By Chris Chaplin
October 22 2003

No need to go all the way to Australia to see New Zealanders and Australians play as next weekend the Franklins Gardens’ Anzacs travel to Welford Road and comes face to face with our own duo of New Zealanders. Which Antipodean connection will emerge triumphant from under the long cloud though?
To the horror of the Northampton faithful I joined others in tipping the “other” East Midlanders for the league Championship this season and indeed with their weekend victory over Falcons they are already up in the more comfortable part of the league table in spite of their losses to the World Cup and injury.

Coach Wayne Smith, astute as ever in his signings, limited his close season acquisitions to Mark Robinson, the All Black Scrum Half, Shane Drahm from Bristol, who can cover #10 or #15 and provides kicking capability and finally prop Renaud Peillard arrived from USAP. There were five departures with Peter Jorgensen being let go to Rotherham, Ian Vass is now enjoying the delights of Gay Paree, when he has time of from Stade Francais, while Matt Stewart and Simon Hepher have just popped down the road to sample the less heady delights of Bedford.

In pursuing this very sensible strategy Smith has been able to secure the esprit de corps that he has worked on establishing at Franklins Gardens since his arrival and I think that Northampton, together with Gloucester and Bath, seem to be the teams most at ease with themselves at this time of disruption in the domestic game.

It’s significant perhaps when looking at the Saints pack that even with the superb Tom Smith and hooker cum centre Steve Thompson absent down under and Budge Pountney excused games with a note because of a nasty injury they were still able to dominate the largely untroubled Wasps front five for long periods when they met last month, the Saints coming away with a 27-17 victory due in no small part to the pack’s endeavours and the prolific boot of Shane Drahm, who scored 17 points that September day, although it would seem that like most other teams at present they struggled a week earlier when they came up against a rejuvenated Bath down at the Rec., a delight Tigers have yet to enjoy.

The Saints pack, even without it’s high profile absentees, has a settled look about it with new boy Peillard fitting in well with regulars Dan Richmond at Hooker and combinations of Robbie Morris, Budgen and Brett Sturgess at prop. Morris has been having to spend time in the Sin Bin of late picking up Yellow Cards in consecutive matches against Rotherham and London Irish so he needs to be careful as he’s staring a suspension in the face, which is something Saints could well do without.

All of these inhabitants of the nether world are familiar to us although Peillard is less so, being one of those rare beings that actually leaves USAP. A seemingly good catch this by the Saints’ management.

Thus far New Zealander Matt Lord has anchored the Saints’ second row, joining the Northampton club last season to replace Ackerman who was forced to retire through injury. I’ve liked what I’ve seen of this mobile forward and it’s good to see him in the side on a regular basis. Franklins Gardens stalwart Rob Hunter, who has made over eighty appearances for his club since joining them from London Irish in 2000, has been sharing the partnering of Lord with 35 time capped Welsh International lock Steve Williams. Any combination of these three versatile players will see try scoring potential aplenty as both Williams and Hunter are also well able to hold their own in the back-row and have a few yellow cards to prove it! Maybe not the most threatening lineout combination in the premiership but full of experience and certainly good enough and great in loose play.

Even without the benefit of Pountney’s presence in the back-row there’s still bucket loads of talent with Andrew Blowers the heartbeat of the pack and the side in general. What a superb player this sixteen time All Black is, fast around the park, fantastic awareness, just superb. The Saints are just not the same without him. Add to this the abilities of Wallaby Mark Connors, who I much prefer seeing as a flanker than a lock so that the mobility and footballing skills that saw him capped on 20 occasions for his country are better demonstrated than in the tighter confines of the second row. The final component of this trio has tended to be the developing young Darren Fox who with Pountney absent is making the most of his opportunity to start regularly with the first fifteen and of course Grant Seely and Leicester born centurion Mark Soden are still in reserve.

In the knowledge of Dawson’s pretty much certain involvement at the World Cup I was surprised that Ian Vass was let go but of course Saints’ wily Kiwi coach had seven time All Black Mark Robinson in his sights with young Johnny Howard as understudy albeit an understudy who started against the Falcons and got himself on the score sheet for good measure. Shane Drahm joined from Bristol, where he made just over 30 appearances for the West Country side scoring 319 points, but in spite of which he always rather seemed on the periphery of the team.

Strangely enough he has never scored against Tigers – long may it continue! The Aussie A player certainly seems to have been inspirational since his arrival at Saints having provided good service to his backs, kicked goals and even crossed the try line on more than one occasion the most recent being last weekend and his new career is only six games old. Courted by others he decided though on the metropolitan chic of Northampton and what a good job for them that he did.

In the centre Kilted Kiwi John Leslie has partnered both Chris Hyndman and young South African born Mark Tucker so far this term. I suppose the thing that always stands out for me when watching Leslie play is his defensive qualities and ball retention, mind you the 14 tries he’s scored rather suggest that he’s a bit useful in attack as well, as indeed he is.

Young Tucker will have doubtless seen his well deserved chances of being in the starting line up improve following the departure of Jorgensen, the young centre having served his time at Saints and been patient in waiting for his opportunity to cement his place as a starter, contributing eight tries and more points from his boot while he waited.

Chris Hyndman is another young player who’s had to be patient to get a regular starting spot but I must say when I’ve seen him in the past I thought he looked useful and runs some nice lines. All in all a decent looking trio here with a good mix of youth and experience.

