By Simon Hendy (a.k.a. Shendy)
November 2 2005

Oh boy! What a game to get for my first COYSDC match report – my “home” Saints game being an obvious one for a Saint exiled in Bristol to do. Bristol 36 Northampton 28 

It was the first time I’ve been to see the Saints this season, but then again I haven’t been to the Gardens since April 2003, when we played Bristol.

It rained heavily in Bristol through most of the night, but brightened up considerably and the weather was not the factor that I thought it was going to be. The Saints came out top in the first skirmishes, when Bernie managed to decapitate Brizzly the Bear.

I marvelled at the fact that the teams were actually as printed in the programme, until it was announced that Bristol fly-half Jason Strange had injured himself during the warm-up and was replaced by Danny Gray. It was such a late change that Gray still wore number 22.

Early on, Bristol had most of the ball, recycling endlessly but going nowhere. Eventually they kicked the ball away and Bruce Reihana countered, starting off a good attack that made its way into the Bristol 22. Bristol conceded a penalty, but even though we were only 6 minutes into the game, we kicked for the corner rather than going for the 3 points. Steve Thompson overthrew at the lineout and we gave away a penalty.

Just a couple of minutes later, Bristol were awarded a penalty (not rolling away) and also kicked for the corner rather than at goal. From the resulting driving maul, Saints turned the ball over and countered well, only spoiled when Ben Cohen passed the ball to Gregor Townsend's imaginary friend.

The Saints didn’t win their own lineout until the 3^rd attempt, but that led to a Harding break, and lovely cross-kick from Spencer to Lamont, who was held just short of the line, and was then penalised for holding on.

Towards the end of the first quarter, Bristol left wing David Lemi put in a good dogging run, but spoiled it by knocking on. It was not the last we were to see of him. Unfortunatel

After 21 minutes, Saints conceded a penalty at a scrum, and fly half Danny Gray kicked for goal from a relatively easy position. 3-0 Bristol.

Bristol were still getting most of the possession, but not doing a massive amount with it, their recycling getting slower and slower. They did, however, break through a couple of times, which was getting worrying.

The Saints did look pretty good with the ball in hand, particularly when counter-attacking. We again kicked a penalty into the corner, and the resulting good move was spoiled by a forward pass inside the Bristol 22.

After half an hour, we drove to the Bristol line, but were turned over. Bruce Reihana returned the ball after Bristol missed touch, winning a penalty as Bristol went over the top. Reihana missed the penalty, wide to the left.

Bristol broke clear again, but their recycling was again painfully slow. After a scrum in the middle of the pitch, right wing Brian Lima ducked through two tackles and made ground towards our line. Bristol piled on the pressure until the Saints conceded a penalty for offside in front of the posts. Bristol should probably have scored, especially as we missed a couple of tackles. Gray kicked the penalty. 6-0 to Bristol, 37 minutes gone.

Bristol attacked deep into Saints territory again as Lemi broke clear and chipped over Reihana. He narrowly failed to score, Saints getting the scrum on their own 5 metre line. Bristol stole the ball at the scrum, but fortunately knocked on. Bruce Reihana counter-attacked virtually from his own goal line, passed the ball out to Ben Cohen on the left wing who broke further. He passed the ball back into the middle, from where Carlos Spencer ran in from 30-40 metres to finish off a quite magnificent try – his first in the Black, Gold and Green. To cap it all, Reihana converted. 7-6 to Northampton, 40 minutes gone.

The Bristol fly-half Gray was injured early on in the move (he looked to be in some pain), and was replaced – giving Bristol a bit of a problem considering their first choice fly-half had already pulled out, and now the replacement was off.

Bristol continued to do well against the Saints scrum at the end of the first half, before Sam Harding was sin-binned after 44 minutes for killing the ball. Vaughan Going missed the kick, rather badly.

7-6 to Saints at half time. Pastie Review: The Cornish Pasties received favourable reports, with credit being given to a good kick of pepper. The Cheese & Onion Pasties were also good, although not much sign of onion was detected.

Bristol made one change at half-time, with winger Lee Robinson coming on for Brian Lima on the right wing. Robinson is pretty big, and I saw him playing in 2001 for Walcot in Bath, where he ran over and through everyone.

