By Jonathan Stockham
January 12 2013

Northampton Saints squeezed out a victory against Castres Olympique at home last night to keep their slender hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of The Heineken Cup hanging by a thread but having failed to bag a try bonus point, entry into the Amlin looks a more likely outcome. The arrival of Alex King as attack coach cannot come soon enough.

ERC Heineken Cup – Pool 4

 Round 5, 11 January 2013
 Franklins Gardens

 Northampton Saints 18, Castres Olympique 12

By Jonathan Stockham

I’m not sure what Jim Mallinder’s game plan was before kick-off but after 60 minutes the aim was simply to win and any hope of a bonus point try fest was abandoned. Castres defended solidly all night and whilst their feared domination of the set scrum failed to materialise, Saints failed to make anything of real substance from penalties awarded against the visitors pack.

Saints started brightly, with Courtney Lawes galloping about like a mad giraffe, felling Castres players in midfield one minute, stealing opposition line outs the next. His soaring catch of a restart kick was awesome. The watching England coaches would have been impressed, although Lawes faded out of the game as the second half wore on. Match fitness will return though.

Calum Clark reinforced his selection by England with a solid performance, particularly at the breakdown, although I’m afraid that Lee Dickson won’t have moved up the national pecking order ahead of Ben Youngs and Danny Care.

The big question, in my mind at least, is about our attack tactics last night. If we were aiming to keep the ball in hand and try to score at least 4 tries, why on earth did we kick so much ball away? Why was Myler, presumably under instructions, standing so deep so that we hardly ever got over the gain line and through the Castres defence?

At one stage after half time, with Saints attacking their favourite South Stand, the home side went through numerous phases attacking the visitor’s 10 metre line. Many passes, much recycling, absolutely no forward progress and eventually ball turned over! Very frustrating.

Saints even failed to take real advantage when Castres were down to 14 men with prop Peikrishvili in the sin bin for a professional foul in the red zone.

 s a passionate Saints fan I hate to say it but we lacked ambition and execution last night and it cannot carry on like this. OK, we won, against a side sitting 4^th in the French Top 14 League but it was one of the least absorbing encounters many of us can have witnessed at The Gardens. The silence at no side, mirroring the failure of the fabled 16^th Man to turn up for much of the game, reflected the crowd’s view of events.

We did get close to a try on one occasion with Dylan being held up on the line but Saints then lost the ball, failing to take advantage of the territory gained.

It wasn’t helped by the whistler. Penalties at nearly every scrum, as well as at the breakdown, seemed to be the order of the night for referee George Clancy who whistled for every little mistake or perceived infringement without much consistency. Players of both sides and the watching crowd were less than enamoured.

Fortunately, the ref awarded Saints enough penalties in kicking range for Myler and then Lamb to accrue 18 points and, as time and incontinent/bored Saints fans made for the exit, it seemed that Castres had been denied a losing bonus point, which could have been crucial in this tight pool.

However, it was not be, as Saints gave away possession at a ruck in their half when Roberts flapped his arms at the ref claiming some skulduggery preventing the ball coming out. Several seconds passed, more flapping, ref saying nothing until he decided that the ball should be turned over to Castres and the scrum awarded to the visitors. Saints penalised for poor binding and Kockott slotted the kick to get Castres that losing bonus point. Ho hum!

Castres are at home next week in the final pool round against Ulster who have already qualified after beating Glasgow last night, but the Irish side say they are still fully focussed on victory to ensure a home quarter final, so a French victory seems unlikely. We should take second place in the pool if we beat Glasgow, as we should on form and against a side with nothing to play for in this years Cup.

Why should I be a tad despondent after a win? Simple, ambition. I want Saints to be the best rugby team in Europe. Last night showed we have a long way to go yet. Much hard work needed by the squad and much support required on a consistent, loud and passionate basis from the fans, especially when the chips are down. Go to a Gloucester match if that last comment doesn’t make sense.

WHY NOT US?

Because……

Teams:

Northampton Saints: Foden; Wilson, G Pisi, Waldouck, Elliott; Myler, Dickson; Tonga'uiha, Hartley, Doran-Jones, Manoa, Lawes, Clark, Wood, Dowson, Van Velze.

Replacements: May for Waldouck (62), Lamb for Myler (56), Roberts for Dickson (62), A. Waller for Tonga'uiha (65), Mercey for Doran-Jones (56), van Velze for Dowson (56), Sorenson for Van Velze (75).

Not Used: Haywood.

Castres Olympique: Dulin; Evans, Cabannes, Lamerat, Garvey; Kirkpatrick, Kockott; Taumoepeau, Bonello, Peikrishvili, Samson, Tekori, Bornman, Caballero, Classen.

Replacements: Sanchou for Cabannes (71), Bonnefond for Lamerat (66), Bernard for Kirkpatrick (73), Marmotion for Taumoepeau (62), Mach for Bonello (52), Rolland for Samson (71), Wannenburg for Classen (65).

Not Used: Forestier.

Jim and Courtney say....