Wasps were missing a few players on international duty such as Mark Van Gisbergen and some fella called Matt Dawson (the name rings a bell but I don't know why) as well as Joe Worsley through injury. And with the gargantuan Simon Shaw and Lawrence Dallaglio on the bench, you may not be alone dear reader; in thinking that there was no better time to put one over on Northampton’s biggest 'Hoodoo' teams of recent years.

And so to the game...

The afternoon began with the ceremonial placing of a wreath at the monument in front of the Sturtridge Pavilion in memory of the brave souls who gave their lives fighting for Britain in the first and Second World War. I'm delighted to say it was impeccably respected by all. It did, however, give Wasps the impetus inside the first 20 minutes of the game as the Saints struggled to get out of the blocks and achieve any rhythm.

With Saints having suffered heavily at the hands of two monstrous packs over the last fortnight the general consensus amongst Saints supporters were that we were probably in for another rough weekend. But, this season being as it is, the one thing we can be certain of is more surprises than a kinder egg factory.

Would today be any different?

Hell no.

Sure enough within the first 5 minutes the Saints gave away a  kickable penalty inside their own half as they struggled to contain the sharp Eoin Reddan as he released Rob Hoadly down the blindside. The attack was eventually scuppered but the price was paid with 3 points to Wasps via the boot of Alex King.

From The kick off the Saints were under the cosh again from another of our regular nemeses, Tom Voyce. Who, despite some wobbly moments early on in his return to his original position of full back, handled everything that Saints could throw at him. The Saints decided to respect his counter attacking skills and organise defence rather than push him into gaps open up by pressuring his kick to touch.

Well, that didn’t work either. Voyce eluded the tackles of Richmond and Rudd to pump his way up field and cause something of a stir as he flew through the cover defence and eventually force the Saints to cough up yet another kickable penalty, made worse by someone’s witty riposte to the ref’s decision, making a tricky kick much easier. Six nil down with as many minutes on the clock, things were looking as bleak as the international future of George Gregan.

Things couldn’t get any worse could they? Well...

Last week John Rudd was a man on a mission. He had a point to prove and he jinked and danced his way past a bewildered Sarries defence much to the joys of Saints’ fans. Grown men with long beards cried tears of joy as he set about sending the Saints up field to score not one, but two of the best tries any set  of supporters will see this season.

A week is a long time in rugby...

Unfortunately this week John Found himself in two minds as to whether or not to take on  Ayoola Erinle and leaving him trailing in his wake, crouched on the floor huddled in a tight ball, looking for his mum, and possibly his dummy, like Dan Bailey was last week. Or, float a risky pass between himself and Bruce which was almost screaming out to Erinle "Ooh, go on, you know you want to!"

Sadly he chose not to repeat his heroics and gave Bruce a pass that had trouble written all over it. Trouble it was and trouble came in the shape of Erinle intercepting and heading towards the posts at a rate of knots.

Thankfully little Paul Diggin was able to save his mate blushes with a tackle that had most of the 13,585 breathe a big sigh of relief.

The biggest "PHEW!" I've ever heard.

Fortunately, this incident became something of a wake-up call for the Saints who suddenly realized that there was a game on and maybe a bit more effort was required to get the big W that was so needed. Saints’ forwards began to find some composure, as well as some possession from the lineout. Big Damo Browne looked in his emergency Sudoku book of lineout calls to keep the ball away from Birkett and Skivington. The grand wizard consulted his padawan learner, Danny Richmond and with the assistance of medium sized Dan Browne the Saints started to give Los' the possession and position he craved. And what did Los' do? That’s right, he kicked it.

Many are the premiership coaches that have been vexed over the last three seasons as to how do you get in behind the Wasps defence. Do you run at the weak link Alex King? No, because invariably he gets help from his open side and the ball you get is almost unusable. Do you plough big forwards through the front line? No, because often times your forwards are caught with ball behind the gain line and all momentum is lost. Do you kick it behind the back three of Van Gisbergen, Lewsey and Voyce? Well, only if you have some sort of death wish.

The idea of the little dink in behind has been tried against Wasps before by the Saints. It was attempted two seasons ago by Shane Drahm but it came a cropper with Rob Howley sweeping up and big John Leslie’s chase being about as limp as Dale Winton’s handshake.

Today was different though and the kicks of Carlos cause all sorts of problems for the Wasps backline who lost all sense of cool and clucked about over the bobbling ball time and again but still managed to get the ball clear. A clever idea which so nearly worked, but seeing as it hadn’t it seemed to sow a few doubts in the minds of the players who again just seem to go a little off the boil. The Saints came back from a few sessions of long possession with only a Carlos Spencer droppy to shout about. But then things started to click...

Space is always at a premium against the Wasps and today was no different but someone may want to send Alex King a memo...

RE: Your open field kicking.

Wherever you put it, Bruce will punish you!

Bruce was able to find gaps and the opportunity to offload out of the tackle so often it was scary. He was able to counterattack the Saints back into the game and force the Wasps onto the back foot and into a yellow card offence from Rob Hoadley after he and Stuart Abbott decided to do their best impersonations of NFL running back Junior Seau (pronounced say-ow, geddit?) by bodychecking Bruce out of the game. Bruce is made of stronger stuff mind and the skipper got to his feet and then later levelled the scores on the stroke of half time.

As half time rolled around the game was tight, though the Saints were again offering more open rugby and the supporters must have known they were getting their money’s worth. Saints were ahead on possession, positive in position and poised for points.

