Northampton Saints
News: CC: Treviso vs Northampton Saints - Match Preview
By HRsaints fan
December 4 2014
It's a return to Europeam competition for Northampton Saints this weekend as they travel to Northern Italy to face Treviso in the Champions Cup. COYSDC contributor, HRsaints fan, takes a look ahead at what to expect on Saturday afternoon...
BENETTON RUGBY TREVISO vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
CC: Saturday, 6th December 2014 - 1pm (UK)
STADIO COMUNALE DI MONIGO, TREVISO
MATCH PREVIEW
The unrelenting action that is professional rugby these days now turns its attention back to the European Rugby Champions Cup, or ERCC for ease. After the excitement (if you can call it that) of the Autumn Internationals those players who were called up by their respective countries now return to their proper homes and begin that rehabilitation of forgetting everything that they have been taught and remembering how to play the Saints way (a far better and more exciting brand of rugby than anything dished up by England these days).
Actually I have decided to email Stuart Lancaster my suggestions for the backs that he should select for the forthcoming Six Nations and then on towards the World Cup. This is on the basis that it seems such a shame that the England forward pack secures all that good ball only for the current England backs to do nothing with it. So I have suggested 15 Foden, 14 Collins, 13 Stephenson, 12 Burrell, 11 Elliot, 10 Myler and 9 Dickson. Biased? Moi?
Turning back to the matters in hand I do recall Jim mentioning a year or so back that it does take time for the international players to rehabilitate themselves into playing club rugby, and he has also hinted in an interview with the Beeb earlier this week that he might not throw them all back into the fray for this coming weekends match. More of that later on. For the moment let’s turn our attention to the build-up to this weekend’s action.
ERCC thus far
Saints travel to Italy for round 3 of the ERCC and the first of the back-to-back games against Treviso.
Saints opener against Racing Metro was an extremely frustrating game for players, coaches and fans alike. Uncharacteristic mistakes were made and yet Saints did claw their way back into the game and could, and probably should, have come away with 2 points or at least 1. To leave empty handed was a bad start to their campaign. However normal service was resumed with an excellent performance at home to Ospreys (at that time the Rabo Direct Pro12 League leaders).
Treviso on the other hand started, with all due respect to them, as one might have expected. They lost at home to Racing 26-10, but they did limit the visitors to two tries. Their away game to Ospreys was a different matter though and they lost heavily 42-7.
Rabo Direct Pro 12 and Aviva Premiership
In terms of league form going into this game Treviso is still rooted at the bottom of the table, having lost eight and drawn one of the nine games played so far. Their home record though is better than their away one, with three losses and one draw and an average points difference of -31. Their last home game was against Leinster on 23 November 2014 and this ended up as a 24-24 draw (although Jimmy Gopporth missed a late drop goal attempt to steal a win, which, on the basis of the reports of the game, would have been very harsh on Treviso). Both sides scored 4 tries, with Treviso going in at half time with a 12-10 lead.
Their next game was away to Cardiff Blues, which they lost 36-25 although scoring 3 tries in the process. So over the last two games Treviso have scored 7 of the 13 tries they have amassed so far this season. However the extent to which the Autumn Internationals affected their opponents in these games is not clear.
Saints league form continues to impress. Despite the numbers of players lost to international call-up and injury, they won 8 out of the 12 points available during the window (I haven’t included the bonus points because they are, well, a bonus). And before anyone quotes the fact that we played London Welsh during this period, I would also mention the little fact of an away game against last season’s League Winners, Saracens. In fact the only slip up in this period was the mysterious first half performance against Exeter, and the puzzling fact that Thomas the Tank engine could seemingly run as fast as Lee Dickson.
So Saints are still top of the Premiership at the conclusion of the autumn international window, having scored a total of 36 tries, 20 home and 16 away. They are also top of the away team league, with 4 wins from 5 games.
History between Treviso and Saints
The last time these two teams met in Italy was way back in December 2009. The Saints team then was Foden, Ashton, Clarke, Downey, Ansbro, Myler, Dickens, Tonga’uiha, Hartley, Murray, Fernandez Lobbe, Kruger, Dowson, Best and Wilson (with Mayor, Geraghty, Mujati and Lawes on the bench) and Saints won narrowly by 21 points to 18 with tries from Dowson, Clarke and Lawes. So only four players of our current squad played in that game. The start of the match was held up by an hour whilst snow was removed from the pitch.
It amazes me that this was exactly 5 years ago as that team is still fresh in my memory. I did get to musing about the what-if’s of the 2009 team playing the 2014 team. I think there would only be one result as our current crop is, arguably, one of the best Saints teams of the professional era. It would be close though (and Dylan, Ben, Stephen and Phil would get ever so confused playing for both sides at the same time!).
