By Darraghgirl
September 27 2015

  Disclaimer: This report was written under some duress. The PA was inaudible, there was no TV replay, no visible clock and the referee was Greg Garner. Two toddlers behind me were playing their own game of “kick the seats”, the on-field players were determined to hit me with the ball and I spent most of the first half texting little DG who played an extra game of netball, got stuck on the North Circ. and couldn’t find anywhere to park. So apologies for any errors, omissions and inaccuracies.  

The last weekend in September and FINALLY we have some live rugby to report. A friendly between enemies. The weather was more like typical friendly season (end of august) – blue skies & sunshine. The crowd was understandably a bit sparse and about 50:50 Sarries/Saints. Northampton brought pretty much their first team (well 2 teams actually as they brought 30 players) whereas Sarries only had 4 regular first teamers (Ashton, Du Plessis, Hamilton & Itoje) in their 27 together with a mix of fringe players, Storm players, players I’ve never heard of and most interesting, 2 new signings in Michael Rhodes and Baden Kerr.

I have to say I wasn’t over keen on the new strip – it does look better in the flesh than in photos but there is something a bit unbalanced about the way the red at the bottom of the shirt gives all the players a high waist – like something out of Pride & Prejudice! As for Saints, well last year’s sickly peppermint away effort looked like it had been in the wash with someone’s green underwear. This sky blue/grey effort is no better. Shame they couldn’t find enough material to make the tops match the shorts and then got something nasty in the white wash to turn them grey!

There were interesting hairstyles on both sides – we’ve got used to Mike Ellery’s ponytail but Ben Foden’s was certainly new to me! The game started with a nice Ashes to Ashes moment – a handshake between (Chris) Ash(ton) and Ash(ley Rowden). Our Ash seemed to have been deputed to babysit Rhodes, telling him where to stand, where to go etc.

It was a rather inauspicious start for Baden Kerr. A hospital pass to Ellery, a run into nowhere ending up at the bottom of a ruck and a penalty conceded for not rolling away. Things could only get better surely. Sportingly Saints kicked for the corner and the subsequent rolling maul looked dangerous resulting in what looked like a nasty injury to Jared Saunders. It was a worryingly long time before Mr Garner stopped play. Fortunately Saunders was OK but meanwhile a very hirsute Fraser headed for the blood bin and Joubert was sporting some rather fetching cotton wool buds up the nose. From the restart, Saints scored their first try with Packman going over in the corner. Myler missed the conversion.

Things started looking up. A nice kick ahead by Kerr was picked up by Ellery and eventually the ball came out to Ashton on the other wing who beat 2 defenders and scored. Ben Spencer kicked a super conversion and Sarries took a 7-5 lead which soon became 10-5 when Collins was sent to the sin-bin for an illegal challenge in the air on Morris. For the next few minutes Sarries looked good. The scrum was solid, Ash was putting himself about and Spencer appeared up for it. Sadly it didn’t last. A lost line out led to Collins scoring Saints’ second with pretty much a free run down the right wing. This time Myler nailed the conversion. Worse was to follow with a lovely intercept try by Burrell from Kerr’s rather deliberate pass which was again converted and with half an hour gone Saints were leading 19-10.

The central 10-12-13 axis was looking a bit fragile and Northampton were taking full advantage. A dodgy lineout, a scrum penalty against, a couple of turnovers in the loose and finally a second Burrell try, virtually unchallenged as he ran 30 yards to touch down. (Eat your heart out Bomber). Myler was spot on again and Saints led 26-10 at half time.

As is usual with these games, half time brought a whole load of substitutions. To be honest I have no idea what Saints did given their subs had the same numbers (same shirts maybe) as the guys they replaced which made it impossible to know who had come and gone although I did notice Stephen Myler had metamorphosed into JJ Hanrahan. For Sarries, Barrington, Brown, De Kock & Wray replaced Gill, Fraser, Spencer and Joubert. Almost immediately JJ’s kicking boots came into place with a straightforward kick in front of the posts to extend Saints’ lead to 10-29. There was a promising break from Streather (why didn’t he back himself and go for the line?). Sadly the pass to Ash was badly timed and the attack eventually ground to a halt. Eventually Sarries won a kickable penalty but instead went for a scrum. Wray controlled the ball admirably at the back, chose his moment and scored. Kerr converted and Sarries crept closer to Saints at 17-29. Sadly that was as good as it got!

Ellery was replaced by Nathan Earle but Saints were attacking again and eventually after a good run by Packman & Stephenson, (at least I think it was them and not their alter-egos) Gibson scored (that is the Saints’ 6 scored – not sure which one it was). This time the conversion hit the posts but kindly bounced over the crossbar for a 17-36 score.

And that was that as far as the scoring went. There were a few nice moves from Sarries – a lovely break from Tompkins which almost put Earle in and some nice interplay between Ash & Earle. Sarries had several chances to score but the lineout had gone haywire by now (Saunders had been replaced by Tyrone Moran- no I’ve not heard of him either - at Hooker although I’m not sure he was wholly to blame). Things got scrappier and scrappier and somewhat to everyone’s relief, Saints won a penalty at the scrum and kicked the ball into touch to end the game.

So what did we learn? Well Saints deservedly won the game.  Tompkins and Streather in midfield is too lightweight. Spencer looked good and his kicking was as always excellent. Kerr showed a few nice ideas but he played at Championship pace and needs to up the gears if he is to run the show in the Premiership (things actually looked a better when Mordt came on which is a bit worrying). Rhodes looked a bit at sea but there was some useful stuff from him too and he will get better. Saunders is moving in the right direction. It was good to see Will back – let’s hope he stays fit. And I still don’t like the new strip.

From a purely selfish point of view, our International players can’t come back soon enough! On this showing they are badly missed! Meanwhile wrap Charlie in cotton wool, he can’t afford so much as a broken fingernail until we get Faz & Goodey back. And for the rest – there is still plenty of work to do.

TEAMS

Saracens:-

15. A Morris, 14. Ashton, 13. Streather, 12. Tompkins, 11. Ellery, 10. Kerr, 9. Spencer, 1. Gill, 2. Saunders, 3. Du Plessis, 4. Hamilton, 5. Itoje ©, 6. Rhodes, 7. Fraser, 8. Joubert.

SUBS; 16. Porecki, 17. Barrington, 18. Alo, 19. Gower, 20. Brown, 21. Wray, 22. De Kock, 23. Mordt, 24. Griffiths, 25. Earle, 26. Gallagher, 27. Morris

Northampton Saints:-

15. Foden, 14. Packman, 13. Stephenson, 12. Burrell, 11. Collins, 10. Myler, 9. Dickson, 1. A Waller, 2. Hartley, 3. Denman, 4. Dickinson, 5. Day, 6. Gibson, 7. Clark, 8. Fisher

SUBS: 15. Tuala, 14. Furbank, 13. Howard, 12. Eves, 11. Hutchinson, 10. Hanrahan, 9. Kessell, 1. E Waller, 2. Haywood, 3. Hill, 4. Woolford, 5. Parkins, 6. Nutley, 7. Harrison, 8. Ludlam

Scorers:-

SARACENS: Tries: Ashton, Wray,  Conv: Spencer, Kerr;  Pen: Kerr

NORTHAMPTON: Tries: Packman, Collins, Burrell (2), Gibson; Conv: Myler (3), Hanrahan; Pen: Hanrahan

Attendance: 3,500

Referee: Greg Garner