Not counting any chickens yet, but the way in which we dominated the game on a day when conditions dictated it was not a day for running rugby shows that if we need to we can stand toe to toe against clubs who build their team on forward power and grind out wins against them.
Of course it is a bit of a double edged sword knowing you can win this way but I’m sure the coaching team and the players will be chomping at the bit to return to the expansive game once the weather improves but it must make a few people sleep a bit easier at night knowing that if our backs are to the wall we can shut up shop and let the forwards do the business.
As for those conditions, the rain, sleet and snow (and we encountered all three on Saturday) come as part of the English way of life but it does make me smile when before the game some people suggesting that the likes of Carlos Spencer cannot play in those conditions as it would be alien to him.
I don’t know if people get the impression from seeing Maori warriors in full regalia that the Land of the Long White Cloud is some kind of southern Pacific Hawaii but in their winter New Zealand get conditions as bad, if not worse in the South Island, than we do. Of course Carlos played most of his rugby in the north but on Saturday he proved he is a man for all seasons with a wet weather game and some nice pop passes and deft touch finders off the outside of his boot that were honed on the wet and windy playing fields of Auckland.
That’s not suggesting Saturdays victory was a one man show, far from it, each and every player played his part. Robbie Kydd made an assured and solid debut at inside centre and looks like he already has a good understanding with those inside and outside him. On his outside of course is the man of the moment Jon Clarke. He has been nothing short of a revelation after his switch from wing/fullback to outside centre this season. Whilst Saturdays display in front of the cameras put the spotlight on Jon and all and sundry are now touting him for England honours I hope he is not rushed into things too soon.
As Paul Grayson mentioned on Saturday he only has a handful of games in his new position and is still learning his trade and we have already seen what has happened to likes of Matthew Tait when he was thrown in the deep end too early. I doubt at the moment if there are that many better 13’s playing in the country at the moment but let Clarkey learn his trade, get a season under his belt and come next year with a World Cup in France on the horizon, well who knows but in a position where England have never really got it right in recent seasons if he progresses as he has been then Jon could find himself in pole position.
LOOKING AHEAD
So while the Guinness Premiership takes a back seat for a couple of weeks, for the Saints it’s back to Europe this week and a game against Bristol in the Challenge Cup.
After the win in Narbonne which put us in the driving seat in the group and having narrowly edged Bris on the first day of the year in the GP the lads will be looking to repeat the performance. The Bristol team have headed off to La Manga in Spain this week for some warm weather training and it is still unclear what type of side they are going to select for this game, I somehow think though that given the recent weather a week on the back pitches at Franklins Gardens in the rain (and possibly more snow) might prepare you better for Saturday than a sun kissed beach and I’m taking the team to secure the win, the points and virtually assure themselves a home quarter final spot.
HERE WE GO AGAIN
How’s this for a quote? “What concerns us most is that the clubs are killing the players". No this didn’t come from some misinformed, out of touch ignoramus instead it came from the mouth of RFU management board chairman Martyn Thomas.
Of course it is a bit of a double edged sword knowing you can win this way but I’m sure the coaching team and the players will be chomping at the bit to return to the expansive game once the weather improves but it must make a few people sleep a bit easier at night knowing that if our backs are to the wall we can shut up shop and let the forwards do the business.
As for those conditions, the rain, sleet and snow (and we encountered all three on Saturday) come as part of the English way of life but it does make me smile when before the game some people suggesting that the likes of Carlos Spencer cannot play in those conditions as it would be alien to him.
I don’t know if people get the impression from seeing Maori warriors in full regalia that the Land of the Long White Cloud is some kind of southern Pacific Hawaii but in their winter New Zealand get conditions as bad, if not worse in the South Island, than we do. Of course Carlos played most of his rugby in the north but on Saturday he proved he is a man for all seasons with a wet weather game and some nice pop passes and deft touch finders off the outside of his boot that were honed on the wet and windy playing fields of Auckland.
That’s not suggesting Saturdays victory was a one man show, far from it, each and every player played his part. Robbie Kydd made an assured and solid debut at inside centre and looks like he already has a good understanding with those inside and outside him. On his outside of course is the man of the moment Jon Clarke. He has been nothing short of a revelation after his switch from wing/fullback to outside centre this season. Whilst Saturdays display in front of the cameras put the spotlight on Jon and all and sundry are now touting him for England honours I hope he is not rushed into things too soon.
As Paul Grayson mentioned on Saturday he only has a handful of games in his new position and is still learning his trade and we have already seen what has happened to likes of Matthew Tait when he was thrown in the deep end too early. I doubt at the moment if there are that many better 13’s playing in the country at the moment but let Clarkey learn his trade, get a season under his belt and come next year with a World Cup in France on the horizon, well who knows but in a position where England have never really got it right in recent seasons if he progresses as he has been then Jon could find himself in pole position.
LOOKING AHEAD
So while the Guinness Premiership takes a back seat for a couple of weeks, for the Saints it’s back to Europe this week and a game against Bristol in the Challenge Cup.
After the win in Narbonne which put us in the driving seat in the group and having narrowly edged Bris on the first day of the year in the GP the lads will be looking to repeat the performance. The Bristol team have headed off to La Manga in Spain this week for some warm weather training and it is still unclear what type of side they are going to select for this game, I somehow think though that given the recent weather a week on the back pitches at Franklins Gardens in the rain (and possibly more snow) might prepare you better for Saturday than a sun kissed beach and I’m taking the team to secure the win, the points and virtually assure themselves a home quarter final spot.
HERE WE GO AGAIN
How’s this for a quote? “What concerns us most is that the clubs are killing the players". No this didn’t come from some misinformed, out of touch ignoramus instead it came from the mouth of RFU management board chairman Martyn Thomas.
I’ve said it in this column before and no doubt I’ll say it again (and again, and again) but some of the people coming out with these soundbites for the RFU should be representing the Cloud Cuckoo Land Rugby Football Union, not the English one. What planet are they on?
Do they live in some kind of fantasy world where international standard players are conveniently found under the nearest mulberry bush or flown in by stork when Andy Robinson needs them? Do they have any notion that the clubs they attack are actually the ones producing the players? No of course not, how ever could they control the players if they admitted such a thing.
To suggest that it is the clubs that are ‘killing’ the players is wide of the mark in the extreme and insulting to those who work to ensure that every player is catered and cared for 52 weeks of the year, through injury hardship and often post career, not just an elite squad for the period when the nation calls.
Now as has been pointed out to me before, the RFU do spend a lot of money on youth and junior rugby, this should not be forgotten but it is the senior clubs, those under attack, that take the rough diamonds that the junior system produces and hones and nurtures them into the potential international class players. Would it really be in the clubs, and lets face it a business, interest to systematically destroy your stock in trade through being an irresponsible employer as Thomas suggests?
No of course not, but then I may have been right about the out of touch, misinformed, ignoramus bit all along.
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