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| 16 April 2003, 11:01 pm |
| Six Of The Best For Saints |
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NORTHAMPTON SAINTS 43
BRISTOL SHOGUNS 13
Franklin's Gardens
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Northampton Saints went some way to burying the disappointment of the last two games by coming up with a stunning second half against league strugglers Bristol Shoguns.
The home team scored a total of six tries to bag their full five league points, and scored four of those in a 16-minute scintillating period of rugby that left Bristol for dead. In fact Saints scored 36 unanswered points in the second half to lift the spirits of the entire club and its supporters.
But the first half was not so reassuring, as Saints battled with the late withdrawal of fly-half Paul Grayson from the starting line-up after he went down with a virus. James Brooks stepped into the breach at four hours notice and ran the show well in the circumstances.
And it looked as if their misery was going to be added to after having all the possession and territory in the first 10 minutes, as they lost it all again to give Bristol a try from flanker Matt Salter in the 25th minute. Fly-half Shane Drahm kicked the conversion and put the visitors into a 0-7 lead.
However, Saints did come back quickly through the rapid feet of wing Oriol Ripol, who benefited from full-back Bruce Reihana's initial breach of the Bristol defence. Reihana converted Ripol's try and it looked as though Saints were back on track, but three blood replacements and a few missed lineouts disturbed their flow of play, made more difficult by the yellow card shown to Rob Hunter in the 39th minute. Drahm kicked two penalties in his absence, and at half-time Saints were 7-13 down.
Bristol, however, did nothing to help themselves capitalise on their lead when their captain Garath Archer was also sent to the sin-bin. This was the turning point for Saints, and from then on the tries just kept coming. The first was four minutes after Archer was sent off and it was scored by the birthday boy centre Mark Tucker. He also helped to set up Saints' third try of the evening after he made the hard yards through Bristol's defence to release Reihana.
By the time Archer had returned to the field, his team were 21-13 down and the bit was well and truly between the Saints' collective teeth. Coach Wayne Smith then dug the knife in deeper by beginning to send on his England replacements - Matt Dawson for Ian Vass, and Steve Thompson for Dan Richmond. But it was a former England wing who scored Saints' fourth try after Dawson popped the ball to Jon Sleightholme from the back of a Saints' ruck.
Saints had secured the bonus point after 56 minutes, but there was much more to come, namely from flanker Darren Fox. The No 6 had been involved in anything and everything he could get his head into throughout the match and his brace of tries were no exception. His first came in the 61st minute, with quite a lot of help from his fellow forwards, and he scored his second immediately after Salter had been sin-binned for punching him. Reihana did not bother with the kicking tee for this conversion and took his chances - he missed but Saints were safely in the lead by then with 43 points to 13.
The five tries would seem to be drama enough for this second half but there was still another chapter to this story. When Steve Williams was finally retired from the field with a cut to his head, there were no more forwards left on the bench, so up stepped Mr Ben Cohen to fill the breach in the lineout and the scrum. Entertainment indeed.
Teams:
Northampton Saints - Reiahana; Sleightholme (Cohen 19-29mins), Tucker, Leslie (capt) (Jorgensen 59mins), Ripol; Brooks, Vass (Dawson 54mins); Smith (Morris 62mins), Richmond (Thompson 25-32mins, 56mins), Morris (Stewart 40mins), Williams (Seely 40-42mins, Cohen 72mins), Phillips (Hunter 32mins), Fox, Pountney (Seely 64mins), Blowers.
Bristol Shoguns - Best; Daniel (Carrington 75mins), Higgins (Williams 64mins), Gibson, Christophers; Drahm, Pichot; Sheridan, Nelson, Skuse, Archer (capt), Brown, Salter (Morgan 75mins), Lipman (Short 54mins), Oakley.
Referee:
Dave Pearson
Touch judges:
Roy Maybank & Brian Campsell
Scorers:
Northampton Saints - Tries: Ripol, Tucker, Reihana, Sleightholme, Fox (2); Cons: Reihana (5); Pen: Reihana.
Bristol Shoguns - Try: Salter; Con: Drahm; Pens: Drahm (2).
Yellow cards:
Hunter (39mins)
Archer (41mins)
Salter (60mins)
Attendance:
8,805
Travis Perkins man of the match:
Bruce Reihana
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