Northampton Saints
News: Take that, Quins
By Wilma Thompson
November 11 2012
A damp, dismal morning turned into a crisp bright afternoon for the 1pm kick off in the Saints –v- Quins LV Cup game. A minute’s applause in memory of former Saints player, Nigel Fox who passed away during the week was replaced some 5 minutes later with a minute’s silence following our traditional laying of wreaths at Franklins Gardens very own War Memorial. It’s always a poignant ceremony heightened by the emotional rendition that Uncle Geoff gives.
LV= Cup
Northampton Saints v Harlequins
Saturday 10th November KO 1pm
Hankies firmly placed back into pockets, little did we know we would need them many times in the 90 minutes that followed.
Quins got the match underway with the kick off and Lamb took the first points with a well aimed penalty kick. It only took 6 minutes for the medics to be called on to the pitch to attend to Calum Clark. He had evidently put his head somewhere that a head should never go and the resulting claret needed to be taken care of. This was to be the way Calum played his game all day – never on the back foot and leading by example. It’s a revelation for Saints to have him back on the pitch.
The next 30 minutes was to be a real horror show, however, where poorly executed throws by Saints in open play were intercepted/picked up/read like they were telegraphed and Quins ran in 3 easily converted tries, two by Smith and one by Sloan. This was only punctuated with one converted kick at the sticks by Lamb to give a hideous score of 6 – 21.
To be fair, Saints scrum had been fully dominant throughout the half, winning various penalties for not binding, collapsing the scrum etc. Rhys Oakley ably filled the lock position and emulated the two missing locks/back row players, Manoa and Lawes by making some massive tackles that drew ooohs and aaaahs from the FG faithful.
With time up, a penalty to Saints in front of the sticks was converted and the half time score read 9 – 21. A quick visit to the South Stand refreshment area and comments overheard from fellow supporters were one sided. “I would be better at home watching paint dry” probably the more printable one out of the lot.
By the look of it, Lamb was told to stop the long cut out passes in the second half and keep it tight. He also had some wonderful kicks out of hand to find touch deep into the opposition half. Lamb also converted another penalty off the back of a scrum and from the resulting restart, Elliot broke free and with lovely hands between Elliot, May and Burrell the latter slid over - ooooh must have been all of 30 metres - to get Saints 1st try of the game, albeit unconverted. The conversion was missed but you would have struggled to get a fag paper between the ball and the upright.
Penalties were traded with Quins next on the scoreboard with a 3 point penalty for May taking the man out off the ball then Saints because Quins were messing about getting down at the scrum. Whilst Day was down injured (hope it’s not too serious), Burrell put May over in the corner for a converted try. Who would have thought it at half time – 24 all, with 20 minutes to play.
Then, the most shocking thing I have ever witnessed at FG – Churches started an “Oh Wendy” and it carried into the South Stand almost making it to Tetleys but not quite.........
A converted penalty and drop goal to Saints straddled the decision that Roberts had been held up over the line. Perhaps Saints could do this. Silly girl – of course they can’t. To do that they have to be able to close out a game. Whatever made you think this could be achieved today? Saints gave the ball right back to Quins with 3 minutes to go.
All afternoon, the Ref (who I thought had a good game on the whole) had been penalising Quins for various infringements a the scrum. He had spoken to Wallace on more than one occasion but failed to flash a yellow card. Young Ethan Waller, making his 1st team debut, infringed in the last two minutes and was sent packing to the sin bin. The resulting gap in the defence allowed Botica to score under the sticks leaving an easy conversion. 30 – 31 was the final score.
Quins for their part, played some fast, entertaining, running rugby. You can see the quality of their 1st team filtering down into their 2nd XV.
And the title of this piece – Take That, Quins? Well, that’s exactly what we should have said to them at the start of the game. Come on Quins, you can take that game from us cos we are quite willing to give it to you.
Jim Mallinder says:
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon11/11/2012 08:23
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.
Dryathlon
*I could agree with you - but then we'd both be wrong...*
The said chorus dragged itself along the south stand but rather withered on the vine as it ran out of puff turning left at the far corner as it made its way towards its big brother in block C.
Still full marks for trying, and it`s nothing half an hour with Gareth Malone wouldn`t put right.
I wonder if said Gareth can orchestrate back lines to play with the same passion and precision we see in his choirs. If so there may be a career fopr him dwon here at FG
More Northampton Saints headlines
- End of season how the squad was used analysis
- This weeks rugby 1st - 5th July
- Weekend Rugby 27th/28th June
- Weekend Rugby 19th - 20th June 2026
- Weekend Rugby 12th - 14th June 2026
- Weekend Rugby 5th - 7th June 2026
- Weekend Rugby 29th - 31st May 20206
- Weekend Rugby 22nd - 23rd May 2026
- Weekend Rugby 15th - 17th May 2026