Northampton Saints - Thoughts from the Chron
By Chris Gleadell
May 6 2004
May 6 2004
So with just one game to go in the regular season everything is still all up in the air after the Saints came back with a blistering second half performance in the Yorkshire sun on Sunday to secure the five point win and to keep us in the driving seat for third spot in the Zurich Premiership. After Gloucester had overcome Wasps on Saturday and edged us down the table the pressure was certainly on the lads to perform at Headlingley. In the first half the jitters started to show as we did just about everything but, (apart from a Darren Fox try), make that final break for the line. Indeed by half time we could have well secured the four try bonus point had we had the rub of the green but it was just not to be and went in at the break trailing the Tykes.
The second period was a different story though as the team regrouped, upped it a notch then ran away with the game with further tries from Nick Beal and a brace from Ben Cohen the first set up with a sublime bit of quick thinking under pressure from youngster Andy Vilk. Andy is not the finished article yet but he shows big, big promise for the future.
The win now leaves us three points clear with just the visit of Harlequins to the Gardens on Saturday to come. The pressure however does not drop and the win is still needed to 100% guarantee our place in the championship playoffs and secure Heineken Cup rugby next season.
Quins have ambitions of their own and will be no pushovers. They need one point from the game to cement a wildcard playoff place but a win may give them a home draw. Rather than having to rely on winning the Parker Pen against Montferrand to secure a place in the European Cup they will be eager to keep all their options open. As we saw earlier this season at the Stoop, on their day Quins are a match for anyone and morale will be high after their win over table toppers Bath but I am taking the lads to ride out the storm and the Saints to be in the Zurich Championship semi by 4:45 on Saturday.
Awaiting us, if we are successful against Quins, will be Wasps or Bath. It has turned out to be quite ironic that the two teams that a few Bath supporters accused of being ‘big game chokers’, Saints and Gloucester, are now the very same teams that have an opportunity to well and truly put the skids under their teams season.
If Glos win at the Rec on Saturday and Wasps prevail over the Tigers, the High Wycombe side will leapfrog over Bath to win the league leaving the West Country side to face either Glos or us (lets hope it’s us!) in the semi final playoff. With Bath having already lost three big games on the trot I would fancy our chances and as Gloucester proved on Saturday Wasps are fallible so the season looks like it could be far from over with a few more twists and turns to come yet.
FAREWELL
With it being the last game of the season at the Gardens we will be saying goodbye to some old faces on Saturday. This week Mark Connors announced he will be the latest to leave as he takes up an option to play out his career in Japan. There is also talk that James Brooks, Matt Miles and Oriol Ripol will be moving off to pastures new at season end and with the likes of Nick Beal, Jon Phillips, Steve Williams and John Leslie already confirming their departure it will be a emotional time for the lads so give them all an extra cheer and I’m sure you will join me in wishing them all the best for future. As the old adage goes, once a Saint, always a Saint.
......AND AU REVOIR SMUDGER
Saturday will also be the last time (for now anyway) that Wayne Smith takes charge of a team at the Gardens. In the three years that Wayne has been at the club things have only changed for the good. Maybe no silverware (yet!), but things behind the scenes have changed immeasurably and the oft talked pride in the jersey and the feeling of one big Saints family at the club has returned and although everyone should be praised for their part and effort in this I am sure without the driving force of Wayne most of this would simply not have happened. Lets hope the structure, systems and initiatives that have been put into place during his tenure are here and working positively long, long after he leaves.
You only have to look back to the mess we were in before his arrival and the position we are now in to see that he has been a massive influence not only on where the club are at present but what happens here in years to come. So best of luck Wayne with the All Blacks, (at least until we come over with the Lions). I’m sure that Uncle Keith will always keep an empty chair at that Saints family table for you.
HUZZAH FOR THE FANS
Finally, and I know this sounds a bit self congratulatory, lets give one big cheer for us the fans! On Sunday we were just immense. In a crowd of just over four thousand we almost outnumbered the home support and certainly outsung them from start to finish. It was a real Gardens, home from home. To take an estimated 1500 people to an away game a hundred or so miles on a Sunday afternoon is impressive to say the least. Just like in Agen and countless times at the Gardens we proved that when we get it together we are the best supported club in the land bar none.