The return match with Treviso at Franklins Gardens was a more settled affair with Saints running out 30-18 winners (our involvement ending in a quarter-final at Thomond Park in April the following year but the less said about that the better).
ERCC Round 3
What about this Saturday’s game? Well the weather looks to be okay, with a 20% possibility of rain in the morning, a temperature of 12 ̊ and 0cm of snow forecast. As Mrs HR Saints Fan and I are travelling to our first away game outside of the UK, I am glad that the weather points favourably towards running rugby and that I can leave my long johns at home.
In terms of the teams I think it likely that Treviso will turn out the same team that faced Leinster at home a couple of weeks ago. This would be:-
15 Hayward
14 Pratichetti
13 Bacchin
12 Christie
11 Nitoglia
10 Carlisle
9 Lucchese
1 Zanusso
2 Giazzon
3 Harden
4 Vallejos-Cinalli
5 Van Zyl (capt)
6 Barbini
7 Budd
8 Luamanu
As for Saints this is a bit harder to predict mainly due to Jim’s historical and recent comments regarding the international returnees, and the fact that those who played for Saints during the International Window have probably done enough to warrant a place. Nevertheless first and foremost Saints will want to, and indeed must, win this game.
As for injuries, although coming back to the club following his collision with fellow Welshman Alun Wyn-Jones in the game against the All Blacks, George North was given some time off by Saints and Jim has stated that he is hopeful that the Welsh winger will be available for selection. I am not sure of the status of James Craig though, nor whether Stephen Myler is 100% fit.
The selection choices before Jim and the coaching team are ones that give us the fans a great deal of confidence. Gone are the days when we looked at the substitute’s bench and bit our nails as the inevitable changes were ringed around the 60 minute mark. I think that Jim will mix and match his returning England internationals and to that end I would think that Courtney may start on the bench as he started all four of England’s games. Dylan and Tom didn’t start against Samoa, although both put in a big shift against Australia. In terms of the backs I think that Ken Pisi will start on one wing (with hopefully George on the other) with the only other change possibly being at outside centre. Although I am a big fan of Tom Stephenson (and his dad sits beside me in the Churches Stand) I think that Tom will drop to the bench and that Jim may play the ever reliable and consistent James Wilson at 13 (as he did for the Ospreys game to great effect).
If James Craig is injured, and I sincerely hope he is not because if ever a young man deserved some good luck it is him, then I think that Manoa may move to 4 (although not his best position in my humble opinion) with Sam Dickinson coming into at 8, although this could be the other way around!!
So my Saints team for this Saturday is (subject to all of the above caveats):-
15 Foden
14 Pisi
13 Wilson
12 Burrell
11 North
10 Myler
9 Dickson
1 A Waller
2 Haywood
3 Ma’afu
4 Craig
5 Day
6 Clark
7 Wood
8 Manoa
That would make a bench of Waller (E), Hartley, Denman, Lawes, Fotauli’l, Stephenson, Elliot and Dickinson. I know that means leaving out Dowson but our strength in depth makes this guessing game really difficult!
And the result – well nothing less than a win will do. But I would urge us all to have patience, whether we are there in person or watching on the box. No team, whether they are top of their league or bottom, likes to lose at home. So although Saints have demonstrated that they can come out of the blocks this season like Usain Bolt, I think the more likely performance is a steady, but relentless, wearing down of the opposition pack, with the dreaded sight for the Treviso team of Lawes, Hartley, Fotauli’I and co. coming wading into the fray at around the hour mark.
I anticipate that Treviso might have quite good possession of the ball during the first half, but the Saints defence these days is a thing of organised beauty, and is still the meanest in the Aviva Premiership (15 tries conceded alongside Quins) and the third lowest in the ERCC (2 tries conceded). Wolfpack? Who needs one when we have got our lot on the park.
So being cautiously confident, there might be the possibility (and we must not take it for granted) of a try bonus point coming towards the end of the game.
I hope that I will have the opportunity of meeting a few of the regular posters on this site on my visit to Treviso, especially having read the “Mama Mia! roll call for Treviso” post. The missus and I are flying out on Thursday and staying in Venice until Monday (well obviously we are getting the train to Treviso on Saturday!). Safe travelling to all, and for those that are lucky enough to have access to a Sky Red button, I hope you enjoy the game.
Come on you Saints!
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Stumbleupon04/12/2014 11:53
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David, I couldn't get the current table formatted correctly into the article so I've adjusted the first part of the piece slightly. Sorry!
Saint 'til I die
COYS!
David L
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- Live wrong and preposterously
Enjoy your trip. I'm not jealous at all. European rugby and Venice. Rugby and travel heaven!
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