An unerring right foot..

By TheSaracens
January 5 2022

Saints at Franklin’s Gardens  - sorry, the Cinch Stadium At Franklin’s Gardens – is a bit of a favourite away trip in the Browne household: it’s just over an hour from Euston, the Thomas A Becket and more especially the Albion Brewery are excellent hostelries, and the stadium, a good place watch rugby. is within walking distance  to and from Northampton Station. I know some have found Saints fans not to be the friendliest but I’ve personally never experienced any problems…. and it’s certainly more hospitable than Kingsholm.. We also reflect that in terms of the pandemic and its effect on sport, things have come full circle, so to speak, as the previous time we’d made this trip, back in February 2020, was the last Premiership away match any Sarries fans would attend before crowds were barred from stadia – let’s hope the spread of the Omicron virus doesn’t cause history to repeat itself.     

As we travel up to Northampton, I’m wondering how this game might pan out; on Monday, we’d been to Twickenham with our Quins-supporting (but nonethless lovely) nieces and watched Saints blow a 21-7 lead after a fast start to lose 41-27, so, given Sarries’ recent travails in the last 20 minutes of games, it could be interesting to see who lasts out the better.

Sarries have made some changes to the squad that faced Worcester, with Mako being joined in the front row by the returning Jamie George, who will be sole captain (and an excellent choice) and Harvey Beaton (Vincent Koch has tested positive for Covid); Theo McFarland starts at blindside, Ivan Van Zyl is included at scrum-half and in the backs Elliot Daly starts at 11.

On the bench we have an intriguing newcomer, Gareth Milasinovitch, a South African tighthead who has come in on a two-month loan spell from Ulster (who have just signed Sean Reffell for next season) – whether this is with a view to a potential longer term arrangement I don’t know but it will be interesting to see Gareth in action. 

Northampton have a number of familiar – and high-quality – players in their squad including Courtney Laws, Dan Biggar, Piers Francis and Lewis Ludlam.

Mrs Jonny is both appalled and amused to see that, on the big screen, Ollie Sleightholme’s surname is misspelt (it’s a Yorkshire name very familiar to her ), which is pretty careless in the case of one your own players!  

The match gets underway in very wet, and inevitably slippery, conditions as Sarries make the strong and confident start that’s been a feature of their game recently and after only six minutes are rewarded when a penalty off a scrum affords the unerring right boot of Lozowski an easy chance to make it 0-3; the early advantage is lost, however, when within a couple of minutes Biggar levels things up to 3-3 following a penalty to Saints.

The penalty seems to settle the home side down as Northampton push forward with a break from Furbank then a grasscutter of a kick causing moments of black and red anxiety before an alert Daly reaches the ball ahead of an onrushing pack of Saints.

Sarrries are forced to work hard in defence as a Northampton penalty is kicked to our corner, and we do well to stop the ensuing driving maul as Saints begin to dominate; another heart-in-mouth moment occurs as Northampton look to have gone over from a tap-and-go but are brought back by the referee.

Against the run of play, with Northampton enjoying the majority of possession and territory, Sarries win two kickable penalties (well, they all are for Lozowski these days…..and to think that after he arrived at Sarries as a fly-half back in 2016 his kicking was considered a weakness) within a couple of minutes – the first is missed but on 25 minutes Sarries regain the lead for 3-6.

Northampton bring on a couple of early substitutes, including the misspelt Sleightholme.

Sarries’ discipline goes awry as we enter the last 15 minutes of the first half, as Northampton push forward and a succession of penalties causes the referee, the young and excellent Adam Leal, to warn George and it’s a surprise and relief that the yellow card isn’t waved; it’s also a slight surprise, however, that Northampton are opting for penalty scrums rather than trying build their score with three-pointers,  a tactic Sarries often employ to good effect.

We’re treated at intervals to an evidently well-refreshed chorus of “Same Old Sarries, Always Cheating” and I’m hard put to figure out whether it’s a belated and unoriginal comment on the salary cap issue, or our on-field tactics today.  

The siege around Sarries’ “red zone” is lifted for now when Sarries win a penalty, to wild celebration among our ranks on and off the pitch: I have to say we were on the receiving end of disapproving looks from adjacent Saints fans when joining in the fist-pumping and whooping.

As we move into the closing minutes of the half, Saints win a penalty off a scrum and Biggar clips the ball over to level matters at 6-6 – on the balance of play it’s probably about right as Saints have dominated the territory and possession but equally Sarries’ defence has been absolutely superb.

While enjoying the rugby equivalent of a seventh-inning stretch, I’m feeling that Northampton have perhaps given this game their best shot, and, frustrated by the Wolfpack, they may run out of ideas and steam; the sense is that if Sarries can avoid a loss of impetus and discipline in the latter stages they can come away with something.  

I’m also conscious that after a fast start at Twickenham on Monday, where at one point Northampton led Quins 21-7, the ideas and steam did indeed absent themselves as the game wore on. We shall see..

