By The Analyst
August 27 2002

There was a time at Franklins Gardens whenever the touch-judge held up his flag the FG faithful would lick their lips and wait for the catch and drive. For the last two years unfortunately the amount of catch and drive has been limited by a severe malfunction in the catch department. They could still drive with the best, but lineouts were anxiety time. Last season it all caught up with them and a slow start was exacerbated by injury and autumn test calls including an extra test against Ireland for the Scots and English contingents , leading to a full scale slump with the prospect of trying to pay for a ground redevelopment from the first division .

Morale sank, and playing standards plummetted. Luckily Keith Barwell was swift to see the reality, grasped the nettle and acted decisively by bringing in Wayne Smith as head coach. Even before he actually took charge, the team's morale started to come back and after he had taken a look at the raw material he put in a strictly limited gameplan and got the players to execute it to some effect.

The Gardens faithful in the meantime went from deepest gloom to unrealistic rejoicing in about a month, a run in the Powergen Cup convincing them the Saints held a monopoly on how to play rugby properly.

When they then received a thorough and merited beating in the final from a very good London Irish side, there were still a few hotheads who promptly called for heads (including the annointed one of the great Wayne ) to roll.

For most, however, the reality began slowly to dawn that most success in life has to be earned. Decent players don't become useless overnight, but neither do average players become world-beaters. Despite the sage, Paul Ackford, pronouncing that it would take the club years to recover from this experience, they then pulled themselves together very nicely, finishing their league campaign with a couple of very toothsome home wins over Glawster and Sarries.

Truth to tell, although they notched a lot of points in the second half of the season, they were a limited side .They were also clearly vulnerable to any team who could attack their lineout and to teams (like Sale and LI featuring the streetwise messrs Pinkerton and Sheasby) who could slow down their possession.

Lacking outside speed, teams could flood the midfield, and if they were unable to build momentum with their pick and go game they then had limited options. When the lineout was having one of those days even the kicking of Paul Grayson was blunted and the usually dependable Dawson had an uneven season.

Daws picked up an injury in the loss to Ireland in Dublin, losing 3 weeks with concussion after an apalling. blindside late hit against Harlequins, at odds with his fellow players at times and apparently being targetted by other teams.

Neither did the normally iconic figure of Budge Pountney have his best season.

However, some young players did thrive after being thrown in the deep end in a crisis. Steve "Wally" Thompson emerged as the new England hooker, Dan Richmond also emerged, later in the year, at hooker, so much so that Thompson may be under more threat for his Saints' shirt than his England shirt.

A new giant prop aged 20 emerged in the shape of Robbie Morris, who burst on the scene to challenge Stewart & Smith for their places. He may be as big as Garry Pagel and is a tremendously explosive player but still has an apprenticeship to serve. Clive Woodentop was however swift to take him on the England tour of Argentina.

Peter Jorgensen, acquired from Australian league outfit Penrith Panthers came on to a fine game as his knees got better, Mark Soden matured nicely in the back row, and young "Archie" Brooks continued his development as a hugely talented utility player capable of covering all the back positions.

By the end of the season, the squad were at last grasping the idea that whoever played best got the start the following week. Whereas for the past couple of seasons there was little change in the starting lineup.

There is now real and fervent competition. The resulting improvement in several players has been nothing less than remarkable.


TRANSFERS

Out go, Olivier Brouzet, Andy Rennick, Craig Moir, Luca Martin, Ali Hepher, Dom "Meerkat" Malone, Joe "Sideshow Bob" Shaw (a.k.a. the flying hairstyle), Steve Brotherstone, Tom Kirk, Arthur Brenton , and Simon Webster

In comes Steve Williams, Simon Hepher, O'Riol Ripol (must be Irish ?) , Bruce Reihana and Mark Connors

The philosophy is to clear the dead wood. Only the mighty Olivier and to a lesser extent Andy Rennick will be serious losses on merit. Olivier, who became much loved by the Gardens faithful during his stay is one of the nicest and most honourable of men, letting the club know early of his intent to go back to France during the run-up to the RWC , which allowed the early recruitment of Williams to succeed him. Although it now looks as if the curse of test calls has struck again with Williams winning back his Welsh place.

