Tuesday 28 October 2014

Champions Cup Review - Northampton Saints 34 - 6 Ospreys


They say rugby is a team game, which is of course true.  The jazzy fly half can’t win the game with glorious drop goals if the Orcs in front aren’t doing their bit, and likewise those intelligent, physical specimens in the pack hate nothing more than seeing a bunch of jumped up fairies spoil all their good work by namby-pambying around out wide.  But, if we’re all being honest, there’s always room for ‘superstars’ in the game – players who can take any team to the next level.  I can only really claim to have watched the game properly since the 90s, but some of the names that jump out – Carter, Wilkinson, O’Driscoll etc – were all held on a pedestal above their teammates, even if they didn’t want to be, because they could create the extraordinary.  The first superstar of the game that I can remember, though, is a certain Mr Lomu.  And he has a (Welsh) re-incarnation playing today.
 
His name, of course, is George North – and, as we have seen for Wales and for the Lions, he is box office.  But at club-level?  He’s good, don’t get me wrong, but you always get the impression that he perhaps saves his best for the biggest games; the biggest stage.  Now, I’m not saying that the pool stages of the Champions’ Cup is the biggest stage, but when you have the leaders of the Premiership and the leaders of the Pro12 going head to head, you need your big game players to stand up.  And, as it transpired, that’s exactly what the gargantuan winger did.
 
The game started in tit-for-tat fashion as Stephen Myler and Dan Biggar both exchanged penalties, with the latter coming after the Ospreys fly half had darted through a gap in an attack which left George Wilson concussed and Ben Foden lucky to stay on the field after he cynically kicked the ball away from the wrong side of the ruck.   But Saints were starting to get the upper hand in the set-piece, and that was giving them a great platform to attack – they arguably should have had a score after 15 minutes after Luther Burrell got on the outside of makeshift centre Jeff Hasler to put Foden away, but the full back misplaced his pass to Ken Pisi when drawing the last man 20 metres out.  It was an early sign that the Osprey’s mounting injury list was starting to have an effect on their cohesion across the park.
 
That near miss didn’t matter though.  Just a minute later the Northampton pack smashed the Ospreys scrum and pulverised their breakdown, resulting in turnover ball which was quickly shipped wide to that man North, who skidded in for one of the easier tries of his career.  Myler’s conversion gave the hosts a 7 point lead, but it was evident that they were not happy with just that.  After going close with a breakout following a big hit from Courtney Lawes, Saints thought they had scored their second after just 22 minutes when Christian day slid over in the right hand corner after a superb offload from Tom Wood, but the TMO rightly pulled it back for an earlier knock on from Samu Monoa that Roman Poite had somehow missed, despite it being under his generously proportioned nose.  The TMO came to the Ospreys’ rescue once again three minutes later, harshly ruling that Foden had thrown a marginally forward pass to the supposed try scorer, Dylan Hartley, after North had broken down the left hand side. It was another disappointing error from Foden but, in fairness, Hartley didn’t need to be as flat as he was.
 
Once again, though, it proved to be a temporary respite.  Despite some heroic defending by the Welsh region over the next 10 minutes, the English champions once again tore through their opponents, with Pisi returning a kick and skipping past Hassler before offloading to North, who ploughed over from 20 metres whilst smugly ignoring the needless support on his left hand shoulder.  When you can run like a gazelle with legs the size of oak trees, support is for wimps.  Another smooth conversion from Myler handed a 17 – 3 lead to the East Midlanders, but Myler still had time to add another penalty before half time after Josh Matavesi was – wrongly – penalised for holding on in the tackle.
 
The first half had, in truth, been utterly one sided – despite the bravery of the Ospreys defence.  The hosts had been had their trademark best – bulldozing up front and majestically fluid out wide – but they struggled to maintain that in the second half as the Welsh region began to get some traction in terms of field position, with Biggar and full back Dan Evans combining nicely.  The territorial pressure gave Biggar the chance to grab three points for his side from right in front of the sticks, but the Welsh international was uncharacteristically off target, hooking his kick to the left, before making amends with an effort from a similar spot two minutes later.  20 – 6.
 
Biggar then struck the post with another effort as Northampton began to concede penalties regularly at the break down, but their inability to convert this pressure into points swiftly suffocated any notion of an unlikely comeback.  And the man to bury the nail into that particular coffin was – of course – George North, who crashed his was over the line from 5 metres out after Saints had again marched their way up the field courtesy of their dominant scrum.  North – now a hat-trick-hero – then saved a try himself after Biggar had glided through once again and chipped over the top, only to see his compatriot winger win the race to the ball.
 
