By GHA
#8616
15 James Stokes
14 Waisake Naholo
13 Curtis Rona
12 Terrence Hepetema
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins
10 Stephen Myler
9 Ben Meehan

1 Harry Elrington
2 Dave Porecki
3 Sekope Kepu
4 Franco van der Merwe ©
5 Adam Coleman
6 Matt Rogerson
7 Blair Cowan
8 Albert Tuisue

Replacements:
16 Ben Atkins
17 Allan Dell
18 Ollie Hoskins
19 Steve Mafi
20 Ben Donnell
21 Nick Phipps
22 Tom Stephenson
23 Matt Williams
By GHA
#8617
Northampton:

15 Ahsee Tuala
14 Ollie Sleightholme
13 Rory Hutchinson
12 Piers Francis
11 Taqele Naiyaravoro
10 James Grayson
9 Cobus Reinach

1 Ben Franks
2 Mike Haywood
3 Owen Franks
4 Alex Coles
5 Api Ratuniyarawa
6 Tom Wood
7 Teimana Harrison (c)
8 Mitch Eadie

Replacements:
16 James Fish
17 Alex Waller
18 Ehren Painter
19 Lewis Bean
20 JJ Tonks
21 Henry Taylor
22 Andrew Symons
23 Tom Collins
By Florida
#8618
Be interesting to see if B. Franks is the penalty machine he was when with us.

Coaches seem to have set their stall out early, despite the removal of the fear of relegation we're not prepared to add a bit of creativity to our very stodgy midfield. Seems like we'll be relying on something special from our wings or Albert doing some damage.

Hoping Stokes goes well, but fear he's going to have his work cut out for him with the Northampton back 3.

Overall I think I'm expecting it to be a long game for us. Hopefully our discipline is good, pack don't get bullied and wings have a gallop.
User avatar
By Stevie J
#8624
Interestingly Florida, Saints are actually the most penalised team in Prem Rugby with 91. We are third with 82. Not sure that's going to help us but who knows... :lol

The team is about as good as we can put out; no one is expecting anything so I hope we do go and play a bit and its positive Donnell and Ben Atkins are on the bench. I don't think we have a hooker or flanker injury crisis so I am hoping this is the start of allowing the kids some bench time to come into games.

On Stokes, Parton must be injured and Veitokani I just think isn't trusted, especially with Naiyaravoro bound to be running full tilt all night.
By Hsmith18
#8626
It's worth noting that Stokes was a lot more assured ppsitionally and defensively against Scarlets. Hoping for more of the same. Think we missed a trick not starting Williams
By Margin_Walker
#8629
I'm fine with Stokes getting another shot. It's not like Veitokani is Steady Eddie at the back.

Otherwise I like the team. Pretty close to what I would go with, with the players available. As mentioned nice to see Atkins and Donnell getting opportunities off the bench.
User avatar
By Stevie J
#8630
And our officiating crew;

Northampton Saints vs London Irish @ Franklin’s Gardens

Referee: Tom Foley
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Andrew Jackson
Television match official: Rowan Kitt
By GHA
#8631
Margin_Walker wrote:
Thu Jan 23, 2020 3:38 pm
It's not like Veitokani is Steady Eddie at the back.
He looks slippy, elusive and dangerous in attack but a bit like a small child in defence IMO. He does make tackles, but it's always a bit of a worry
User avatar
By Narbia
#8635
Bookies have Saints as 6/1 on favourites - unsurprisingly.

Be interesting to see how the Franks brothers go with this.

Would be pleased if we could wrangle a TBP. An LBP would be less likely methinks.
By Chris Hoddle
#8644
The Franks Boys have played together once or twice this season. Has been limited because of injuries to one or other of them.
They have of course played together in the All Blacks team.
The scrum did very well against Lyon last week.
By Florida
#8718
Well well well. What a way to restart the premiership. An enthralling game, led at the front by an aggressive pack.

Stunning defensive effort from us. Rona is beginning to grow into the 13 shirt. So good to have Porecki back, he gives so much.

Feel rather foolish for being worried about this game now.
By Margin_Walker
#8719
Enjoyed that in the end/. Actually didn't think we'd get a drubbing and put a few quid on us to beat the handicap (14.5). Clearly should have stuck it on the win!

