By Jonathan Stockham
March 31 2013

Northampton Saints welcomed Leicester Tigers and their travelling support to a raucous welcome at Franklins Gardens with fireworks before kick-off and wished them Bon Voyage back up the A50 with a bonus point victory in the bag for the visitors and a humbling reminder of our current status as a borderline top four premiership side.

Aviva Premiership – Round 19

Saturday 30 March 2013, Franklins Gardens

Northampton Saints 8, Gloucester 36

Attendance: Cold and Home Early

By Jonathan Stockham

And what a welcome it was with fireworks exploding as Saints ran on to the pitch amid smoke, banner wavers and Oh Wendy from the faithful. The cunning plan of having one of the firework launch boxes literally blow itself to bits only feet from Manu Tuilagi failed to deter the England centre. If anything, quite the opposite!

Tigers demonstrated their credentials as a top English side in all areas of the game yesterday. Saints tried hard and no player went hiding but Tigers looked quicker, stronger and dare one say it, a bit fitter than Saints. Saints had parity in the scrum but never really presented a serious challenge at the line out. When the home side did occasionally use the rolling maul, such a potent weapon the week before at Wasps, Tigers had the plan to stop it in its tracks.

Rant mode on: Saints tactical kicking was poor. Stephen Myler had one of his less productive days in the office and wherever he sent the ball from the boot, usually not into touch, it was straight down the throat of a Tiger looking to set up a counter attack. His passing from hand was ragged as well in the first half. Restarts were also infuriating; either kicked too long or, when short, Tigers would usually win the ball and put Saints on the back foot immediately.

Saints normally split their forwards either side of the pitch for the restart but the kick always went to the same side with the result that Tigers were ready in numbers and half our pack then needed to gallop from the other side of the pitch to switch into defence mode. Rant mode off.

Tigers scored 4 tries, all in the second half playing up the slope after building a 3-12 lead through penalty kicks in the first 40. The tries came from Morris, Tait and Tuilagi who bagged a pair, the first coming after a restart kick went too far, Saints failed to collect a return up and under, Tigers went through the phases and the try was squeezed in at the left hand corner. His second came 20 minutes later as Waldron and Slater battered the Saints defence and Tuilagi took the ball at pace in midfield to run through a despairing Tom May tackle to score.

Morris and Tait added theirs in the 32^nd and 37^th minutes as a rout looked a distinct possibility. Fortunately time ran out before Saints became seriously embarrassed.

Saints had earlier narrowed the gap with a try by Myler after quick line out ball and a sprint to the right corner by Ben Foden. The move looked to have died inches short but James Wilson was in support to recycle and the ball popped out for Myler to nip over for Saints only try of the day. Unfortunately, the conversion narrowly missed.

Saints got themselves into the red zone more often than this one opportunity but the killer punch is stall lacking and against a defence as stalwart as Tigers’ frustration is the most likely outcome. Conversely, Tigers were able to step up a gear when attacking and had clear intent going forward. Their patience on the ball was impressive. The power of their running (Tom Croft being an excellent example) and the added value brought by substitutions showed  the difference in class compared to the home team.

One can moan at some of the refereeing decisions but just as we were perfectly happy with David Rose’s officiating the previous week at Wasps in contrast to the home fans, we can only really admit that yesterday we were given a bit of a lesson by our East Midlands neighbours in all areas of the game plan, coaching and ability on the pitch.

In a post-match interview, Tiger’s coach Richard Cockerill said,

"It was a massive game for both sides, we wanted to meet fire with fire at the scrum and lineout, keep them on the back foot, and be as positive as we could be. If you can stop Saints at set-piece they struggle to get rhythm into their game and that was the case.

"We spent all Tuesday morning brawling against each other doing lineout drive defence and I think the turning point was when they didn't score from those lineout drives in the second half, psychologically they were done for then. If you stop that it takes a big part of Saints' game away."

Which rather sums it all up with brutal honesty for Saints fans…….

Teams:

Northampton Saints: Foden, Wilson, G. Pisi, May, Elliott, Myler, Dickson, Tonga'uiha, Hartley, Mercey, Lawes, C. Day, Manoa, Dowson, Wood.

Subs: Burrell for May (62), Lamb for Myler (73), Roberts for Dickson (66), A. Waller for Tonga'uiha (59), McMillian for Hartley (75), Mujati for Mercey (47), Nutley for Manoa (72), van Velze for Dowson (55).

Leicester Tigers: Tait, Morris, Tuilagi, Allen, Thompstone, Flood, B. Youngs, Ayerza, T. Youngs, Cole, Slater, Parling, Croft, Salvi, Crane.

Subs: Smith for Allen (72), Ford for Flood (72), Harrison for B. Youngs (76), Mulipola for Ayerza (62), Hawkins for T. Youngs (37), Castrogiovanni for Cole (62), Kitchener for Parling (67), Waldrom for Crane (59).

Stunned Reaction to Embarrasing performance