[RinTin]

Sale Sharks Starting XV:  
15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom O’Flaherty, 13. Rob du Preez ©, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Arron Reed, 10. Tom Curtis, 9. Gus Warr, 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Josh Beaumont, 6. Ernst van Rhyn, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. JL du Preez.  

Replacements:  
Agustin Creevy, Ross Harrison, Si McIntyre, James Harper, Hyron Andrews, Ben Bamber, Cam Neild, Tristan Woodman, Will Riley, Raffi Quirke, Sam James, Joe Bedlow, Osian Roberts, Obi Ene, Telusa Veainu.

Rodd, Wiese, JLDP, Ross and Si Mac all back in the mix. Huge for the run in.

Still no sign of Luke James or Connor Doherty though.

[DavenportSharky]

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs SALE SHARKS
Friday 15 March, 2024
cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 7.45pm

15 George Hendy
14 James Ramm
13 Tom Litchfield
12 Burger Odendaal
11 Ollie Sleightholme
10 Charlie Savala
9 Jake Garside

1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Tom Cruse
3 Trevor Davison
4 Temo Mayanavanua
5 Tom Lockett
6 Courtney Lawes
7 Lewis Ludlam (c)
8 Juarno Augustus

Replacements:
Robbie Smith
Alex Waller
Ethan Waller
Paul Hill
Chunya Munga
Alex Moon
Angus Scott-Young
Sam Graham
Jonny Weimann*
Joel Matavesi
Tom Seabrook
Will Glister
Ewan Baker

[DavenportSharky]

https://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/saintstv

Live on Saints YouTube and Facebook channels!

[DavenportSharky]

Referee: George Selwood
Assistant referees: Andrew Jackson and James Clarke

[Olyy]

Great to see Bevan, JL, Cobus and SiMac back - and Curtis getting a start

[Olyy]

Bedlow's wrist in a cast on his Instagram story - hopefully Manu comes through this weekend unscathed!

[Evo]

Any news on Ben Curry? Do we know whether he'll make the Bath fixture?

Any news on Tom Ellis?

[Olyy]

Langdon on comms

[Olyy]

Discipline not improved, think we're on double digit penalties in under 8mins

Curtis injured after 3m, but staying on after spending quite a bit of time with the physios

[Olyy]

Schonert off injured after 21mins - looked like foot/ankle? Maybe a flare up of the injury they said he's managing this season?

[Olyy]

Rodd off at 26mins - not sure why, didn't look injured
Had just given away a penalty for handbags but doubt he'd get subbed for that

[Beardedshark]

Penalties again. Don’t understand the lack of discipline. Most offences seem intentional not accidental

[Olyy]

Jean-Luc off before half time too

[Beardedshark]

It can’t just be me. We are just dreadful in the red zone, surely that must be down to coaching. Just defence no attack?

[Clutch]

We have scored 2 tries. Look at our backs though. Lots of unproven and bang average players. Re coaching I don’t understand what’s happened. We used to be so slick in early Deacon days.

[Olyy]

Scrum is getting battered

[Beardedshark]

Given up and watching u20s

[Bennett2392]

I had high hopes for harper a while back but he is just not a very good prop unfortunately

[Olyy]

Great break by Riley, about the only highlight of this 2nd half so far

[HerefordShark]

Scrum is getting battered

Harper just doesn't seem up to it at this level, he's young and still got time but at the moment it feels like he's getting battered every time he plays.

[RinTin]

Will Riley is a monster. Real prospect.

Also Obi Ene is a unit of a winger, size of the legs on that bugger. Hopefully he get some ball in space.

For all the issues so far, that O Flaherty try was poetry in motion. Perfect.

Edit - right after posting Obi gets the ball in space. Knock on….

[FarnhamShark]

Don't understand the tactics. Raffi's box kicking is average at best, but he's great with ball in hand. Overall, though, I'd say there's lots to work on, except that's what we should have been doing already. Please can we have a new forwards coach?

[Lord Elpus]

Given up and watching u20s

Cracking game. Championship rescued from jaws of defeat.

[Beardedshark]

Magnificent game. Worth a watch

[SSR]

Which one?

[Lord Elpus]

France U20 v England U20.

[Beardedshark]

Which one?

Sorry, the england U20's brilliant game

[Oh Danny Boy]

Fingers crossed Rodd and Jean Luc substitutions were precautionary. What day of the week is the injury update usually given?

[DavenportSharky]

We had to get through three looseheads last night so no real surprise that Bevan went off. Similarly I guess we wanted another look at other options at 8

[ledzepsfr]

Big praise for Saints making this game available.

Lesson to be learned Sale!!!

[Lord Elpus]

(Roy's ghost) Final score please (/Roy's ghost)

[Clutch]

Suggesting Rafis box kicking is average at best is nonsense. He undercooked a few but so does Warr v often. Rafi has much more power and height than Warr, which isn’t hard. So when he gets it right his kicking is better than Warrs. Certainly on paper. On the pitch Warrs is undoubtably currently better but that should change with gametime.

[Centrethreequarter]

24-10 if I remember well.

[FarnhamShark]

Raffi's kicks are certainly better than Gus' "when he gets it right". The problem at the moment is that he doesn't get it right often enough, which is why I described them as "average". The new tactic of the vertical box kick, which gains about 5 yards if you're lucky enough to regain possession, seemed to be our only means of attack for the whole of the second half. We scored two good tries in the first half, but never looked remotely like scoring again. I really had no idea what our game plan was. Multiple changes didn't help, but we should still be able to see what the coaches are trying to achieve.

[RinTin]

It's fair to class his box kicking as average at best. I would describe his bk's as unreliable and erratic at times. Yes he hits a few well every now and then, but in the Saints game it was the chaser getting him out of jail on a few occasions (Flats twice from memory).

It's a weaker part of his game when compared to other scrum halves. I'm not saying it is bad, but it's an area I would certainly like him to improve at. With game time it will come.

[poyntonshark]

It's a weaker part of his game when compared to other scrum halves. I'm not saying it is bad, but it's an area I would certainly like him to improve at. With game time it will come.

The only valid explanation that I could come up with for choosing this tactic AFTER Warr had left the field was to give Raffi some practice in match conditions. Which frightens me. We regained possession from several box kicks, which seems to be our major attacking plan, the gaping hole in the plan, is that we scored ZERO points using this tactic.

[Clutch]

Maybe it is average in which case Warr is overrated. He undercooks them just as much as Rafi. Guess his ability is exaggerated as it is one of Warrs areas of relative strength.