Sarries come out for the second half and it’s immediately clear that Mark McCall’s instructions are to get the job done, having weathered the first half storm, as our lads look purposeful and sharp.

Wray has come on for Billy.

On 44 minutes, Good executes a perfect 50:22 (I know it’s borrowed from League, but I like it) and from the resulting line-out on Sarries’ right side, Goode is again heavily involved as he offloads to Lozowski who uses the wet conditions to slide over for the first try of the game, adding the extras himself to take the score to 6-13 while the taste of the orange slices is still fresh on Northampton’s palates.  

Northampton keep working hard but to no avail with Sarries starting to exert control on proceedings; Itoje tries his hand at fly-half as he finds a gap and kicks forward.

Sarries, continuing to manage the game well as Northampton are unable to make any headway, keep the scoreboard ticking over with a straightforward Lozowski penalty that takes the score to 6-16 as we approach the hour mark there’s a sense there may be more to come.

Sarries have begun to make changes, including a substitution a lot of our fans are doubtless interested to see, as the sizeable Milasinovitch, for whom the term “unit” could have been coined, replaces Beaton; shortly afterwards, Segun comes on for Maitland, Woolstencroft for George, Hunter-Hill for McFarland, De Haas for Van Zyl and Mawi for Mako.

Well into the last quarter of the game, which of late is something of a “danger zone” for Sarries, the men in red (with a white stripe) remain calm, disciplined and likely to see the game out for the win; our cause is helped further as we move towards the final 10 minutes when Carey is yellow-carded for collapsing a maul meaning of course that Northampton’s task has just got harder as they will have to see the rest of the game out with 14 men.

Sarries, showing a ruthless streak sometimes absent in recent matches, quickly capitalise on the situation as a penalty is kicked to the corner, and from 5 metres out Woolstencroft drives over with 8 minutes left, with a successful conversion from the golden boot of Lozowski taking the score to 6-23.

Saints fans have already begun to leave the ground in numbers, a sure sign that confidence in their team is lacking; walking out early is nothing something I’ve ever done even when Sarries have been losing heavily, but each to their own.  

The game moves in to the last 5 minutes, as Malins comes off and Manu is given a run out with Goode moving to full-back, and it’s another Sarries penalty which is kicked long; Mawi gets onto the ball and does some great work in pushing hard towards the Northampton line, followed by Itoje, who gets over for Sarries’ third try to secure the win. Lozowski does his job superbly as always and takes the score to 6-30.

Sarries manage out the last few minutes of the game, and although they don’t get the bonus point try today this nonetheless feels like a very satisfying result – we stay second and our points difference is now huge (+196), which, if this can be maintained, could be a key factor later in the season.

Similarly to the game at Ashton Gate in September, Sarries’ performance has been something of a throwback to the Wolfpack days of five or six years ago, when we would choke the life out of the opposition’s attack before ruthlessly closing games out in the latter stages; we’ve remembered what we’re exceptionally good at.

As a unit our defensive display was as effective as I’ve seen it since Brad retired, and it’s to be hoped after recent lapses that this performance will mark a turning point in terms of how we manage out games.

I’m pleased with our discipline -  in the second half at least - and installing the always charming and diplomatic Jamie George as sole captain proved a very good idea; Jamie seemed to communicate well with Adam Leal, with whom I’ve been impressed in what I’m given to understand is only his 15^th Premiership match.

In terms of performances, Loz was an obvious standout - contributing 20 points and winning the Man of the Match award - Alex Goode was superb at fly-half and set up the pivotal try for Loz, and Jamie had a very good comeback match both in terms of performance as well as leadership.

Speaking of hookers, it’s also been good to see Tom Woolstencroft back – I’ve always rated him and he’s developed into a more than able deputy for Jamie.

I also like the look of Gareth Milasinovitch, who had a good twenty-minute runout.

As a worrying post-script, it transpires later  that, very late in the game, Jackson Wray sustained a fracture to his skull – we all wish him a full and very speedy recovery from a truly nasty injury.

Jonny Browne  

TEAMS

Northampton: 15 Furbank; 14 Sleightholme; 13 Hutchinson; 12 Francis; 11 Skosan; 10 Biggar; 9 Mitchell

1 Waller; 2 Matavesi; 3 Hill; 4 Coles; 5 Ratuniyarawa; 6 Lawes 7 Ludlam (capt); 8 Augustus

Replacements: Fish, Iyogun, Carey, Ribbans, Wood, James, Dingwall, Tuala.

Sarries: 15 Malins; 14 Maitland; 13 Lozowski; 12 Tompkins; 11 Daly; 10 Goode; 9 Van Zyl

1 M Vunipola; 2 George (capt); 3 Beaton 4 Itoje; 5 Isiekwe; 6 McFarland  7 Earl; 8 B Vunipola

Replacements: Woolstencroft, Mawi, Milasinovich, Hunter-Hill, Wray, de Haas, Manu Vunipola, Segun.

Referee: Adam Leal