But through luck, judgement or simply good defence, they never came.

Wasps looked to regroup in the second half and were certainly more aware of the Carlos kick as the second half opened and with the Saints having proved unable to make the most of the extra man in the first half found the Wasps a different proposition in the second half who were hanging on for grim death once or twice from some of Los' deadly little dinks.

Still, there’s always Lawrence Bruno Nero Dallaglio to make life difficult for the Saintly types and in addition to this ensure that the Wasps are as competitive and hardworking as ever. Lol, as he's known, is a man I’ve always greatly admired, I’ve looked past the Sunday paper scandals, the tub thumping wasps displays, which often end in the defeat of the team I'm supporting, and simply seen a great leader of men, much like Major Richard Winters in the TV show Band of Brothers.

It's been said that over the course of the last lions tour 'Lol' and 'Bod'

became fast friends and formed a bond that will last forever. (Sounds a little O.T.T. I know, I know). Before the kick off in the opening game on tour against the Bay of Plenty Lol sent Bod a text message. Bod though turns his phone off before games and didnt receive the message until later that evening. In the meantime poor old Lol had dislocated his ankle and was off the tour, with him also, the chance of a win too. So, eventually Bod turns his phone on and receives a message...

"Just wanted you to know, my friend, how proud I will be running out behind you tonight. You will lead the Lions like the true champion you are. Good luck, Lol."

Well, I think you would have to be dead inside not to feel a bit emotional reading that. Sure enough, it got to Bod and he appreciated his new friend all the more.

He's an amazing player and an amazing man, not just a man who will be remembered for the things he said, and I don’t mean "Have you seen my light blue trousers love?" or "Can I have a crisp?" but a man whose pride and honour strike a chord in the most cynical of rugby followers and it was a pleasure to watch him take the game away from us this afternoon...

Anyway back to the game,

So with 47 minutes on the clock, into the game came Lol and the big man took immediate control. With John Rudd limping badly for all to see and Rhodri Davies still warming up the words of the evil karate coach of the cobra kai from the 1984 movie the karate kid began to ring in the ears of Lol...

                                             "Mercy is for the weak"

Wasting no time Lol picked up from the base of the scrum and took advantage of Rhino's inability to chase his former team-mate, thus he put Eion Reddin into the gap who sprinted over the line for the game’s opening try.

But these days the Saints don’t just lie down and die for anyone. Galvanised by a sense of anger at the cheap five points the Wasps had foraged for themselves the Saints worked hard to get themselves back into the game.

Thanks to Andy Vilk the Saints looked to be getting themselves over the try line as he jinked, spun, goose-stepped, doubled back, spun again and bounced his way down towards under the twenty-two. A truly mesmeric run from the little man who was finally given the opportunity  show everyone what regular wanderers supporters have known for some time, this boy has got game!

Momentum shifted the way of the Saints and the forward went on the attack.

The ball was pushed wide where the Saints found themselves with a massive overlap and serial wing lurker Chris "Chicken" Budgen looking for a moment of glory!

Somehow with five yards to make to get over the line Chicken decided to come inside and look for contact rather than head towards the corner flag. Doh!

Held up over the line and my heart began to sink as things went from bad to worse from the following scrum. With Foxy stood on the blindside waving to his mates and looking terribly lonely seeing as how he wasn’t being marked, Chicken looked for redemption for his earlier fowl up (sorry, couldn’t resist!) and was held up again.

Then, to add insult to injury, from the resulting scrum, the Saints pushed the ball to the blindside wing and with a pass from Rhodri Davies just needing to be plucked into the hands of Jon Clarke and for him then to fall over the line, Northampton found themselves with Rob Hoadley stood in the way and poking the ball forwards.

“OI! REF!”

Now, while the Saints have courted plenty of controversy with refs in the last month in one way or another why should today be any different?

Suffice to say, no penalty try, though I doubt you will find a more nailed on one, no second yellow leading to a red, well that would of been harsh, but still, a lineout?

Oh Fiddlesticks! (Or words to that effect)

As if this wasn’t bad enough, Alex King kicked another 3 points for the Wasps and made the score 6 points to 14 with ten minutes left. The Saints looked as though they were trying too hard to get back into the game. They were forcing it, asking too much of themselves and the game became scrappy and fragmented. Then with four minutes on the clock a moment of genius from?

Carlos? No, Bruce? No, Sharky then, surely it was Sharky? No, it was little Rhodri Davies who sidestepped his way out of trouble and chipped over the top and raced past Tom Voyce to collect the ball and the touchdown!

GAME ON!!!

Bruce put over the conversion to make it a one point game with 2 minutes on the clock. Ooh, how tense! So the Wasps kicked off again and a new surge of belief and adrenalin swept through the Saints as the forwards gathered the ball and the Saints moved the ball wide, looking for the kill. Carlos, obviously impressed by the skills of his young counterpart Rhodri tried a terrific chip over the top of the Wasps oncoming backline, which he gathered with sublime skill under pressure from Eion Reddin, he then delicately passed the ball out of the tackle, to ROB BLOOMIN HOADLEY!

"Bums and poo"

Hoadley gleefully raced over the line to give the Wasps the win and Alex King's conversion robbed the Saints of a bonus point.

So on reflection another bad result for the Saints and once again the Wasps have come to FG and somewhat wormed their way to the win. The positives outweigh the negatives but the way Northampton came away with nothing from a game where they were looking so good in for so long is bitterly disappointing for the players who put in tons of effort. Sadly, for no reward.