Cowan had been unreal this season. Just puts monstrous performances in week after week, which I didn't see coming. Thought his career was starting to tail off towards retirement.

Great to have Porecki back too and nice to see one of our big money signings in Coleman putting in big shifts. Lots to work on, but an encouraging performance all the same after a rubbish month or two. Also a mention to both centres who shut them down in midfield all evening. Rona looks so much more comfortable at 13.
User avatar
By Narbia
#8720
Ya beauty ! That's all. :dance:

I thought we could do something, in that I hoped we'd get 4 tries. As it turned out , 3 and a win.
User avatar
By MattM
#8724
Fantastic performances all across the pitch.

Blair showing he might be our best scrum half, Porecki, Kepu and Coleman dominant in the forwards, Albert his usual dangerous self. Myler showing what he can still do behind a pack going the right way.

Rona was superb and Hepetema quietly dangerous too. Naholo was quiet but still drew in their defence. Ollie H-C gets better every game and Stokes looked solid at the back.

Very, very happy with that performance.
User avatar
By Stevie J
#8837
A completely unexpected performance given our dreary form but utterly deserved. Whether it was David, Kiss or Dec the defensive game plan worked wonders and almost completely nullified Reinach and Naiyaravoro.

Beyond that, to score 3 tries and almost 5 including Oliie's and Blair's attempts was something else. Stokes wasn't too bad at 15, safe and secure and that's about as good as we have gotten from the shirt most of the season.

Lets talk however about 9; maybe its coaching but when discipline is such a hot topic we could have lost that match from our ill-discipline. Both 9's with 10 minutes in the bin, Meehan lucky Reinach didn't fall more awkwardly otherwise it was going to be red.
By GHA
#8839
I couldn't help thinking that a few choice words from Sean O'Brien would sort the 9s out :lol

Easier to say that once we won, obviously. I was pretty livid when it happened.
User avatar
By TeflonTed
#8887
Good win for you, we trained Blair Cowan well at Wuss didn’t we!

Tom Foley is still a truly mysterious Sir, but overall a good game to watch. There’s been a little outbreak of big-headedness around The Gardens lately, not unhappy to have seen that result.
By GC89
#8891
Just rewatched the game. We were really very good for large parts of the game, particularly in defence. Tuisue man-marked Naiyarovoro for large swathes of the first half. For all of his carrying qualities, his defensive work has been monumental this season. Another moment that really stood out was Hassell-Collins smashing Harrison into touch when faced with a one-on-one. He is really coming into his own. Rogerson was great, as was Porecki (although his throwing isn’t quite consistent enough for me, but definitely our best option there). Kepu looked really dangerous and has such good footwork for a big man. In the backs Hepetema and Rona put in their best displays of the season. It was great to finally see Rona carry with some purpose and show us what we thought he might be able to deliver. I was even quietly impressed with Naholo who was solid defensively and did some important carrying in tight channels. Stokes really stood up to be counted. The two stand-outs though were Cowan and Coleman. Coleman’s performance was up there with the best we saw from Botha earlier in the season, which is saying something. What a pair they will end up being.

If we can play like that every week we can climb the table. We just really need to do better to keep our discipline. Border-line high shots like Hoskins’ against Bristol I can live with. That’s the game these days. Meehan’s was a moment of madness that should have been a red. We rode our luck on that one (for once).

Just a shame we now have to wait two weeks to smash Quins…
By Margin_Walker
#8981
That is a decent article thanks.

Don't agree Meehan should have got a red though. It was beyond stupid, given the situation, but not a red card offence for me.
By Florida
#8984
It is good, although they ought to up their research as they label Francis as a Kiwi.
By Hsmith18
#9003
Genuinley think Coleman and Botha will be the best second row in the premiership next year. Very exciting!
By GC89
#9008
Hard to disagree with that Hugo. Would also like to see one of them (ideally Botha) as captain next season.

Specsavers calling .... Can you read the lines bel[…]

24/03/24 Bath 42 Sale 24 [GP]

Blame-casting - love it!

Covid Repayments

I’m pretty sure I read from an interview som[…]

Never ending word association thread

Dune https://media.tacdn.com/media/attractions-sp[…]