NORTHAMPTON SAINTS 5
GLOUCESTER 7
Guinness Premiership Round 17
Franklin’s Gardens
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Having emerged from the tunnel first – to the pleasant surprise of the crowd – and gone straight into a huddle, Saints looked a team ready for business. And though the early-afternoon sunshine had become torrential downpour it wasn’t long before Carlos Spencer was up to his tricks creating havoc in the Gloucester defence.
A chip over the blitzing runners was chased by Stephen Myler, who was blocked illegally. The penalty was kicked to the corner, the line-out secured and from the drive Dylan Hartley touched down. Myler missed the conversion but his kicking out of hand was on top form – firstly with a good clearance under pressure on his own line, then a garryowen just before the 20-minute mark that Iain Balshaw dealt with well.
Aside from a brief spell of Gloucester pressure the opening quarter had largely belonged to the Saints, particularly one powerful forward drive after another. But the hosts were lucky when Balshaw messed up his collection of Ryan Lamb’s cross-kick. Peter Richards’ break from deep had created the chance and it really should have been finished off.
Mind you, Myler too was lucky when his booming clearance from close to the Saints’ line bounced into Gloucester’s in-goal area before spinning and staying in play. The 22-metre drop-out became a penalty and the visitors were soon on the offensive once more. The Cherry and White scrummaging was particularly effective and even when Saints had the put-in they were being forced onto the back foot.
The hosts’ play at the breakdown was far better and on several occasions the ball was turned over, leading to one magnificent Ben Cohen clearance in the 26th minute. Gloucester were on the up as the half-hour approached but their defence had to be good when Balshaw spilled another mighty Myler kick.
The pack did the job by winning the scrum against the head and Andy Hazell was alert in de-fusing a threatening Saints line-out. Saints’ defence was also up to the challenge thrown down by their opponents, especially Robbie Kydd, who stripped Mike Tindall of the ball when the England centre was on the charge. Indeed neither side could build enough phases to break the other down and the half ended Saints 5, Gloucester 0.
There was a second lucky break for Saints at the start of the second half and again Lamb will feel hard-done-by that his thoughtful chip wasn’t collected by half-time replacement James Bailey with a straight run to the line. As the players' exchanged slidings emphasised the tricky conditions (despite the sun) Gloucester established superb territorial position throughout the third quarter.
Predominantly this was on the Northampton line and there were numerous opportunities for the visitors to at least equalise. But Saints resisted several five-metre scrums, defended repeated five-metre line-outs and covered the wide runners superbly, notably one crushing Robinson tackle on Balshaw.
Gloucester weren’t helping themselves either however and but for a few knock-ons close to the Saints’ line and poor decision making by Lamb they should have gone over anyway.
Whereas Karl Pryce’s power had been Gloucester’s most effective weapon in the first half, Lamb’s dancing feet were repeatedly challenging the now brown defensive line. Though there were occasional respites, such as debutant Christian Labit’s intelligent break from the scrum base, it was all Gloucester.
The dam finally broke with eight minutes left. Though Lamb had been replaced by Willie Walker but it was fellow young gun Anthony Allen who made the decisive breakthrough. His powerful run down the left wing had James Simpson-Daniel in support and the winger slid over in the corner.
But Walker made the decisive contribution, converting superbly from the touchline. There was too little time to reply – though Saints tried – and the visitors left the Gardens with the points.
Teams:
Northampton Saints – Spencer; Reihana (capt), Mallon, Kydd, Cohen; Myler, Robinson; Smith, Hartley, Tonga’uhia (Budgen 54mins), Gerard (Lord 62mins), Browne, Tupai (Lewitt 73mins), Fox, Hopley (Labit 56mins).
Gloucester – Balshaw; Pryce (Bailey 40mins), Tindall, Allen, Simpson-Daniel; Lamb (Walker 70mins), Richards (Lawson 57mins); Wood (Califano 56mins (Wood (68mins)), Azam (Davies 56mins), Nieto, Bortolami (capt), Brown, Buxton, Hazell, Narraway.
Scorers:
Northampton Saints – Try: Hartley.
Gloucester – Try: Simpson-Daniel; Con: Walker.
Travis Perkins man of the match:
Marco Bortolami
Attendance:
13,529
TIMELINE:
5mins SAINTS Try Hartley 5-0
HALF-TIME SAINTS 5 GLOUCESTER 0
72mins GLOUCS Try Simpson-Daniel Con Walker 5-7
FULL-TIME SAINTS 5 GLOUCESTER 7
