to misinterpretation on Saturday. Some of referee Dave Pearson’s decisions on Saturday left most scratching their head. Saints could probably argue about a penalty try being given in the opening minutes after a certain try was prevented. A card was issued but no try, what could have been a very handy 14-0 lead instead minutes later was 7-7.
That’s by the by and you have to take the rough with the smooth but the yellow card situation did leave a sour taste in the mouth. There’s no arguing that Tom Smith, Dan Richmond and Dylan Hartley deserved their cards, in fact Dylan was lucky it was not red for punching. Steve Thompson’s card, right after the uncontested scrums was harsh to say the least. In midfield, Wally had no chance to roll away from the tackle as no sooner was he down than the Gloucester pack were trundling all over him, yet Mr Pearson was quicker to his pocket than Billy the Kid was on the draw.
What compounded this harshness was that moments later the very same offence took place, this time with no attempt to roll away, right on the Gloucester line preventing quick ball and what might have been a game winning score for Saints. Mr Pearson’s reaction, penalty, no card. Baffling. I would like to think his judgement wasn’t blinded by the uncontested scrum issue but for all the world the Thompson card looked like a levelling of the books.
TIGERS NIL
Like 1500 other people I forsook the latest twist in the tale between Les Battersby and Status Quo and headed for the Gardens on Monday night to watch the Saints A team, the Wanderers, play their Leicester rivals in the Guinness A League.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Saints side, at any level, push a Tigers side all round the park but that’s exactly what the, mostly young side, did as they nilled Tigers in a 36-0 victory. There were some question marks over the strength of the Leicester side, as most of their reserve players had played in the first team at Leeds on Sunday (how bad does that make Leeds given the ease of Tigers win), but there’s no escaping the fact that we have some exciting talent waiting in the wings, and if that was our future on show it looked very bright.
In the backs Carlos is starting to show those deft touches we know he is capable of (the chip and catch ahead of Wally’s try was worth the entry fee alone) and week on week there is more of an understanding in our back division. So despite being edged out there are signs of a lot of hope in Saints season.
ON UNCONCONTESTED SCRUMS
Saturday’s game also courted controversy with all manner of accusations aimed at Saints after the uncontested scrums saga. We hear so much about the welfare of players being paramount but as soon as Saints advised the referee that we no longer had a fit front row due to injury and yellow cards the sanctimonious and the misinformed pipe up with all kind of nonsense.
The presenters from Sky, especially Stuart Barnes, were chomping at the bit about rules and laws having to be changed to prevent uncontested scrums happening. Are these guys for real? They were even suggesting Steve Thompson should hook despite being made aware he was carrying a neck injury. In fact if they had taken note in the first half that Dan Richmond had replaced the yellow carded Dylan Hartley instead of Wally logically moving from back to front row then they might have engaged brain before bleating about cheating. It also has to be said that Sky’s pitch side correspondent, Graham Simmons was helping matters not a jot with his antics, rushing between Dean Ryan and fourth official Chris White inflaming things further.
They are there to report on the game, not influence it.
Now from an officials point of view surely if someone tells you a player is injured you must take that at face value or it opens you up to all kind of problems. Very few, probably none, of the people commenting on the situation are medical experts yet by some of the comments made in the media and on various websites by supporters of other clubs this week you would think the NHS doctor shortage could be solved at a stroke as all and sundry seem to know the condition of both Wally and Dylan just by looking at their television sets.
Some would argue of course that the present system is open to abuse and will be used by unscrupulous coaches to prevent their team from further punishment when on the back foot. Well maybe so, although I don’t think this happened on Saturday. I don’t know what these people suggest is done, do they really expect a referee to force people to play after a declaration of injury, putting them in danger of complicating the injury or worse? Even a medical practitioner cannot make snap decisions like that, remember James Percival’s injury, it took a couple of days before it was discovered he had broken a bone in his neck.
In my mind it is better to keep a system that’s not perfect, and have this problem rearing its ugly head every now and then than one where an untrained person may make an error of judgement on a players fitness and both suffer the consequences.
ON REFEREEING
The uncontested scrums were not the only point of rugby law that was open to misinterpretation on Saturday. Some of referee Dave Pearson’s decisions on Saturday left most scratching their head. Saints could probably argue about a penalty try being given in the opening minutes after a certain try was prevented. A card was issued but no try, what could have been a very handy 14-0 lead instead minutes later was 7-7.
That’s by the by and you have to take the rough with the smooth but the yellow card situation did leave a sour taste in the mouth. There’s no arguing that Tom Smith, Dan Richmond and Dylan Hartley deserved their cards, in fact Dylan was lucky it was not red for punching. Steve Thompson’s card, right after the uncontested scrums was harsh to say the least. In midfield, Wally had no chance to roll away from the tackle as no sooner was he down than the Gloucester pack were trundling all over him, yet Mr Pearson was quicker to his pocket than Billy the Kid was on the draw.
What compounded this harshness was that moments later the very same offence took place, this time with no attempt to roll away, right on the Gloucester line preventing quick ball and what might have been a game winning score for Saints. Mr Pearson’s reaction, penalty, no card. Baffling. I would like to think his judgement wasn’t blinded by the uncontested scrum issue but for all the world the Thompson card looked like a levelling of the books.
TIGERS NIL
Like 1500 other people I forsook the latest twist in the tale between Les Battersby and Status Quo and headed for the Gardens on Monday night to watch the Saints A team, the Wanderers, play their Leicester rivals in the Guinness A League.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Saints side, at any level, push a Tigers side all round the park but that’s exactly what the, mostly young side, did as they nilled Tigers in a 36-0 victory. There were some question marks over the strength of the Leicester side, as most of their reserve players had played in the first team at Leeds on Sunday (how bad does that make Leeds given the ease of Tigers win), but there’s no escaping the fact that we have some exciting talent waiting in the wings, and if that was our future on show it looked very bright.
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