By Elma Fudd
January 2 2014

After dispatching Bath at the Gardens last time out, Northampton Saints welcome fourth placed Harlequins to Jimmie's End this Friday evening in their first fixture of the New Year. Regular COYSDC message-board contributor, Elma Fudd, looks ahead to what promises to be a fascinating match...

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs. HARLEQUINS

Friday, 3rd January 2014 - 7.45pm (BT Sport)

FRANKLIN'S GARDENS, NORTHAMPTON

MATCH PREVIEW

Well by the time this goes up I expect most of the people reading to be nursing a New Year’s hangover so firstly I’d like to wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Now the pleasantries are out of the way I’ll attempt to provide you all with a preview of Saints' 1st match of 2014 and it promises to be a real cracker. The match that is, not the preview.

We last played our opponents, Harlequins back in September and came away narrow winners, 6-13. On that occasion the torrential rain made for a very scrappy match which prevented any real flowing rugby and provided just a single try from the currently injured James Wilson. On that occasion the big talking points in the press were the match ups between Tom Wood and Chris Robshaw as well as the one between Ben Foden and Mike Brown; there were England shirts and indeed England Captaincy at stake. In the end the Harlequins players were rewarded with the respective England roles.

Unfortunately at least one of those match ups won’t be on show on Friday with the injury to Foden keeping him out for at least a few more months. However, we will hopefully still have the pleasure of seeing two of the hardest working and tackling back row players going at each other and I for one am looking forward to seeing to that contest. This is not the only interesting matchup though, the contest between Ma’afu and Marler promises to be a juicy, fiery one and Alex Waller vs former Saint Doran Jones is going to be interesting too. I could go on about various match ups Care vs Dixon, SMyler vs Evans and so on but of course these are only small conflicts in the larger battle and the overall result will depend on how well the team functions. At the moment I have to say its functioning pretty bloomin’ well with perhaps the major area of concerning being the scrum.

Quins will have seen Bath push our scrum about and that will give them confidence that they can compete and perhaps gain the advantage there, but not if Woody has anything to say about it. The lineouts will also be hotly contested with Daisy and Robson both excellent technicians but I think we should gain a slight advantage there. As usual 8, 9 and 10 is an area of strength for Quins with Easter being the linchpin. The ever dangerous Care will need containing to prevent the free flowing passing that has become synonymous with Harlequins in recent seasons. Nick Evens had a poor outing with the boot in our last encounter but I don’t expect that to happen again, his kicking out of hand and from the tee is normally top drawer and if he’s going well you can bet your bottom dollar Quins will be as well.

So what about us? Well I expect the team to remain pretty much as is from Saturday, but given the short turn around I wouldn’t be surprised if some of Saturdays bench starts with the likes of Ma’afu, Samu and Clarke rotating onto the bench as the all put big shifts in on Saturday and maybe a bit tired. I expect Dicko may start over Fotuali’i although personally I’d stay with the later he was excellent on Saturday and is starting to grow into the side nicely. Hopefully George Pisi only went off with cramp on Saturday and nothing more because his performance highlighted how much we have missed him, both defensively and going forward his handling and offloading is first rate and while I like Dom at the moment he’s not the same class. Burrell should start if only to attack the 10 channel and surely big George North is a nailed on starter given he gave his best performance to date in a Saints shirt at the weekend. Playing in the centre seems to have given him a better understanding of what is expected of our wingers and he went looking for the ball for the first time on Saturday, with Elliott on the other wing we have great threats on the wing and I hope we can make full use of them on Saturday and really stretch the Quins defensive line. Finally, the big question of fullback. I hope we will see the new signing Autagavaia playing maybe from the start although I suspect Ken Pisi will start at fullback Jim could start with the new boy and bench Ken as he can then provide wing and fullback cover but I doubt this is the game he would choose to do that in.

Whoever starts will not weaken the squad and it’s nice to be able to think that given past squad depth worries.

My prediction…it’s going to be a cracking match, and a great night out, who knows we may just be on the right side of the score as well but I feel it will go down to the wire. Safe travels to all the Quins supporters joining us and to all the Saints reading this sing like its 2014!

News: AP: Northampton Saints vs Harlequins - Match Preview

Discussion started by ComeOnYouSaints.com , 02/01/2014 10:29

ComeOnYouSaints.com
02/01/2014 10:29

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Phil.
02/01/2014 10:32

Many thanks for stepping in and doing this article, Elma - great stuff!

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shizlebot
02/01/2014 11:16

Good read Elma

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StBleach
02/01/2014 12:09

Nice job, suitably excited

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St Marlowe
02/01/2014 13:53

Thanks Elma - a good read and, I believe fairly prescient.

David L

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

- Live wrong and preposterously

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Saint Dom in Hanoi
02/01/2014 14:09

A very judicious preview, which whets the appetite nicely.


*I could agree with you - but then we'd both be wrong...*

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ElmaFudd.
02/01/2014 14:14

Apologies for the many typos and auto-corrections. I was trying out a Windows 8.1 Surface 2 tablet for work and did the report in Word 2013.This was one of my main reasons for doing the report, to see how the tablet worked (that and Phil's heartfelt plea of course). It was unbelievably time consuming and the auto correct feature was amazingly persistent and insisted on changing text even when told to ignore the suggestions given.

All in all not a great work experience and I cringe to see some of the typo's above. Sorry Guys, but thanks for the nice comments anyway.

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Phil.
02/01/2014 14:18

The typo's are as much my fault as yours, Elmypops! I should have proof-read it more thoroughly - will go back and amend...

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CraiginWootton
02/01/2014 16:06

Nicely balanced preview, much like the game is likely to be!

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propajob
02/01/2014 20:40

Great read. Thanks.

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ballagher
03/01/2014 00:48

Quote:

Phil.
The typo's are as much my fault as yours, Elmypops! I should have proof-read it more thoroughly - will go back and amend...

Not everyone has the personality to get away with calling someone "Elmypops" but I think you do Phil.

Good preview Elma. Thanks.

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Clarges St
03/01/2014 12:37

BBC reports that the "versatile" Elliott is playing full back.

Great reporting from the BBC as every

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ElmaFudd.
03/01/2014 14:25

Ballagher, Phil has had the dubious pleasure of knowing me for many years, so I doubt the risk of me unleashing my wrath upon him for calling me"Elmypops" holds much in the way of fear for him

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