Even so, Olivier leaves huge shoes to fill, as one of only 2 or 3 locks in world rugby capable of moving his entire pack round the field with him (even if he did have his moments in the lineout).

Smith was unimpressed with the skills he found throughout the club, from academy to first team, and is acting accordingly. The squad is 4 players less than last year at 34 players, but the majority of these can play at least 2 positions, and several quite a few. He has moved to address aerial skills at lineouts and restarts with Hepher, Williams and Connors, and the lack of back-3 gas with Ripol & Reihana.

MANAGEMENT

This is now looking quite solid. The Saints are a plc, but the main shareholder is "Uncle" Keith Barwell . The supporters are happy with this, he is approachable, hugely respected and liked as after all, he is one of the supporters himself and always was. When he was seriously ill last season a pall hung over the entire club.

Thankfully he was well enough to be able to sense the crisis on the playing side and react decisively getting John Steele to recruit Wayne Smith as his own successor. Steele remains right hand man, though now no longer director of Rugby, but a main board director.

Smith has brought in only a performance and fitness director for the academy (who happens to be the last All Blacks age-groups' performance director!) and there is a feeling an assistant may be recruited at some stage.

The commercial side is well run, despite the inevitable tensions that arise with the supporters over shirts, bars, parking etc., and the club will announce an annual profit despite being in the progress of radically upgrading the ground. Last years' 2 new stands have been joined by the new Church's Stand this year ( the seats are now in, although it will not open until the first home league game v Falcons.)

This completes an unbroken "horseshoe" round the ground, the North end remaining open with the Sturtridge Pavilion, once the dominant feature of the ground, now looking rather small . The next phases are to finish off the new facilities under the Church's stand and to revamp the tented village, which will be tarmacked and have new permanent buildings.

There is a slight worry over whether expansion can keep pace with increased numbers, but this is not too bad a problem to have.


PROSPECTS

Not easy to do this about your own team...let's see....well it's a bit like the Niue Island Haka.... "WE WILL EAT YOU !!"....

Seriously, there is a mood of optimism at the gardens and there is maybe a 15% chance that it is justified and Saints might be right up there contesting the top spots.

Personnel looks potentially quite a bit better than last year,with big gains made by some junior squad members on top of a second half performance which brought a lot of league points after a truly dismal start , and Reihana , Connors and Williams being big name players.

But all Wayne Smith did last year was a patch-up job to a squad which was in part under-performing but which was also in part overrated. We think he will be putting in a more sophisticated gameplan.

It was obvious even in a run of good results that they were vulnerable, as was mentioned before, to teams who attacked the Saints' lineout and packed the midfield to slow down the pick and go. Smith is no man's fool and will also realise that other coaches will be checking their film of his team ready for the new season.

So, if a new game plan, there will be the risk of having to learn it on the hoof, if no new game plan, they have already shown they cannot beat the best.

Add to this the fact that about one third of a squad has been shipped out, and that Reihana will not arrive until November 1 (at which stage he will probably be exhausted and also unfamiliar with the team's patterns of play).

In addition, from the start of October until February, Saints will have a horrific sequence of fixtures which are likely to determine the success or otherwise of their league season. These feature games home and away to Wasps, London Irish, Glawster & L*******r , plus a visit to Leeds.

They will face Wasps and LI during October when hit by the Autumn test calls which are unlikely to weaken their opponents equivalently and have Sale and Newcastle at the two ends of the season when grounds are hard ,just when they would rather not. The schedulers have not been kind.

I think there will be a new gameplan and I think they will improve this year, but there are also still holes in the squad. They will not be familiar with each other or the new systems yet. There will not be the old comfort blanket of the big pack grouped for the drive around the massive Brouzet, the front rowers are going to have to pick up some of the slack.

The lineout and restarts will be better and there will at last be some gas wide outside but the defence will be much the same, safe (look at last years stats in overall points conceded ) but not heavy hitting enough to be a weapon.

I would be happy to be wrong, but I don't see the Saints challenging the likes of Glaws, LI, or Wasps this year ' let alone the current Champions .

I think the Saints might grab 5th again with a very serious challenge next season once they really know each other and what they are doing.