By Simon Robinson
September 25 2005

Saints lost out in a battle at Gloucester 24 - 28. The talk of the match was all about sin bins, scrums and front rows, but I'll delicately gloss over that particular area for the moment (better folk than me have already commented) and talk about the action.

 

Saints made the first dent on the scoreboard, Steve Thompson taking a pass from Carlos Spencer after a break from a quick lineout. Bruce converted to put the lead at 7 - 0 after 12 minutes.

Gloucester then spent a period in strenuous defence, during which time full back Rob Thirlby was sent to the bin. Bruce missed the resulting penalty, but Gloucester levelled the scores two minutes later with a quick penalty from scrum half Peter Richards, with Ludovic Mercier converting.

A Gloucester penalty, again kicked by Mercier, put the hosts 7 - 10 up, scoring ten points whilst a player down. A second Mercier penalty just after the half hour mark extended the lead to 7 - 13.

Jon Clarke intercepted a loose midfield pass from Gloucester and ran in Saints' second try of the day. Bruce slotted the simple conversion to swing the game back towards the visitors, 14 - 13.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Academy hooker Dylan Hartley was then the first Saintsman to leave the field, sinbinned on 38 minutes. Again the team deficient of players scored, Spencer opening up the Gloucester defence for Damien Browne to barge over after a short period camped on their line.

Bruce again converted to leave the half time score 21 - 13.

 

 

 

 

 

Just before the break, Dan Richmond had entered the game (replacing Mark Easter) to cover for Hartley. His involvement in the game was short-lived, first Tom Smith and then Richmond were binned for dragging down a Gloucester lineout close to the Saints line. The next scrum, on 57 minutes, was where the problems arose.

Brett Sturgess came on for Easter. We therefore had two props on the pitch. Steve Thompson was declared unfit for front row duty. Hartley was apparently replaced due to injury. The only other front rows were sinbinned. So along came our old friend, the uncontested scrum.

Those who call Saints cheats would be well to note that, during the next ten minutes, Saints conceded 14 points from two tries - the first from the above scrum. Jake Boer broke through 13 man Saints (no, not St Helens), and, with Mercier missing the wide out conversion, left Gloucester three points down, 21 - 18.

An intercept from James Simpson-Daniel on 66 minutes, converted by Mercier, put the Tractor boys four points up. In between the two front rows returning from the bin, Steve Thompson took their place.

An exchange of penalties late on in the match left the final score 24 - 28. All in all, a much better Saints performance than of late. The team seem to be on the same pitch at the same time, able to string more than three passes together. The lineout worked a lot better late on when switched to a four-man setup (oh dear, Dad's got something right - he's been bleating about that for ages!).

Depending on how Saints come out of the inevitable citings from this match, all looks well for the return to Sixways for the Powergen Cup. The introduction of new blood in Sam Harding and Colin Noon may help to strengthen the flagging pack, and if the backs can keep firing well then we may be on for a few more wins in the league.