By SAINT_aitch
January 20 2013

What is it about Saints? What is that 'X' factor that seems to elude us at certain parts of the season? Is it the fitness levels of the lads? Maybe The Hood isn't doing as good a job with their conditioning as we think he is. Whatever it is, there is little more frustrating than getting up at stupid o clock in the morning, being let down by the rail service, having to make expensive changes to an already long trip only to see your team lose what, before today, had been a "will we get the bonus point win?" game not a 'will we win?' game.

GLASGOW WARRIORS vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

Heineken Cup: Saturday, 19th^th January 2013. 13:30 k.o

SCOTSTOUN

MATCH REPORT

Saints went to Scotstoun needing a bonus point win against Glasgow if they were to maintain any ambitions in this seasons Heineken cup but with the exception of a bright start and first twenty minutes of the match, when all the pressure led the passionate saintly horde to believe that the lads were not only up for this game but showing all the signs of a team possessed by the Heineken cup fever, they never looked hungry enough to make the killer blow and finish off a mediocre Glasgow warriors team who had already lost any hope of progression in Europe so this match should have been the proverbial 'dead rubber' shouldn't it?

Glasgow kicked off and the first couple of minutes went their way as they chased up and applied enough pressure on Saints to win a penalty just outside the Saints 22. 3-0 with less than one minute on the board but from the restart all action was in Glasgow’s 22 and it was encouraging signs for Saints fans as it looked we were the better team.

Glasgow, when they got the ball, made good use of it with some flowing rugby looking for holes in the Saints defence, but without the killer instinct to finish any of their moves off and with some pretty solid defending from Saints.

Eleven minutes on the clock and Warriors get another penalty which they capitalize on and Saints are now 6-0 down. Myler does manage to get 3 points on the board a few minutes later and the worry is that this may just turn into a competition between the two 10’s but then a well worked set of passes lead to Jamie Elliott dotting down in the corner furthest from me but the TMO judges that Jamie’s foot was in touch and Glasgow take the line out.

All the action stays in Glasgow’s half of the pitch but there is a worry that Glasgow will get an intercept ball or similar and take an undeserved lead.

The second 20 minutes of the first half had Glasgow finding their feet slightly and starting to put some pressure on Saints back line although I think they were helped somewhat from today’s referee who appeared to not ping the home team for laying across the ball.

Glasgow though, are taking whatever chances come their way and sure enough a couple of interceptions are thankfully not successful and Saints forwards maintain the pressure on Glasgow’s defence.

The first try of the game came on 30 minutes, scored by Dom Waldouck under the posts and converted by Myler. The ref still needed the TMO to confirm, but when he did the score was 6:10 to Saints. This fuelled warriors up though and over the next few minutes started to play some good rugby getting close to scoring a try but Saints defence held for the remainder of the half.

Calum Clark was then hurt in a tackle just before half time and was replaced by Mark Sorenson and it will be a shame to see Clark out for what looked like a shoulder injury. The Saints pack were on top especially in the line outs and just about in the scrums but Warriors back line were the better of the two sets and consistently pressurizing Saints back line.

Half time 6:10

The Saints fans around me were hoping that all the action would be down our end of the pitch in the second half, seated on Warriors 5 metre line as we were and with the vast majority of the action in the first half being at the other end of the pitch, alas it was not to be and unfortunately Glasgow had learnt from the hammering they took early in the first half and were not about to allow Saints the run of the green they had in the first half.

Despite the first few minutes of play in the second half being in Warriors half of the pitch, It took them less than seven minutes to score a try from a good push through, with a successful conversion the score was 13:10 and Saints needed to get back on top of this game.

Both teams then showed frailties with their handling and basic skills in open play with scrums going against the head, line outs being lost, some knock-on’s and even penalties not finding touch as Saints and Warriors tried to get the better of each other but it was beginning to look as though something very special was needed if Saints were to get the result they needed here.

Substitutions were starting to be made now, and still no break through was evident from Saints although Lamb (on for Myler) did seem to add that extra something to the game that eventually led to a try for George Pisi at 60 minutes 13:15 with two more tries needed if we were to progress.

Saints fresh pack were winning the battle of the forwards now and with a simple penalty missed by Warriors, the possibility of a win here looked more likely, but we needed to keep our cool and play the game carefully. Alas, it was not to be and before we knew it an interception from a Ben Foden pass went into the arms of the flying Matawalu to give Warriors a lead 20:15 with 13 minutes left on the clock.

It dis appear that Saints were starting to try a few new ideas now, they had nothing to lose by doing it and needed to get a couple of tries back. One try came from Ben Foden on 71 minutes but the conversion was missed and the scores were level at 20 points apiece. Saints had 8 minutes in which to throw the kitchen sink at Warriors and do whatever was necessary to get the ball over the white wash once more.

Saints really made every effort to push Warriors back but some silly mistakes meant that we could not keep hold of the ball long enough to do anything with it and with 2 minutes left on the clock we had the territory and possession until Alex Waller was sent off with just 30 seconds left on the clock. This gave the home team the push they needed to turn this game around and from a line out in their 22, Warriors passed the ball out well running through and scoring the killer try to keep Saints out of the Heineken cup for this season.

Final score Glasgow 27:20 Northampton

Back to the Premiership then.