By apb
December 31 2004

Leeds have never beaten the Saints at Franklin's Gardens. Saints are below Leeds in the Premiership table. Leeds had a winning streak of three against lesser opposition curtailed last week in the match against Newcastle, whereas Saints narrowly squeaked past Irish to end a losing streak of nine.

Two poor teams struggling against relegation, both desparately needing a win to give a little bit of respite. An entertaining a free-flowing game it will not be.

Which is a shame, since both sides are riddled with class players who could easily put on a glittering performance and provide a fantastic advert for the game of Rugby Union. We've already had the sneerers and jeerers from the Rugby League sites suggesting that record crowds don't come back for the kind of stuff served up at Headingley last week. This is undoubtedly true, but it'll take some kind of bravery for either of these teams to cut loose with some risk taking tomorrow afternoon.

Named in the Leeds starting line-up is Matt Cardey at 14. Poor old Matt has come in for some real criticism on the message board. Many people groan when they hear he's named in the 22, let alone in the 15. In my view, this isn't fair. He has shown over the last two seasons that he has an eye for attack wherever the option presents itself, and is not afraid to take those options. Clearly there have been some things that haven't come off, but I think this selection shows that Phil Davies is looking to Cardey to provide something extra that the "regular" team simply haven't been doing in the premiership all season - a bit of unpredictability. Whether he can change much from out on the wing is perhaps something we shall have to wait and see.

Also something of a surprise in the starting lineup is Dan Hyde at blindside. Normally favoured at openside, it'll be interesting to see whether the change in role suits the big man. He will certainly need to be wary of giving away too many penalties, with the prodigious boot of World Cup winner Paul Grayson on the opposing team.

The final change in the team is the return of Chris Bell at centre, pushing Phil Christophers out to the wing. Bell has made an impact at Headingley this season, but still has quiet games every so often, so it's difficult to tell if he'll be firing on all cylinders so soon after injury.

Northampton field a strong team as usual, and - like Leeds - their team is riddled with seasoned internationals and world cup winning squad members. Steve Thompson's throwing in the lineout is always something of a concern for Saints fans, much as Ronnie Regan's used to be for us, although the Leeds lineout is looking much more solid of late. Saints have a back line oozing wih class and a pack to match, and this makes it all the more incredible that they find themselves in the premiership predicament they are in. Neither team should really be worrying about relegation this term, but the results don't lie, and both teams will be very wary of making any mistakes.

Two strong teams, who will be desparate not to make a mistake. Saints at home MUST have an advantage there, particularly given the losing run at Franklin's Gardens that Leeds have had over the years.

Those people of a superstitious disposition will not be cheered at the news that Steve Leyshon is to be the referee. Regular poster Gazz dug out the "interesting" statistic that Leeds has NEVER won in the Premiership with Mr. Leyshon in charge. That's another run that we can do with ending.....

Teams

Leeds Tykes

15. Tim Stimpson
14. Matt Cardey
13. Chris Bell
12. Andre Snyman
11. Phil Christophers
10. Gordon Ross
9. Mark McMillan
1. Mike Shelley
2. Mark Regan
3. Rayno Gerber
4. Scott Morgan
5. Tom Palmer (c)
6. Dan Hyde
7. Richard Parks
8. Colm Rigney

16. Matt Holt
17. Gavin Kerr
18. Chris Murphy
19. Jon Dunbar
20. Alan Dickens
21. Gareth Wright
22. Matt Cardey

Northampton Saints

15 BRUCE REIHANA
14 John Rudd
13 BEN COHEN
12 Marc Stcherbina
11 Wylie Human
10 PAUL GRAYSON
9 MARK ROBINSON
1 Simon Emms
2 STEVE THOMPSON (capt)
3 ROBBIE MORRIS
4 Grant Seely
5 Damien Browne
6 ROSS BEATTIE
7 CORNE KRIGE
8 Mark Soden

16 Dan Richmond
17 Brett Sturgess
18 Ed O’Donoghue
19 Brett McNamee
20 Ben Jones
21 Shane Drahm
22 Neil Starling

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