Well, the first 10 minutes of the second half were just awful for the Saints. Bristol decided against the endless (and pretty fruitless) recycling of the first half, and switched to rolling mauls. This worked wonders, and they shoved us around without a care in the world.

After the first big drive, just a couple of minutes into the second half, Lee Robinson was stopped just short of the line, but scrum-half Jacob Rauluni nipped over in the corner, down a narrow and undefended blind side. Going missed the conversion – 11-7 to Bristol.

At this point, the Saints lost the plot a bit, with sloppy passes going to ground, and us going backwards. Lemi scored their second try, breaking down the left wing and scoring under the posts. He then converted his own try. 18-7 to Bristol, 50 minutes gone.

At this point, we replaced Colin Noon with Chris Budgeon.

Not quite sure what happened next – Ben Cohen took a quick lineout (right in front of me), and the Saints counter attacked quickly and well. Unfortunately, the French touch judge and referee decided to call it back and made us take the lineout (meanwhile Reihana had gone on to score under the posts, not that Bristol were defending much as the whistle had gone long before). I have no idea why it was called back, as no lineout had formed that I could see, and he definitely took the lineout from behind where it went into touch. To make it worse, we were then penalised for a crooked throw.

More replacements for the Saints – Richmond and Lord replacing Thompson and Gerard after 56 minutes. This didn’t do much good in the short term, as Bristol put on another good driving maul and drove veteran Gareth Llewellyn over for their third try of the half. Lemi kicked the conversion – 25-7 to Bristol after 57 minutes, and the second half had been all Bristol, all driving, and we weren’t getting a look in, and didn’t look too good when we did.

Into the final quarter, the Saints did start to play a bit better, Lamont attacking well. Unfortunately Bristol attacked well through a jinking run, a pass left, and Lemi broke clear to score in the left-hand corner. Bristol’s 4th try inside 30 minutes! A good move, but too many holes in defence from the Saints. Going made a complete hash of the conversion. 30-7 to Bristol after 68 minutes.

Saints then replaced Harding and Quinlan with Soden and Davies. Suddenly, the Saints looked much more dangerous, scoring almost immediately. A maul after a lineout, a couple of rucks and the ball was flipped out to the left for Reihana to run in untouched. It looked so easy all of a sudden! Reihana converted his own try, 30-14 to Bristol after 70 minutes.

Still the Saints kept going – Soden went clear after a break by Spencer. Then Spencer dummied and went himself, scoring in the corner. Reihana converted from the touchline. Suddenly it was 30-21 to Bristol after 73 minutes.

Bristol kept up the positive attitude by kicking a penalty to the corner after 78 minutes, but we stole it and then lost it to a Bristol scrum as we didn’t use it. Fox was then penalised for not rolling away, dead in front of the posts. Lemi kicked the penalty – 33-21 to Bristol after 81 minutes.

Still the Saints didn’t give up, Rhodri Davies breaking through for his first Saints try after a nicely worked move through a couple of phases of play. Reihana kicked the conversion, making it 33-28 to Bristol after 84 minutes. Both teams now had 4 tries, and at this point the Saints also had a losing bonus point. Unfortunately it was not to be, as Soden was penalised for not releasing, in front of the posts. Lemi kicked the penalty to give Bristol the win by 36-28, giving them the 5 points and denying us the solitary bonus point.

In all, it was a really strange game. Bristol had the ball for a lot of the first half and did almost nothing with it, although they did sneak through the first tackle too often for comfort. When we did get the ball, we looked dangerous – and the counter-attack try was a brilliant example of it.

In the second half, we didn’t get a look in until almost 70 minutes had passed, as Bristol shoved us around the pitch, and we threw the ball around carelessly. Suddenly it clicked and we looked like scoring whenever we had the ball – whether this was co-incidental with the arrival of Soden and Davies, I don’t know, but it was far too late by then. Soden was highly visible in the late breaks, and Davies finished the last try well.

And possibly the worst part of it all? I’d gone to the game with my brother, a friend whose brother used to be in the Saints academy, and my landlord – 3 Saints fans to 1 Bristol fan. Unfortunately, my landlord (who used to play for Bristol Seconds in the Eighties) took great pleasure in gloating as Bristol went 30-7 ahead. He quietened down a bit as we came back, but bragging rights go to him. Until New Year’s Day, at least. And believe me, he’ll use those bragging rights.

 

Attendance -  5,662.

 

Simon Hendy