BRISTOL RUGBY 8

European Challenge Cup round five

Franklin’s Gardens

Saturday, January 14, 2006

With pool one of the European Challenge Cup still in the balance as the sides ran out, the vast majority of the 12,227-strong competition record crowd were willing Saints to take an early hold on the game.

The team themselves had similar ideas and with two Sam Harding tries in the opening 10 minutes, focus was already being turned towards a five-point maximum haul. The first – coming inside two minutes – followed Luke Myring’s powerful dump tackle to turn the ball over and Tom Smith’s midfield break, but the second was reward for some inspired attacking play by the home backs.

Sean Lamont, Carlos Spencer, Bruce Reihana, Ben Cohen and Jon Clarke were hardly the players Jake Rauluni wanted to see with the ball in their hands when he missed touch with a box kick. But all five were involved as the ball went from one side of the paddock to the other on its way back to Harding, who crossed unopposed by the sticks.

Harding’s tries – both converted by Reihana – sandwiched a Tommy Hayes penalty, and with such an early deficit, Bristol were forced into all-out attack. And to their credit some of the interplay between the west-countrymen’s backs and forwards caused some butterflies in home stomachs. Unfortunately for them, Saints were being brilliantly and imaginatively marshalled by Spencer, and in the 25th minute his performance was rewarded.

Again it came from a misplaced Rauluni kick. Even though it was touched in flight, the fly-half’s chip from the base of a ruck had been aimed to the right – the very side where no Bristol players were positioned to chase. Spencer therefore saw nothing but space ahead of him when collecting the ball and he raced in from 40 metres, jinking his way past two despairing tackles on the way to the line.

Scoring opportunities for the remainder of the half were limited to a second Hayes penalty miss from distance. Of more immediate concern however was the potential two-man increase to Saints backline injury list. Myring was the first departure in the 26th minute, followed in first-half injury-time by Lamont, replaced by John Rudd and Johnny Howard respectively.

If the forward impetus, notably from Steve Thompson and man-of-the-match Chris Budgen, was still in evidence after the break, the third quarter saw the scoring momentum grind to a halt. A 49th minute overthrown lineout five metres from the Bristol line and a 59th minute penalty conceded for blocking 10 metres out were as close as Saints came to increasing their lead, but with the home defence also working efficiently Bristol weren’t having much joy either.

It would take a moment of inspiration to break the deadlock, and once more it came from Spencer. His jink opened space for the charging Cohen, and from the breakdown Howard put Mark Robinson over for the bonus-point try. Reihana added the extras but few foresaw what was about to begin.

It had taken 40 minutes for Saints to collect their fourth try, but only 10 more for the fifth, sixth and seventh as Bristol were torn to shreds. In the 70th minute Howard again was creator as the Kiwi stranglehold was broken, sending Cohen in for his ninth try of the season. And Cohen had his 10th in Saints’ next attack, rewarding some delightful and deft handling that sent the ball zipping down the line.

Having laid on two tries for others, Howard himself rounded off the 26-point scoring spree, running onto Spencer’s perfectly weighted cross-kick to race into the right corner from 35 metres. After having succeeded with the previous three attempts, Reihana missed the touchline conversion, but with the game by now well in the bag the only difference it made was to Saints’ points difference.

And though a little of the gloss was taken off the performance as Mariano Sambucetti crossed for a 79th minute consolation try, Saints can head to Italy knowing that quarter-final qualification is firmly in their own hands.

Teams:
Northampton Saints – Reihana (co-capt); Lamont (Howard 40+1mins), Clarke, Myring (Rudd 23mins), Cohen; Spencer, Robinson; Smith, Thompson (co-capt) (Hartley 49mins), Budgen (Sturgess 70mins), Damien Browne, Lord (Gerard 62mins), Lewitt (66mins), Harding, Daniel Browne (Soden 72mins).

Bristol Rugby – Going; Robinson (Gray 63mins), Denney, Contepomi, Marsden (Higgitt 73mins); Hayes, Rauluni; Irish (Clarke 63mins), Nelson (Clark 63mins), Thompson (Rospide 66mins), Sambucetti, Hodge, Martin-Redman, Short (capt), Lewis.

Scorers:
Northampton Saints – Tries: Harding (2), Spencer, Robinson, Cohen (2), Howard; Cons: Reihana (5).

Bristol Rugby – Try: Sambucetti; Pen: Hayes.

Travis Perkins man of the match:
Chris Budgen

Attendance:
12,227

CLOCKWATCH:
2mins Saints: Try Harding Con Reihana 7-0
6mins Bristol: Pen Hayes 7-3
9mins Saints: Try Harding Con Reihana 14-3
25mins Saints: Try Spencer 19-3
65mins Saints: Try Robinson Con Reihana 26-3
70mins Saints: Try Cohen Con Reihana 33-3
72mins Saints: Try Cohen Con Reihana 40-3
75mins Saints: Try Howard 45-3
79mins Bristol: Try Sambucetti 45-8