On the wings Wayne Smith has some options in the absence Ben Cohen with the absolutely superb Bruce Reihana anchoring the back three. This treble All Black is not lightening fast or even mazily elusive but somehow he’s the complete package. Possessed of a great footballing brain he spots the opportunities and takes them, making great bridgeheads in the opposition defence and sometimes scoring himself both with hand or boot. Strangely the thing I like to watch most is the Kiwi tackling a player running onto him when he gets his body position exactly right and drives into his opponent below their ribcage then he continues driving them up and back so they can’t dig in with their feet – great stuff.

Both veteran Jon Sleightholme and young Premiership debutante Clarke have joined Reihana in the back three with the rejuvenated Nick Beal being a constant at Full Back while Spaniard Oriol Ripol waits in the wings to cause confusion to everybody, sometimes it seems including himself and his team mates with his convoluted attacking runs that somehow seem to often end up no where special, but he is fun to watch and has bagged getting on for a score of tries, approaching an average of one per game whilst in the Premiership.

I still enjoy watching Sleightholme even though his best days, when he was capped thirteen times for England, are probably now behind him, he’s a good honest player just as his name, redolent of the Whippets, Ferrets and flap caps that his Yorkshire roots conjure up. “Tha’ll be young Sleightholme will thee?” Always good to watch this guy, especially if he gets put into a bit of space, nothing flash just determination to get the job done.

Nick Beal is another of the many fine players in this squad of 2003/4. Another Yorkshire man he’s fast approaching his 100th appearance for the club in the Premiership, during which time he’s amassed over a hundred points which includes more than a score of tries, a brace of which he potted last weekend. Great in attack when he bursts through, usually on a super line he, like those other fine #15s, Matt Perry and our own Tim Stimpson, is seemingly viewed as something of an anachronism by the England management in these days of Josh Lewsey and Jason Robinson. The Northampton man is now therefore unlikely to add to his twenty English caps and three tries for his Country but has, like other players at Franklins Gardens, prospered under the tutelage of the thoughtful Wayne Smith.

So there we are then a pretty good line up with only the lack of experience in Tucker, Hyndman and Clarke being question marks in my book. The half a dozen or so Southern Hemisphere players certainly make me want to get out the Barbie but they do give a solid spine of experience all of them being excellent signings. The team has also displayed real grit of late in coming back from what in the past would have perhaps been untenable positions.

Another loss for Tigers against Leeds last weekend was suffered following the departure of James Hamilton early on in the proceedings when in the face of this added adversity a half time lead was turned into another substantial defeat for the young side, with an average age of 22, seeing Tigers stuck worryingly close to the bottom of the Premiership.

I guess it remains to be seen if the club decides to suspend Hamilton or wait for the RFU hearing that follows a Red Card. With suspension seemingly inevitable the already sparse resources at lock will be even more stretched with Tom Ryder the likely starter in Hamilton’s absence.

Looking at a potential Tigers front row of Rowntree, Chuter and Morris, comprised as it is of two British Lions and an experienced Premiership player in George Chuter it’s hard to believe that this trio will not better the Saints line up. The question is can Chuter get his throwing in to the line-out on target, which with our inexperienced locks has now become a major problem as was again seen at Kingsholm and Headingley. Surely the motto has to be keep it simple and get it right.

The Saints back-row has two hugely talented players in Blowers and Connors. Given Skinner’s bravura performances it would be interesting to see him start at open-side with Josh at blind-side and Balding at 8. This would be a pacy combination and Skinner with his speed off the mark may just be able to unsettle the dangerous Saints half-backs, especially Drahm.

It will also be essential that the ball is cleared out more quickly from ruck situations and around the tackle area than we have been seeing. Precision will also be needed otherwise Drahm’s boot will punish any indiscretions.
The situation surrounding Healey and his injury(ies) remains shrouded in mystery as is the position regarding Pez. Surely if fit Oz will start but as for Pez – who knows? As it stands I rather expect to see Vesty keep his place.

Gibson is ever present and hard working I’d just love to see him put into some space to mount attacks. Defensively sound as a pound I expect to see a Titanic battle between him and Leslie. With Ollie Smith at last restored to his rightful place at outside centre I expect to see more invention and ambition that can be fulfilled in the centre and the young England player getting the better of Tucker or Hyndman.

I guess that the best attacking opportunities are going to be through the 13/14 channel away from the usual haunt of Reihana, although he can pop up anywhere and often does, where he will be the problem of the improving John Holtby who will need all his reserves against the Kiwi facing him.

At full back Beal is still a class act and I hope that he is not allowed to run at the defence unchecked for if he does he’ll eventually either get through or put a team mate through. Young Myring left the field injured against the Tykes but if fit I expect to see him start but if not Stimmo returns. It would be good for Myring to play in front of 12000/14000 Tigers supporters and enable us to give him some much needed support.

Statistically a fourth consecutive loss is surely unlikely AND at Welford Road AND to the team that first undone us a year ago.

Obviously the mismanaged and worsening situation at lock will be targeted by the opposition and on paper it’s hard to find to much cause for optimism but strangely enough I’ve got a feeling that it’ll be a tight Tigers victory – but then I’ve always been an old softy.