Other clubs may turn up in their hundreds and chant their teams name endlessly from start to finish but I would like to think we do it with a bit of humour too. My biggest cheer goes to those fans, mostly from the SSC, who turned up on Sunday in their Hawaiian gear, they really looked like they had made a party of it from start to finish. One chap who I always thought the shy and retiring type did a rip curling display on his surfboard at pitch side to the cheers of the crowd while the girls who had made tops out of seashells made a sight I am sure that Yorkshire has not seen in many a year on a Sunday afternoon. Well done to all and keep it up!
The second period was a different story though as the team regrouped, upped it a notch then ran away with the game with further tries from Nick Beal and a brace from Ben Cohen the first set up with a sublime bit of quick thinking under pressure from youngster Andy Vilk. Andy is not the finished article yet but he shows big, big promise for the future.
The win now leaves us three points clear with just the visit of Harlequins to the Gardens on Saturday to come. The pressure however does not drop and the win is still needed to 100% guarantee our place in the championship playoffs and secure Heineken Cup rugby next season.
Quins have ambitions of their own and will be no pushovers. They need one point from the game to cement a wildcard playoff place but a win may give them a home draw. Rather than having to rely on winning the Parker Pen against Montferrand to secure a place in the European Cup they will be eager to keep all their options open. As we saw earlier this season at the Stoop, on their day Quins are a match for anyone and morale will be high after their win over table toppers Bath but I am taking the lads to ride out the storm and the Saints to be in the Zurich Championship semi by 4:45 on Saturday.
Awaiting us, if we are successful against Quins, will be Wasps or Bath. It has turned out to be quite ironic that the two teams that a few Bath supporters accused of being ‘big game chokers’, Saints and Gloucester, are now the very same teams that have an opportunity to well and truly put the skids under their teams season.
If Glos win at the Rec on Saturday and Wasps prevail over the Tigers, the High Wycombe side will leapfrog over Bath to win the league leaving the West Country side to face either Glos or us (lets hope it’s us!) in the semi final playoff. With Bath having already lost three big games on the trot I would fancy our chances and as Gloucester proved on Saturday Wasps are fallible so the season looks like it could be far from over with a few more twists and turns to come yet.
FAREWELL
With it being the last game of the season at the Gardens we will be saying goodbye to some old faces on Saturday. This week Mark Connors announced he will be the latest to leave as he takes up an option to play out his career in Japan. There is also talk that James Brooks, Matt Miles and Oriol Ripol will be moving off to pastures new at season end and with the likes of Nick Beal, Jon Phillips, Steve Williams and John Leslie already confirming their departure it will be a emotional time for the lads so give them all an extra cheer and I’m sure you will join me in wishing them all the best for future. As the old adage goes, once a Saint, always a Saint.
......AND AU REVOIR SMUDGER
Saturday will also be the last time (for now anyway) that Wayne Smith takes charge of a team at the Gardens. In the three years that Wayne has been at the club things have only changed for the good. Maybe no silverware (yet!), but things behind the scenes have changed immeasurably and the oft talked pride in the jersey and the feeling of one big Saints family at the club has returned and although everyone should be praised for their part and effort in this I am sure without the driving force of Wayne most of this would simply not have happened. Lets hope the structure, systems and initiatives that have been put into place during his tenure are here and working positively long, long after he leaves.
You only have to look back to the mess we were in before his arrival and the position we are now in to see that he has been a massive influence not only on where the club are at present but what happens here in years to come. So best of luck Wayne with the All Blacks, (at least until we come over with the Lions). I’m sure that Uncle Keith will always keep an empty chair at that Saints family table for you.
HUZZAH FOR THE FANS
Finally, and I know this sounds a bit self congratulatory, lets give one big cheer for us the fans! On Sunday we were just immense. In a crowd of just over four thousand we almost outnumbered the home support and certainly outsung them from start to finish. It was a real Gardens, home from home. To take an estimated 1500 people to an away game a hundred or so miles on a Sunday afternoon is impressive to say the least. Just like in Agen and countless times at the Gardens we proved that when we get it together we are the best supported club in the land bar none.
Other clubs may turn up in their hundreds and chant their teams name endlessly from start to finish but I would like to think we do it with a bit of humour too. My biggest cheer goes to those fans, mostly from the SSC, who turned up on Sunday in their Hawaiian gear, they really looked like they had made a party of it from start to finish. One chap who I always thought the shy and retiring type did a rip curling display on his surfboard at pitch side to the cheers of the crowd while the girls who had made tops out of seashells made a sight I am sure that Yorkshire has not seen in many a year on a Sunday afternoon. Well done to all and keep it up!
No comments:
Post a Comment