By Jon_r43
February 17 2015

So it’s the Tuesday afternoon after the Saints game and I’m sat here with a blank piece of paper (I forgot the notes!!) and have the super 15 from this weekend on the TV in front of me. As I’m about to start watching the Hurricanes and then the Chiefs games I may be a bit distracted as I write. In the first game I will be keeping an eye on Ben Franks and in the second watching out for our new Head Coach and who knows maybe a player or two as well.

Turning the clock back to Friday night I recall leaving home at about 3pm to be sure that we beat the traffic and then heading out along the M4 and eventually up the M40 with the plan of cutting across country to get to Franklin’s Gardens. As we neared the A43 Junction the Sat Nav updated to add 40 minutes delay around Silverstone which caused minor panic in the car…. (My wife thinks we are late if we are not there 90 minutes before kick off,) so arriving in the ground we all headed to different queues to grab food before agreeing to meet on the terrace (£37 per person!) I nipped round to the main stand to speak to BBC Northampton’s Graham McKecknie (Still seems strange to say that) and while over there was offered some free seats in the stand so after a few hurried phone calls we meet in front of the main stand to watch the warm up and eventually took our seats…

A quick look around and we realised we were not going to have access to the TMO reviews (or not reviews) that would be a vital part of the game. The teams ran out onto the pitch and the game started. 

The first half was a series of missed chances mainly by Saints and had they been more clinical we would have been well out of the game before half time. A couple of incidents stick in the memory - one happened right in front of us and one on the far touchline… The one nearest to us involved a kick through from Saints with the ball missed by Shane chasing back, the ball took a bad bounce and was collected by one of the Saints players, it spilled forwards and across the line and was grounded by one of the other Saints players. Mr Small and his helpers were well behind play so ordered a TMO review… despite the fact that we could all see a huge knock on, it seemed to take an age for the review before a scrum was called with LI feed. The second move led to a Saints try with one of the Pisi brothers chasing through a pass to dot down in the corner, again this was reviewed and having seen the highlights on Sunday evening I can see why as it was an impressive dot down just before the ball and player left the field of play. 

The half ended at 7-3 to Saints and when reflecting on the game we were pleased in our corner of the ground that we were still in the game. The Saints supporters around the ground seemed frustrated not just because they had just seen Ma’afu carded along with Court (Ma’afu for holding, Court for kicking out when eventually released.) but because we were playing a game that wasn’t suiting their running game plan and they were making silly errors. On reflection we were keeping it tight with bits of pieces of attempted flair (which frustrated Dan as we seemed to be making mistakes when we tried it.)

The second half started and we were quickly under pressure again Leo Halavatu was brought on for a scrum to replace Court with Conor Gilsenan making way. Near the end of the sin binning there was a comical incident that apparently cost Richard Palframan the chance of taking part in the game. About 9 minutes 50 seconds into the sin binning Halani went down and also had to be taken off. Palf ran from behind our in goal area and took his place on the pitch. As the scrum started to get ready to restart the game, Court was allowed to return and Palf left the field. Apparently this constituted a substitution for Palf despite the game not taking place while he was on the pitch which meant that we could only bring him on if we got another injury, which didn’t happen.

Shortly after returning to 15 Irish came under more pressure and Tom Guest was also carded (Leaving Tom Fowlie as the only Tom in our 23 not to get a yellow!) Saints took advantage of the period to score another try with Dickinson collapsing to the ground as the ball was carried over the line. Myler missed the kick to open the gap to 12-3…

I’ve seen Irish sides drift out of games from this kind of situation but not this time. Eamonn was taken off with Fowlie moving to the centres and Alex Lewington taking the wing space. The move seemed to increase the pressure we were able to put on

During the second half it seemed that Shane was being targeted by Saints - the TMO reviewed one high tackle but within minutes Shane was face down again with suggestions of a late hit on a kick through. Mr Small was asked to have a look at this one but declined.

Irish remained in the game with Shane kicking 2 penalties to one by Myler, leaving the score heading into the final few minutes 15-9. We were suddenly in with a chance of stealing a game we probably didn’t expect to win with pressure from the Irish pack on the Saints line, Mr Small declined to use his cards as a few penalties were given. Irish had a final drive towards the line with the ball spilling from George Skivington’s hand.. Mr Small blew his whistle and awarded a knock on to Saints as David Paice gathered and dived over. After the game talking to our coaching team there was a feeling that the ball had gone forwards but having seen the replay on ITV’s highlights programme I think Mr Small probably is now wishing he let the play go and had a look at the footage, the ball to my mind spilled out backwards and therefore the pick up was fine and a try should have been awarded but after the whistle had gone there was no real chance of a review.

Would I have taken a losing bonus point before the game, probably… Was I happy with a losing bonus after the game, yes,,,, but looking at it we probably should have taken the lead with 5 minutes on the clock again!! I did a parkrun in Northampton http://www.parkrun.org.uk/northampton/ on Saturday (my other obsession (74 completed now!)) and ran most of the 5k hanging on to the tail of another runner who was wearing a Saints hat. Chasing this supporter reminded me of the team’s performance during the game. I couldn’t quite get on terms with him (although at one point nearly did) but hung on all the way around pushing me to a reasonable time. Ideally I would have liked to have had a finish left to take him but it wasn’t to be, a bit like this week’s game we could have been blown away by half time but the game plan was adapted and we nearly got all 4 points but actually didn’t quite make it.

Having watched some more super 15 while writing this and reflecting on Bob’s meeting with season ticket holders last week, one has to be hopeful that we are moving in the right direction but next season won’t be easy as it seems many sides are strengthening but with everything going on at Irish at the moment including at least weekly announcements of players coming in things have to be positive for the future.