By jimbo800
September 29 2022

Whilst aspects of the game have been covered in another post, this game brought about a lot of other thoughts for me. I’d imagine, like a lot of people, I was very confident going into the Saints game off the back of a very good showing against Quins where we certainly didn’t have it all our own way. Saints had some familiar names, but compared to years gone by, these types of fixtures bring about their own excitement, not the dread I used to get reading the updates from A League games where we were always awful. I was confident we could handle the experience that Saints had brought a long.

I was upstairs in one of the bars before the game and as we got closer to kick off, more and more squad players were walking past to take their seats. It got to the point where it became obvious that a good 90% of the squad were in attendance, more than I’d ever seen from the guys who weren’t playing. It was a hell of a showing from a big group who were all sat together in their Irish jackets. The chat and hugging and laughing that went on ibetween them and their partners highlighted what had probably long been missing in years gone by, this group are a tight group and they are fully invested in the entire squad. Loads of shouting from them for lads who never play first team.

Game time! From the off, you couldn’t shy away from the fact the Saints pack were substantially bigger than our lads. Even with that, the first 15 minutes were all Irish, plenty of penalties going our way. Problem was, we made no ground in contact and spent a lot of time going backwards only to eventually cough it up. Maybe we got out our half once or twice, the best run being from Tarek who was as lively as the week before, but he was tackled in that typically awkward manner where people winced as it happened, he was dragged back and got his legs trapped just in sight of the try line. That was the only bright spark, quickly diminished when he stayed down. Atkins was already off at this stage, another lad who has shone in this cup format, he’s bigger than I thought and certainly has no issues with carrying, he did well managing the ball at the back of a scrum under huge pressure. Two fellas down and a score down. As soon as Saints set up their first maul, it was try time, quickly followed by another and another. I would usually have plenty of suggestions when this happens in Saturday Games, but all I could say to my dad was that there is nothing we could change, we played well but couldn’t match them physically.

Half time chat was bleak, I wasn’t even sure we’d get a score such was the dominance Saints had at collision time and the breakdown. I had no complaints about effort, the best I could hope for was no more injuries and not get nilled. Saints probably dropped off a little in the opening minutes of the second half, I’d imagine very confident of adding to their tally. We stared to gather momentum and more importantly what we lacked in the first half, TERRITORY! Phases went by, we gained yards, and we eventually got our rewards. Our second row trialist having the muscle to bundle over, 19-7 was a lot more respectable, we weren’t going to get nilled. I think this gave the boys a lift and we built on it. Another score came and suddenly we got that familiar feeling we get at GCS, the comeback is on. We messed up an exit after turning the ball over on our line, only to gift it back to saints who needed no second invitation. Two score game again, was there enough time? The guys picked themselves up and got back to business. Time was ticking but we got another try with enough time left to find the winner. Saints took a shot at the posts which was probably more of time wasting exercise than anything with three minutes to go. It was short and we ran from under the posts. We box kicked and won back the ball with a minute to go, ref was back on side again, Atkins sent it down field and we built from the lineout which had steadied itself after some very poor execution. A few phases gone and Jennings cross field kicks it and it’s too long, game over!

……seems like no one around me heard the penalty call and subsequent advantage. Not over, into the corner. Safe gather, maul gets going, Saints do their best to disrupt, it’s all over the place but we manage to steady it and steam towards the line. Ref takes one look and heads for the posts!!!! All the players in the stand are going mad! Huge noise from what was a small attendance. Of all the comebacks, this one felt very special. I was so pleased for the young lads and fringe players who did the club proud.

My hot takes (brief, my hands are tired of typing)

- we have some fantastic young forwards who do not take a backwards step against bigger and more experienced lads. Izzy is very small for a forward but he carried and defended like he was the biggest guy on the field. Vajner has come from nowhere and it now a recognised name who carried himself very well in high pressure games. The second row trialst (name escapes me, was very good again, rarely do you see a second row get scores, never mind two). Cooke is a great lad in the squad, if he was bigger he’d be in the starting line up at the weekend. He puts in captains performance every time. Munya was busier this time, good in the lineout, hes still absent far too much and doesn’t seem to be all that aware of rugby situations (o Sullivan charge down, munya was there was stood idly instead of putting himself in the way, I blame o Sullivan for that as well). O Sullivan was fine, but again he lacks game awareness. Spends far too much time with his hands in the air looking for calls from the ref instead of playing the ball that’s available, a more experienced ref may have penalised the incessant chat. He never sets himself properly for box kicks, he’s slow doing it and rarely puts guards in the way, very lucky not to get charged down in our 22. Shout out to the academy scrum half who debuted, did just fine.

Special shout out to Potter, he is so composed in attack and defence. Put in huge hit on Grayson to stop a break out. Even when were getting hammered, you felt he may conjure something. Rightly the man of the match, huge honour given how little the backs were actually involved in the game. Give him a contract, he’s too good to let someone else snap him up. Parton was there but didn’t look like he was chatting much (not suggesting it means anything, just seemed quieter than the others). The reality is he’s seeing every other 15 in the squad play well and he’s in his last year of contract. My gut tells me he’s off. Apparently sarries are talking to him. Given the rise of Arundell and the availability of stokes, cinti, potter, and Rowe back next season, I can’t see Irish offering a deal to equal the one he’s on, he just hasn’t played enough. Would like to keep our lads together but it’s not the panic stations situation it would have been 12 months ago. He’s been very unlucky with injuries and the fact is, it’s been so long since we’ve seen the best of him, the team has got to the stage where he has a huge fight to get a starting spot back. I guess we’ll see.

Great showing for the future, young lads all happy to wear the shirt and put everything in when the whistle goes! Please let’s beat Bath.