With both sides aware that the result was no longer in doubt, the substitutes entered the fray en masse and the game began to become increasingly disjointed.   Saints, though, still needed a try bonus point to really reflect the dominance of their days work and, although they left it late, it was worth waiting for as North saved his best until last.  With 75 minutes played, substitute lock Rynier Bernardo  made the mistake of carrying the ball into the winger – the Lions star ripped the ball, sprinted clear, chipped ahead, and then beat three players for speed to touch down by the sticks.  It was a wondrous effort from a wonderful player, and the perfect way to cap a resounding 34 – 6 win for Northampton.
 
North may not win the regardless-of-what-sport-you-watch-world-acclaim that Lomu did, but when you can tear teams up the way he does, in an age where every back seems to share the same physical stats of the legendary All Black, you can’t help but think back to big man dismantling England in 1995.  Regardless of comparisons though, he’s Northampton’s gamebreaker – a man who can turn small differences between two very good sides into huge margins.
 

And in the rest of the weekend's fixtures?
 
Munster 14 – 3 Saracens:  A classic Thomond Park battle got the weekend underway, with Munster beating Saracens a brutal encounter in difficult conditions.  In a tight game with the scores tied at 3-3 after 50 minutes, a sin-binning to Rhys Gill for a dangerous clear out proved to be the decisive factor, with an Ian Keatley penalty and Dave Kilcoyne try taking place over the next 10 minutes to tip the match in favour of the men in red.
 
Ulster 13 – 23 Toulon:  Up in northern island there was another colossal battle taking place at a traditional fortress, Ravenhill, as Ulster succumbed to the reigning champions Toulon.  Despite some ferocious physicality from the Ulstermen, tries from Bryan Habana and Delon Armitage had given the French giants control, with the hosts only crossing through Craig Gilroy late on.
 
Bath 19 – 21 Toulouse:  Bath lost a nail-biter of an encounter with Toulouse, with perhaps an ever-growing injury list being partially accountable for a surprisingly porous defence which allowed Clerc, Harinoroquy and Medard to all cross for tries, before Ross Batty’s late score set up a frantic finish.
 
Montpellier 13 – 15 Glasgow Warriors:  Glasgow continued their impressive start to the competition – and the season in general – with a win in France which was more convincing than the scoreline suggested.  All of the visitors’ points came courtesy of the boot of Finn Russell, with a penalty try in the last minute for the hosts rescuing them a bonus point.
 
Scarlets 15 – 3 Leicester Tigers:  The Scarlets ran out victors in a peculiar encounter at Parc Y Scarlets, taking advantage of two howlers from the visitors to run out as winners.  Firstly, Miles Benjamin dropped the ball under no pressure to allow Harry Robinson to touch down, then Aled Davies picked off a speculative Ben Youngs pass to race away.  Leicester actually threatened all match, but couldn’t finish a Sunday roast in a display which ultimately seems to have cost backs coach Paul Burke his job.
 
Castres 16 – 21 Leinster:  Castres were undone by their own indiscipline and the boot of Ian Madigan, as the Irishman (playing at 12) banged over all of the visitors’ points to make it two wins from two.  Castres had in fact started the game strongly with prop Saimone Taumoepeau crashing over after just four minutes, but they had no answer for the power and guile of the Irishmen.
 
Clermont Auvergne 35 – 3 Sale Sharks:  Clermont eased to victory at home against the Sharks, picking up a try bonus point in the process – but they left it late, with two of the scores coming in the final 10 minutes.  Sale competed gamely for most of the game but scores from Nick Abendanon, Napolini Nalaga (2) and Aurelien Rougerie gave the French giants a maximum haul.
 
Treviso 10 – 26 Racing Metro:  Racing were too strong for their Italian hosts, but the French giants were made to work hard for their win, being restricted to two tries from Henry Chavancy and Wenceslas (great name) Lauret, with Ludovico Notoglia responding for Treviso.
 
Wasps 16 – 23 Harlequins:  Wasps were defeated in the last ever derby at Adams parks by a physically dominant Quins side who took full control in the second half.  Joe Simpson and Charlie Matthews exchanged tries in a tight opening 40 before the Quins pack took the game by the scruff of the neck and earned a penalty try in the 63rd minute to take the game away from the hosts.

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